Mia Puig was 4 years old when she watched a tumbling demonstration during Children’s Day at Key West’s Bayview Park.
“That’s when I knew this was what I wanted to do,” Mia told me seven years later when I met her and her mom at Truman Waterfront Park. It was 2021 and Mia was an 11-year-old gymnast with the drive and dedication the sport demands of its stars.
When we met up again in 2024, Mia was a 14-year-old elite gymnast — ranked 24th in the nation.
Now, two years later, Mia is 16 and still defying gravity on the uneven bars, floor, vault and balance beam. She’s also now old enough to qualify for the Olympics, whose gymnasts must be at least 16.
The Key West native is now ranked ninth in the nation. She placed second overall in the national championships on the uneven bars this month in Oklahoma City.
“When she was 4, I was coaching her little soccer team, and she wouldn’t listen to me about soccer; she only did cartwheels,” Mia’s mom, Myra Puig, told me in 2021.
By the time Mia was 6, her family was planning to move away from Key West for a few years to live in Miami, where Mia’s dad had better work opportunities. The family wasn’t overly excited about leaving the Keys, “so I promised Mia that when we moved, we’d find her a good gym for gymnastics,” her mom recalled.
Mission accomplished.
After spending an hour at International Gymnastics in Miami, “Mia walked up to me and said, ‘I’m never leaving this gym,’” her mom said.
And they haven’t.
Her coaches posted on the International Gymnastics Instagram page after the national competition in Oklahoma City, “Today we celebrate the incredible achievement of Mía Puig, an athlete who, through sacrifice, discipline, and heart, left her mark at the Level 10 National Championships. Second place on uneven bars and an outstanding all-around score of over 38 points do not happen by chance; they are the result of years of hard work, perseverance, and love for this sport. Mía, your strength, elegance, and determination inspired everyone who watched you compete. Behind every routine were countless hours of effort, difficult moments and the courage to never give up. Keep dreaming big, because athletes like you were born to shine. Your future is only beginning, and you are already proving that you can go very far.
Congratulations, champion!”
Mia’s coaches have become her extended family, even coming home with them to the Keys to stay with Myra’s brother, Bill Lay and his wife, Amy, who own Key West’s La Trattoria, Virgilio’s martini bar and La Trattoria Oceanside.
“To watch this Key West-born kid doing so great is fantastic. She was ranked 14th in nationals last year and is ninth this year,” Bill Lay said. “I’m certainly a proud uncle.”
