(LAFAYETTE, La) – Nicole Ahsinger trains here in the Hub City at Trampoline and Tumbling Express.

Just last week, with a bronze medal finish at the Italy World Cup she earned the U.S. a spot in the trampoline competition for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics..

“When I was standing up there, everyone was telling me congratulations,” Ahsinger says. “I was like they finally kind of know who I am. I’m not just some little girl going to the Olympic games anymore. People are asking me like who’s going to the Olympic games, what’s gonna happen? People were excited for me and it made me really excited.”

That question of who’s going to the Olympics still remains.

For trampoline gymnastics, only one male and one female get to represent the United States at the Olympic Games. Even though Ahsinger qualified the US for a spot in the competition, she still has to compete in the final Olympic Trials to see if she will be the gymnast headed to Tokyo.

So the training continues.

“Monday through Thursday, we have two-a-day training,” Ahsinger says. “Training is about two to two-and-a-half hours. We train six days a week. On two days, we only have one training. It’s a lot that goes into it, but it doesn’t seem like a lot because it’s just so much fun.”

The training and the territory is nothing new for Ahsinger. She has been to the final Olympic Trials before, where she earned a spot in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

“I got to do the Opening Ceremonies,” Ahsinger says. “I got to meet so many incredible people like Michael Phelps and Serena Williams. It was just so amazing. I didn’t compete how I wanted to, so I knew I had to continue.”

Ahsinger will leave this Wednesday for the Olympic Trials in St. Louis, Missouri.

No longer the new kid on the trampoline, but a familiar face accompanied by familiar emotions.

“I definitely feel like I know what to expect, being knowledgeable on the fact that I know how it feels like,” Ahsinger says. “I know what it feels like to go and compete at the last Olympic Trial. I think that’s why I get kind of nervous right now, is because I know exactly what my stomach is going to feel like. I just feel really ready. I hope things go my way, but there’s another girl here that’s really good and she could also make it as well.”

By this Friday, we will know who has earned that spot plus the alternate spot in Tokyo for the trampoline competition.