Ray Cortopassi and Austin Clever
2 hours ago
ORLAND PARK, Ill. — With an eye on the 2024 Paris Olympics, an athlete from south suburban Orland Park will be the only athlete representing Team USA in that sport.
Just six months ago, Evita Griskenas couldn’t even walk, but now she’s hoping to bring home a medal at this year’s Olympics.
Evita put together a creative twist on the pitch at the Crosstown Classic opening ceremony earlier this month. This isn’t the first time Sigitas Griskenas has watched his daughter on the big stage.
“Not only is she standing on the field, but her child is pitching the ball. A girl is pitching the ball,” Evita’s father said.
The 23-year-old Orland Park resident just qualified for his second Olympic Games.
“When I was 4 years old, I saw rhythmic gymnastics on TV and thought, ‘Mom, I want to do that too,'” Griskenas said.
It was a feat that seemed unlikely: last June, Evita suffered a devastating injury.
“About 10 seconds into my routine I did my first jump and I knew it was broken. I thought, ‘I can’t land it,'” Griskenas said.
Griskenas was right: the gymnast ended up breaking her leg.
“This may sound dramatic, but I collapsed into the therapist’s arms and couldn’t get up,” Griskenas said.
After months of rehabilitation and one missed competition, Griskenas won a silver medal at the Pan American Games and qualified for the Paris Olympics, but the injury recurred and doctors ordered him to be banned for three months.
“I couldn’t go to the gym for a few months, which was tough because it was my whole life,” Griskenas said.
By March, Griskenas had to learn to walk again, but he worked hard to recover and was cleared to jump in April.
Evita resumed full-scale training by early May, less than three months before the Olympics.
“At that point in the season, most people already had their new routines down, but I was still figuring out my new routine, because you can plan it in theory, but when you actually start going, the timing is different, the catches are different,” Griskenas said.
Griskenas is currently preparing for the Paris Games.
She finished 12th at the Tokyo Olympics, but unlike that year’s Olympics, which were held in the midst of a pandemic, this time she will be performing in front of a packed house and her family.
“My parents said, ‘No, do what you’re passionate about,'” Griskenas said.
She hopes that passion will help her bring home some hardware.
Griskenas is a recent graduate of Columbia University in New York, where he majored in psychology, and is pursuing a doctorate with a view to competing in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
