13-Year-Old Tulsa Gymnast Goes 'Hands-Free' After Elbow Surgery

A 13-year-old Tulsa gymnast is ready to return to competition after double elbow surgery threatened her career.

Emma Tolbert had the surgery a little less than a year ago. This year she’s doing her routine with no hands, but that’s not stopping her.

"I've been doing it since I was two, so I've done it for 11 years," the 13-year-old athlete said.

Tolbert practices gymnastics for 30 hours every single week, but a consistent pain in her elbows turned out to be a problem her joints.

She had surgery on both about 30 weeks ago.

Taylor: "How excited were you to get back into the gym this year?"
Tolbert: "Very excited."

Her coach, Jon Lee, said he was concerned for her gymnastics career. In fact, they weren't planning on her competing this season at all.

"Any surgery where you're operating on little bodies, you always have that worry in the back of your mind," he said.

But Tolbert had other plans.

"Even right after the surgery, was in doing her leg conditioning, everything she could do. She was in the gym every day," said lee. "Watching her determination, she was going to compete this season and didn't matter what was going to stop her."

But there's a catch - this season, she's doing it all hands-free.

"It looks a lot harder than it is,” Tolbert said. “Some of the passes I've been doing, I did before."

Lee said, "I thought it was a little more challenging than she made it sound."

Before surgery, Lee said front-tumbling wasn't her strong suit, now, it's her entire routine.

"It's been kind of a joy to watch her come back from it, and even really improve on one of her weaknesses," he said.

Tolbert said her end goal is to make it to the OU women's gymnastics team, but that'll have to be when she's just a little bit older.