“I never want to close that door.” Spieth Presents ETA: Emma Malabuyo Is Embracing Every Opportunity

Inside Gymnastics, in partnership with Spieth, is pleased to present the Empowerment Through Athletics (ETA) series! Through ETA, we will spotlight athletes making their mark on and off the competition floor. Our first featured athlete was Team USA’s own Leanne Wong, aka The CEO, who is now a five-time World medalist! We continued the series with one of the most outstanding athlete ambassadors of all time, four-time Olympian and nine-time World Championship competitor for Canada, Ellie Black. 

This month, we are so excited to feature fan-favorite Emma Malabuyo, who has beautifully overcome all odds in the sport to succeed on the National, NCAA, World, and Olympic stage!

From LA to Paris to Jakarta, Malabuyo has emerged not only as an ambassador for the sport but as a role model for younger athletes everywhere, including in the Philippines, which she represented at the 2024 Olympic Games and in October at the 2025 World Championships. She did it all as a student-athlete at UCLA.

In Jakarta, she found so much joy and love in mentoring her younger teammates, and told us she’s yet to close the door on her gymnastics career. As a graduate student assistant coach at her alma mater this season, she’ll once again have an opportunity to lead and give back. She has gone full circle, and we’re so excited to see what’s next for her in a journey she could have never imagined.

See the feature here, and more updates from Emma in the next issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine!

Taking It Back

On September 21, 2021, Emma Malabuyo posted a picture on her Instagram, thoughtfully smiling, poised, and showing off a glimpse of one of her favorite spots on UCLA’s campus. She captioned the image “days like these.” It was the first of so many photos she would post, in what proved to be a beautiful page in her career as a student-athlete for the Bruins. It was also one of many reflective smiles we saw from the 2020 U.S. Olympic alternate as she navigated a new chapter on and off the floor.

Malabuyo lived a lot in her gymnastics life on her way to Westwood. Her glow-up in 2021 was one of the stories that captured our hearts in a year with an endless array of captivating Olympic storylines framed by a pandemic and a Games as unpredictable as possible. Ultimately, as it was for so many athletes four years ago, Malabuyo’s satisfaction and joy wasn’t found in the final results in Tokyo, but in the journey she took. A journey that for her, was anything but smooth. After all, following so many injuries and “almosts” in the sport, earning the opportunity to just try for Tokyo in 2020 was amazing.

“Going into 2021, the goal was just to see if my body could make it through this year. I just wanted to try and make it to the Olympic Trials,” Malabuyo told us in the fall of 2021. “That was my initial goal. When I competed at Winter Cup, that was a really hard competition on me and one of my worst competitions, and then I had a really bad camp. I was just like, ‘You know, I don’t even know if Elite is for me right now’ because my body felt like it was going downhill and I didn’t have my skills. It was just really hard at the beginning of the year.”

Malabuyo’s run for an Olympic spot in 2021 could have ended right there in disappointment, and in the resignation that maybe her body just couldn’t take it. Instead, she refocused and redialed her Olympic dream with renewed resolve and the help of her longtime coach at Texas Dreams, Kim Zmeskal.

“There was a mindshift,” Malabuyo told us of her training at that time. “I talked with my coach so many times and said I just really needed to switch things up and make a different schedule for me. I started training a little bit less, and then I started telling her skills I wanted to do and setting little goals for myself. Instead of thinking big sets and big routines, we broke it into smaller pieces. I wanted to do easier skills and easier routines first before I did something else. All these little changes and also a different mindset going into it, when I started accomplishing these mini goals, it gave me more confidence that I could do the big routines.”

It showed.

Once she arrived in Fort Worth for the 2021 U.S. Championships, the injuries, the setbacks, the uncertainty, and the extra year all faded as a new Malabuyo emerged, embracing the moment, enjoying gymnastics, and hitting her routines. “When I was doing well, especially at Championships, that was definitely one of my highlights. It was a really great competition for me. I really enjoyed it.” 

She placed 4th in the All-Around there, stunning nearly everyone, and earned her spot to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials in St. Louis. She attributed her success to having a voice in her own training. “I definitely think all these changes helped. Kim just helped me a lot because she said, ‘I’m your teammate, I’m not going to try and be your coach.’ So, we had this partnership, and we worked together. I really had a voice, and I spoke up a lot. I communicated every day how my body was feeling, and I think that was a key and what helped me succeed this year.”

As an alternate for Team USA, Malabuyo travelled to Tokyo with the team and took in as much of the Olympic experience as possible, even though the circumstances outlined by COVID-19 proved extremely challenging. The four-member team (Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum), two individual athletes (Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner), and four alternates (Kara Eaker, Leanne Wong, Kayla DiCello, Malabuyo) were in separate training groups in the gym. They ate together, though seating was spaced out. They also stayed in a hotel instead of the Olympic Village. Ever the optimist, Malabuyo still embraced her time there. In addition to loving the people in Japan, who she said were all welcoming and helpful, Malabuyo enjoyed watching gymnasts from other countries practicing and performing their routines. “It was so cool seeing all these different countries doing all these different skills that were amazing.”

Following those Games, the five-time U.S. National Team member believed Tokyo was the final chapter in her Elite career. As it turned out, Malabuyo was really just beginning an extraordinary journey.

LA >>> Uzbekistan >>> City Of Light

With her one Olympic experience in the books (or so she thought), Malabuyo put everything into her time as a student-athlete. As a Bruin, Malabuyo’s artistry and personality blossomed even more as the performance quality she had always possessed turned into joy and confidence. During her time as a Bruin, she brought her best into Pauley Pavilion, especially shining on beam and floor. 

Right when things seemed balanced, a new opportunity leapt into the mix the summer before Malabuyo’s junior year. Following a phone call from the Filipino federation, a chance to compete for the Philippines, where her grandparents were born, and run at a second Olympic Games, was suddenly real. In her first Elite competition since the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, Malabuyo won silver on floor and placed fifth on beam. What was once thought to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience in Tokyo was now an open door to Paris. 

But it wouldn’t be easy.

Choosing the World Cup series route to qualify for the Games, Malabuyo initially decided to compete only in beam and floor, her two strongest events, rather than the All-around. In the World Cup series, gymnasts are ranked based on their placements in each event. After a series of competitions, the top in the points system earned Olympic qualifications. 

Sitting in second place in the points ranking in the final meet of the World Cup series in Doha, Qatar, Malabuyo struggled on floor, scoring only a 12.533 and failing to advance to the final.

Her heart broken, a devastated Malabuyo let herself cry, strengthened her resolve, and headed to the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to gamble on the All-Around in one last attempt to make her 2024 Olympic dream come true. Scoring a 50.398, she secured the All-Around bronze and punched her ticket to Paris. 

“I’m just so overwhelmed. I’m speechless. I think I’m still shaking just hearing the news. And I’m still like, ‘Is it real?’ Like, I still can’t believe it just because it’s been such a long and arduous path to get here,” Malabuyo told Olympics.com following competition.

“I’m in shock and I can’t believe it.”

Malabuyo soaked up every minute in the City of Light, sharing her journey with us along the way. It was a magical experience she’ll never forget.

Never Say Never

Following her senior year as a Bruin, Malabuyo thought she might finally hang up her grips for good. But once again, she found herself motivated and ready to go, sharing her thoughts on continuing after Paris with us when we met up in Jakarta.

Growing into a leader and mentor was especially evident as Malabuyo, together with Team USA and LSU alum Aleah Finnegan (who also competed for the Phillipines at the 2024 Olympics and 2025 Worlds), guided their young teammates, Haylle Garcia and Elaiza Yulo, through their first World Championships.

“It’s their first time as a senior, and you can already see them getting a little bit more nervous. We are there to support them in any way possible,” Malabuyo said. “I told them, ‘It’s all about getting the experience. You’re still so young, so you have so much more potential. So don’t be too hard on yourself. Just have so much fun.'”

Malabuyo’s relationship with UCLA head coach Janelle McDonald has also been key to her belief in herself.  “I love having her support and being there for me in any way possible. It’s so much fun having her here. I’m happy that she came all this way for me.”

With so much of her gymnastics story already written, Malabuyo clearly has more to give and is very open to what the future holds. Her time as a Bruin, where she finished as a four-time All-American, three-time conference team champion, 2025 NCAA balance beam runner-up, and AAI Award nominee, and her time competing for the Philippines further restored her love for the sport.

“I never want to say never,” she said about her future. “I love gymnastics so much, and I’m very passionate about this sport. Being around all of these competitors and seeing all the girls work so hard motivates and encourages me. You know, I never want to close that door.

“It’s been a long time coming. I’m just so happy that I made it all the way this far, and I honestly loved competing out there again, and it was so much fun, and I had a blast. And being with Team Philippines is the best.”

Photos by Ricardo Bufolin and Lloyd Smith for Inside Gymnastics

Video Coverage in Jakarta for Inside Gymnastics provided by Nate Salsman.

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