Tatum Drusch becomes international gymnastics star, dreaming of 2028 Olympics

Tatum Drusch becomes international gymnastics star, dreaming of 2028 Olympics The White Bear Lake senior had her pick of colleges and chose LSU but will delay for a year to pursue the Olympics. Comment Gift Share By Joe Christensen The Minnesota Star Tribune November 10, 2026 at 4:00 AM A 2028 Olympic gymnastics hopeful is training 24 hours per week these days in a bustling gym just off Hwy. 61 in White Bear Lake. Tatum Drusch has been coming to Flips Gymnastics since she was 18 months old, when her dad brought her to burn energy. Her mom preferred dance but said Tatum “got kicked out of ballet when she was very young. They told us, ‘She will not stop jumping.’ ” By age 8, Drusch was winning state gymnastics championships. By 13, she reached “junior elite” status. By 16, she made the USA senior national team, a level few Minnesotans have reached, aside from Suni Lee, Grace McCallum, Maggie Nichols and a handful of others . “Tatum has such a positive energy to her,” Lee told Strib Varsity. “I’ve [trained] with her a few times, and she’s always been such a breath of fresh air. I’m so proud of her and excited to see all the amazing things she continues to do.” Drusch is less than a year removed from knee surgery, but she added to her comeback last Thursday, winning the Arthur Gander Memorial in Switzerland. On Wednesday, when the NCAA’s early signing period opens, she’ll sign with LSU. Drusch plans to delay her enrollment and college career for one year to pursue her Olympic dream. She’ll continue training with Bart and Lori Roskoski, who co-own Flips Gymnastics and have been her primary coaches for years. ADVERTISEMENT advertisement “I always say they’re like my second parents,” Drusch said with a laugh. “I mean, I honestly see them more than my actual parents.” They all play key roles in her support system. As her mother, Allison, said, “Lori and Bart and Tatum and [her dad] Doug and I have a wonderful relationship. And that’s also why this has been very successful.” Related Coverage For model behavior in sports, we’re all chasing Betsy Malecha Girls Cross Country Book captures more than 40 tales from the Minnesota high school sports beat Strib Varsity Tough road ahead Minnesotans love their homegrown Olympic hopefuls, and Drusch is one they might not have heard much about yet. She’s a senior at White Bear Lake High School, but like other national team members, she doesn’t compete for her high school’s gymnastics team. Her stated goal of making the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles is daunting. The United States has five roster spots, and of the five who competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics, four have returned for a shot at L.A.: Lee, Jade Carey, Hezly Rivera and Jordan Chiles. Simone Biles has not yet announced if she will be back for a fourth Olympics. She will be 31 during those Olympic Games. Drusch turns 18 on Nov. 25 and will have a busy 2027 with several instrumental meets. That list could include the Winter Cup in February, the American Cup international meet in March, the U.S. Championships in August and, assuming she qualifies, the World Gymnastics Championships in September. advertisement Lee won gold in the 2020 Olympic all-around and overcame kidney disease to win three more medals at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The St. Paul native will be 25 during the next Olympics. “She’s like a hometown girl, so she’s really a role model to me,” Drusch said. “And now that she’s coming back, it’s fun to see how she does. She treats everyone like equals out on the comp floor.” Lest the friendship go to Drusch’s head, her mom’s blunt sense of humor keeps her grounded. “We can say this in a loving way: ‘Suni’s eons ahead of you, Tatum,’ and she knows that,” Allison said. “But I think a lot of other girls in Tatum’s situation would go, ‘Well, gosh, I can’t make it.’ And with Tatum, it fires her up.” Drusch embraces the underdog role, and it played into her college decision. She had her pick of schools and visited Oklahoma (eight NCAA titles), UCLA (seven) and Florida (three) before picking LSU (one). Oklahoma seemed to be the favorite, since Lori and Sooners coach K.J. Kindler are sisters. advertisement advertisement Then there’s Utah, which has won nine NCAA titles and features two Minnesota gymnasts who’ve trained with Drusch at Flips Gymnastics: Abbi Ryssman and Ella Zirbes. But Drusch said LSU just felt like home. “Hopefully, we win a couple NCAA championships,” Drusch said. “I’m excited to be a part of that SEC experience.” Back to Plan A Elite-level gymnastics can be especially tough on the body. Drusch said she has had multiple stress fractures in her back, a foot injury and the knee issue that developed last year. She expected her recovery to take six to eight weeks, but meniscus damage extended it to six to eight months. This past June, in her first competition since the procedure, she won the American Classic at Twin Cities Twisters in Champlin. Second-place honors went to Carey, an Olympic champion. “We have all these plans for [Drusch],” Bart said. “We’ve written plans to the Olympics from when she was 12 years old. Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, and it’s a living document.” advertisement advertisement The knee injury set her timeline back at first, but after the American Classic, “she caught back up to where we needed to be at this time, which is amazing,” Bart said. Two weekends ago, Drusch attended White Bear Lake’s playoff football game against Wayzata. The next morning, she pushed herself through one of her typical four-hour Saturday workouts at Flips. That was Halloween, and she had plans to hang out with friends. Two days later, Drusch left for a weeklong stay in Switzerland, followed by some detailed work on her floor routine, including the music selection. “We land [at MSP] on Sunday from Switzerland,” Bart said. “The choreographer will be here Monday, and she’s coming from California. She will do Tatum’s floor routine for two days, and then we’ll give Tatum a few days off.” Following that break, Drusch will head to Indianapolis for national team camp. “And then I think she’s off to New York for a photo shoot with the leotard company,” Lori added. advertisement advertisement It’s a busy itinerary. And pricey, too. Allison owns a LifeCore Yoga studio, and Doug is superintendent for a construction company. Two months ago, their daughter competed in Hungary. “Gymnastics is very expensive,” Allison said. “But it’s also something that we’ve worked really hard for as a family to make financial decisions to be able to have the available funds to go.” Time may be coming Drusch was only 15 when the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials were held at Target Center. She wasn’t among the 16 gymnasts invited to compete at those trials after finishing 25th at that year’s U.S. Championships. “The 2024 Olympics [in Paris] were a great inspiration,” Drusch said. “I was like, I actually really like this path and these challenges. So let’s have an end goal here and accomplish it.” advertisement advertisement Drusch is equally talented in all four events, with her highest difficulty score on the beam. Lori said the trait that separates her is discipline. “She has to want it more than we want it for her, and she does,” Lori said. “She’s got to make sure she eats all the right things, so that she recovers well. “She has to hydrate herself the correct way. She’s got to go home and journal, and she does that every day. So the discipline isn’t just here; it’s her whole life.” During summer, Drusch trains 27 hours per week, three more than her in-school routine. It all builds to the 2028 Olympic trials that June in Louisville, Ky. The coaches are already talking about it. To make a point, they recently asked Drusch how many months away the trials are. Answer: 19. advertisement advertisement “All right,” Drusch said. “That’s not that far away.” Share Comment About the Author Joe Christensen Stri