Excitement is building in Minnesota gymnasts after the announcement that Minneapolis will host the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Gymnastics.

In the Mini Hops gym, the gymnasts are defying gravity.

The moment Mila Ruffin started walking, she learned how to flip.

“Gymnastics is a part of my identity and it’s just what makes me me and I love it so much,” Mila Ruffin said.

The 12-year-old strives to perfect her gymnastics skills at the Plymouth gym, hoping to show off her talent someday on a national stage.

“I need to be brave, confident, but mostly patient,” Ruffin said.

She won’t have to wait long to be in the same room with the country’s top gymnasts.

Minneapolis will host the U.S.A. Olympic Team Trials for gymnastics next year.

“My idol right now is Suni Lee and I want to be just like her,” Ruffin said.

David Ward, Mini Hops gymnastics coach, helps the athletes stay sharp.

He said the trials will push the young gymnasts to leave their best on the mat.

“It’s motivating for them and it translates into their practice and their performance to get to the higher level,” Ward said. “I’m so proud of their hard work every day. They’re my heroes.”

With the Olympic trials right in their backyard, gymnasts explained their dreams are so close, they can feel them.

“It pushes me and excites me and amps me up to keep going,” Solen Chiodi said. “Performing in front of a home crowd would be amazing.”

Chiodi is aspiring to land a spot on Team USA.

He’s already on track as a USA Gymnastics junior national team member.

“It takes a lot of grit, a lot of passion,” Chiodi said.

That passion fuels every flip and jump.

Through the ups and downs, the gymnasts said if you fall, you get back up and stick the landing.

“I need to just remember that everything’s going to happen as long as I work hard,” Ruffin said.

Minnesota Native Olympian Shane Wiskus trained at Mini Hops gym in Plymouth.