Reusse: Gophers gymnastics team gets a gem in Ireland’s Emma Slevin

Peik Gymnasium sat in a historic area of the University of Minnesota’s main campus. Some outstanding Marshall University High School boys basketball teams played there, including the 1976 Class A state champions that had Ronnie Henderson, Rodney Hargest and Ronnie Hadley, to name a few.

The high school was discontinued in 1982 and, eventually, the old gym became home to the University of Minnesota women’s gymnastics team for workouts.

“We made the best of the old place, but it was kind of falling apart,” said Jenny Hansen, a former Gophers gymnastics standout now in her 11th season as coach. “There were conversations going on about it being torn down.”

The university and the athletic department were about to undertake an expansion and modernization of athletic facilities, mostly on both sides of the dead-end roadway between the Bierman Building, the original football building and the new Siebert Field.

The greatest amount of spending would be devoted to football, but other athletes also would benefit — and none more so than Hansen’s gymnasts.

Across the narrow road from the Hall of Fame entrance for football sits the Gymnastics Performance Center. It is quite a triumph for one of the several successful women’s athletic programs on campus.

The cost was $15 million and some change. The bang for the buck is fantastic — enormous space, areas for all routines, a training area in the middle, some office space, endless mats and nonstop cheering.

“We have a great team; the energy is so high,” Emma Slevin said. “There are 19 other girls, and to hear them supporting me during a routine, when I’m on the bars, is very inspirational.”

Hansen has a roster of 20 athletes from 10 states and Ava Stewart from the Toronto area. And then there is the most unusual background of all: Slevin, from Galway, Ireland, recruited almost instantaneously after making contact with Hansen last summer.

“Emma might be the first-ever athlete from Ireland to be competing in Division I gymnastics on a scholarship,” Hansen said. “I get a large number of videos of performances from athletes, coaches and others, so many that I don’t open all of them.

“I saw this one from Emma, from Ireland, in early summer, and opened it on a hunch. I was immediately impressed.”

Slevin said: “Within a day, Coach Hansen had replied. She called and asked, ‘Have you ever been to the United States?’ I said, “No, but I’m going with my friends in two weeks on a vacation to Chicago.’ And she said, ‘We’ll fly you up here for a visit.’

That was the instant decision that Hansen needed, because there was only a short time to get Slevin enrolled in school.

Emma had gotten a degree from University College Dublin in three years.

“There’s not college competition; I was working out at our National Center for gymnastics, as a member of the national team,” Slevin said.

“I loved representing my country, but college gymnastics was always something I had in the back of my mind.

“Once you start college anywhere, with the NCAA in our sport, you have five years to finish competition, so I had to go quick to have two years of eligibility.”

There is an Irish hero in gymnastics: Rhys McClenaghan, the pommel horse gold medalist at the Paris Olympics in 2024. He comes from Northern Ireland but chose to compete under the Ireland banner rather than the United Kingdom (which covers Northern Ireland).

“Rhys works out often at our National Center,” Slevin said. “He’s a great athlete, a great person and has increased the numbers of young gymnasts in Ireland considerably.”

Slevin has a twin sister, Kate, and an older brother Mark. Kate is on Ireland’s national team in soccer and Mark goes for the traditional Gaelic sports — particularly that version of football.

“I played Gaelic football, too; the women’s game isn’t quite as rough, but it’s rough enough,” she said.

How about soccer? “I played that longer than my gymnastics coaches wanted,” Emma said. “I wasn’t as good as my sister. She’s a goal scorer.”

The Gophers have most of their home matches at 4 p.m. Saturdays at Maturi Pavilion. “Our crowds are terrific,” Hansen said. “We have some great home matches coming up.”

None bigger than Feb. 7, with U.S. Olympic star Jordan Chiles and UCLA at the Pavilion. Hansen expects a full house for that one.

“Everything about college gymnastics is great,” Slevin said. “All the cheers with your teammates for every event … it’s way different than what I was used to back home.”