Rin Keys talks to her clubs at the World Championships in Frankfurt; On track for LA28 Olympic quota.

“I talk to my clubs a lot”: USA’s Rin Keys on the unusual ‘teammates’ helping her chase LA28 - exclusive

U.S. rhythmic gymnast Rin Keys tells Olympics.com why she talks to her apparatuses before every routine, and how her trusted “teammates” are helping her pursue her Olympic dream.

Can a person really, truly connect with an object?

A treasured family heirloom, an old concert T-shirt, a battered childhood toy. Sometimes an inanimate object becomes something more, accumulating memories and meaning that can last a lifetime.

For U.S. rhythmic gymnast Rin Keys , that connection comes in her apparatuses, specifically in the shape of two 150-gram clubs.

She calls them her teammates.

And when Keys steps on to the carpet at the world’s biggest competitions, including the 2026 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Frankfurt, Germany (12-16 August), she doesn’t feel as though she is stepping out on the carpet alone.

“It’s like we’re a team together,” Keys told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview in Frankfurt. “I can’t do my sport without my apparatus and my apparatus can’t just be out there doing my sport.

“So I definitely feel like there’s a strong connection between all of our apparatuses because it’s really a team. It’s just not you by yourself, it’s both of you, you and your apparatus.”

Keys says it is not unusual for rhythmic gymnasts to take that relationship one step further and give their apparatus names. And while Keys is “not very into naming things”, she does do something perhaps far more interesting: Before every single routine, Keys and her two teammates have a little pre-competition meeting.

“ I talk to my clubs a lot . I say, ‘I’ll do all what I need to do’, and then my clubs will do what they need to do. I say, ‘Teamwork makes a dream work. We’re together, so we’re a team. We can do this. Let’s go’.

There is, however, one slight imbalance in the relationship.

Do the clubs ever answer?

“No,” Keys replied. “We’re just connected.”

In a sport where competition often feels like a “mental game”, Keys has found solace in her trusty clubs.

“It [rhythmic gymnastics] looks very easy and very smooth, but it is a really hard and demanding sport,” she said.

“But personally, competing is one of the best parts of this sport, and I really love competing so much that even through all the hard times, competing makes it easier, because you’re giving it your all, you’re on this big stage, and it just gives me so much joy .”

Silver Medalist Rin Keys of United States, Gold Medalist Darja Varfolomeev of Germany and Bronze Medalist Sofia Raffaeli of Italy - Individual Ball Final, Rhytmic Gymnastics World Championships 2025

Rin Keys eyes ‘final dream’ of competing at LA28 in her hometown

Keys’ conversation with her unnamed teammates will continue in the individual all-around final on Friday (14 August), only this time, there is even more for them to talk about.

The first quota places for the upcoming Olympic Games LA28 are on the line in Frankfurt, with the three highest-ranked eligible athletes in the individual all-around final each securing a coveted Olympic quota place* for their respective National Olympic Committee (NOC).

In the group competition later in the week, meanwhile, the three highest-ranked NOCs in the group all-around final will each earn qualification for a five-gymnast group at LA28.

Keys booked her place in Friday’s world championship individual all-around final in 11th position, with Olympic champion Darja Varfolomeev leading the field in first.

For the 17-year-old California native, the Games she is chasing will not simply take place on home soil, but in her very own home city of Los Angeles, the same place where an (even) younger Keys once sat watching Olympic footage of the gymnasts she admired, imagining what it might be like to join them one day.

Among those she would watch were fellow American Evita Griskenas and Belarusian Anastasiia Salos .

At just 17, Keys has already built a remarkably decorated international career. A 2025 senior world championship silver medal with the ball, five Pan American golds and nine junior world titles are among some of the teenager’s top accolades.

Yet there is one “final goal” still missing from her young collection: becoming an Olympian.

“Competing in the Olympics is one of my goals, especially having it in my home country,” Keys said. “It’s such an honor and I’m super excited for all the things that are going to happen, especially during 2028.”

Olympics.com asked her to deliver a message to someone she hopes will eventually get to hear it: the version of Rin Keys who made it to LA28.

“This is Rin in 2026,” she began. “I hope you’re doing well and that you reached your goal.

“ Just to be there at the Olympics has so much excitement, so I hope that you get there and, once you do, just try your best and give it your all .”

*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the LA Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at LA28.

How to qualify for rhythmic gymnastics at LA28 Olympics

Individual All Around Final | Rhythmic Gymnastics | Olympic Games Paris 2024

The Rhythmic Gymnastics Individual All Around Final was held on 09

2024 at La Chapelle Arena, Paris. Darja Varfolomeev (GER) claimed Gold, Boryana Kaleyn (BUL) took Silver and Sofia Raffaeli (ITA) completed the podium.

Picture by 2025 Getty Images

Rhythmic Gymnastics | World Championships | Frankfurt | Germany