(Photo: Sun Devil Athletics)
There is no way around it. Arizona State University freshman Cairo Leonard-Baker is a star. As one of the youngest gymnasts on the roster, she has led the Gym Devils to one of the most successful seasons of the program’s past decade.
Before coming to ASU, Leonard-Baker grew up in Oakland, Calif. where, as many young girls are, she was involved in gymnastics; however, there was something special about Leonard-Baker.
“To be perfectly honest with you, Cairo never ever moved when she was inside of me, and when she came out she never stopped moving,” Cairo’s mother, Ruth Leonard said. “She first tried soccer and she kept flipping around the field, so I put her in gymnastics, and at about two years old they [the coaches] were watching her, and by four she was in development at the club gymnastics.”
And she never looked back. Training at Head Over Heels Gymnastics, Leonard-Baker was an outstanding youth gymnast, commiting to ASU at a young age while being a two-time Junior Olympic National qualifier.
With Cairo in the spotlight, there was one woman behind the scenes motivating her all along the way. The affore-mentioned Ruth Leonard is still the number one driving force behind her daughter.
“She’s definitely one of the people I do this for because she was always driving me back and forth from gym when she didn’t have to be. Taking time out of her day to come to meets,” Leonard-Baker said as she paused for a moment to apologize for tearing up. “She was always making sure that if I wanted to quit, I could, and she was always really supportive no matter what I wanted.”
It is very easy to pick up on what a special relationship this is. When describing what her daughter means to her, Leonard said, “Cairo means the world to me, she’s my everything. I love her infinity.”
But Ruth Leonard did not just give her daughter love growing up, she also gave her some important advice.
“I always told Cairo your biggest competition is yourself, so as long as you can look at yourself and see what everybody else sees, you’re gonna be good to go,” the mother said beaming with pride.
With her supportive rock behind her, Leonard-Baker was ready to choose the college that would be graced with her talents. While it is obvious which university she selected, what is not as commonly known is why she picked Arizona State.
As earlier stated, she committed at a young age. So young in fact that the main reason she chose ASU was how much a coaching staff liked her, a coaching staff that was not even in place by the time she arrived in Tempe.
“I really liked Rene [Lyst] and Jeff and Ralph [Rosso] a lot,” the freshman explained. “I thought the campus was really pretty, and I liked how many options they had for a major because I committed when I was really young. I had no idea what college even was really.”
When asked why she decided to stick with the Gym Devil program even after the coaching staff changed, Leonard-Baker credited her loyal personality that made her want to stay.
It was a good thing for the Gym Devils because as the end of her first season in collegiate gymnastics comes to a close, Leonard-Baker has racked in five Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Week Awards and with that earned herself Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year. She is one of the top-three freshman all-around gymnasts in the country, and she has posted 13, 9.9 or better routines and has won 12 season titles.
“I didn’t expect to come out doing this good because I know a lot of freshman don’t really do that,” Leonard-Baker said. But she might be the only one that did not see her success coming, at least in the family.
“Cairo will give you her last, she’s got a heart of gold, and she’s always looking out for the underdog,” said Ruth Leonard speaking of what makes her daughter successful, “she just always had that drive.”
As she attends every home meet and talks to her daughter every day, Ruth Leonard has watched Cairo succeed all season long.
While the mother-daughter combo is in touch constantly, nobody spends as much time with the freshman than her teammates. “They’re definitely like my favorite people ever,” said Leonard-Baker happily about the girls she is with every day. “There’s so much less pressure because I just trust my teammates, like I know if I don’t hit that they will go up there and do a beautiful routine.”
With her teammates by her side and her mom in the stands, Leonard-Baker has kept the gymnastics world glued to her every move throughout the most outstanding freshman season in program history.
