When Emma Malabuyo watches an old competition video, she sees a different gymnast.
“My eyes would only be on the beam,” Malabuyo said. “I would be super serious, so focused and honed in.”
The video she watched was taken during the Olympic qualifier in 2020, where she made the U.S. team as an alternate.
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Malabuyo had to watch her teammates compete from her couch at home.
After Tokyo, Malabuyo gave up her dream of competing in the Olympics. “I thought I gave it my best shot, but I didn’t think I had the potential to be that good again to compete on the Olympic stage.”
Malabuyo decided to end her elite career on the U.S. National Team and join the UCLA gymnastics program. There, she planned to enjoy the rest of her career as a college gymnast.
Within days on the UCLA squad, she noticed differences between elite gymnastics and college. She had grown accustomed to practicing alone during elite gymnastics. At UCLA’s practices, her teammates would dance to music in between reps, smiling and joking with each other.
“With college gymnastics, I’m allowed to have a lot of fun,” she said. “I can be myself. I can dance, I can smile, I can do all these things while I’m working hard.
“I do a lot better when I am being myself,” she said.
Malabuyo’s performances flourished. She earned All-America honors twice on the balance beam, in addition to earning two Scholastic All-America honors.
“I love performing for the crowd and just putting on a show,” the incoming senior said. “When I’m doing my dance and floor routine, I love to make eye contact with people and smile at them.”
Malabuyo has always had a performative nature, beginning at family parties — on the karaoke microphone. “We’d have so many big family parties, and I’d be eating the traditional foods and having karaoke nights, which is such a Filipino thing,” she said.
Growing up with Filipino influence has connected Malabuyo to her maternal and paternal grandparents, all of whom grew up in the Philippines. Yet Malabuyo never thought her heritage would unlock the door to another Olympic opportunity.
In 2023, Malabuyo received a call from the Filipino National Team. She was asked to represent the Philippines in a series of competitions in hopes of earning a spot in the Olympics with the team.
As an American citizen, Malabuyo applied for dual citizenship. Once accepted, she reentered elite gymnastics, competing internationally while continuing to be a student-athlete.
She traveled to Egypt, Germany, Azerbaijan and Qatar within a month — in addition to her competitions for UCLA.
“This past season, I would be in an international competition, fly 15 hours to compete at an away meet (for UCLA), then go back to campus, do my normal classes and then fly back to an international competition,” she said.
Her rigorous schedule paid off. After earning an all-around bronze medal at the Asian Championship, Malabuyo achieved a goal she had thought was out of reach: a bid to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“I’ve been working so hard for this dream ever since I was a little girl. I think it’s an even greater achievement because I get to compete for the Philippines and represent my culture and community,” she said.
Malabuyo credits her family for helping her achieve this goal.
“My family is so supportive and so loving,” she said. “They encouraged me to try for this Olympics. They know what I’m capable of, and I think that’s where my motivation comes from.”
Her parents, Ana and Joel, have attended every one of Malabuyo’s gymnastics competitions since she began gymnastics at age 5. Her parents will attend the Olympics, along with her siblings, Elija and Eyva, and most of her extended family.
“They are getting shirts made with the Filipino flag and with my last name on the back,” she said. “They’re all going to be matching when they watch me compete.”
Now, as Malabuyo prepares for Paris, she reflects on her journey, recalling a quote that changed the course of her career.
“Life is about choice,” a coach told her. “The choices I make dictate the life I want to live.
“If I never made the choice to try again, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Malabuyo said. “I wouldn’t have made it to the Olympics.”
