If you were to Google the name, Alex Naddour, almost every article on the first, and probably the second, page would be about gymnastics. An athlete for both the University of Oklahoma and Team USA, Naddour is known around the world for his skill in the sport.
Even though he competes on the world stage, Naddour is still a college student. He still loves his family and his dog. And he, like many other males, loves to fix up cars. And given the chance, these are the things he would ramble on to you about, not gymnastics.
Although he may not enjoy talking about it, Naddour was, as he likes to say, “Kind of born into it kind of a thing…My mom and my dad were both gymnasts.” Alex is not the only sibling that followed in the footsteps of his parents. His older brother, Tony, and his younger stepbrother are gymnast. In addition to his younger stepsister being a cheerleader. In fact, when Alex was being recruited by OU, he was able to draw attention to Tony, so that he was able to be recruited and join OU’s team, just like any other athlete.
While he may have been born into his sport of choice, that is not the only thing that Naddour learned to love, just like his father. Naddour says working on cars was something that him, his brother and his dad did together before he left his hometown of Gilbert, Arizona and came to college.
A hobby that started as a way to spend more time with his dad and brother has come a long ways from that. Naddour is now constantly fixing and flipping cars with a new one in his driveway just about every time you drive by. “The shortest I’ve had a car, I had a motorcycle and I had that for about twenty-four hours…the longest was probably five, maybe six months?”
One childhood wish that Naddour finally had come true as a result of coming to OU to join the gymnastics team was getting a dog. “My dad had a dog when he was in college and he wouldn’t let us get one because he got so attached and didn’t ever want to have dogs again…When we were younger the thing always was, ‘you guys are old enough to have a dog now, once we have grass in the backyard, we’ll get a dog.’ We got grass, and we never dog.”
That was exactly what Naddour did when came to Oklahoma, got a dog. His dog, Koda, is as big as most children. And to Naddour, is just that. His child. The two came together when Koda was just eight weeks old, and just one year and a few months later dog and owner act like they’ve been around each other for years.
The one thing that Naddour really has been around for years is, of course, gymnastics. He recently returned from a trip with Team USA to Tokyo for the World Championships with a bronze medal. But even this success will not keep him from staying the same person he is or from reaching to even higher goals.
Naddour shows off some of his favorite trophies won in his career.
With huge more events in the near future like the Olympics, his roommate, Raymond White, says he will change, but not a lot. “Yeah I think he will change, just like a bit. He’ll stay Alex Naddour like he’s always been, but he’ll probably have some maturity that happens to him…Especially with the Olympics. It’s the Olympics.”
His coach at OU, Mark Williams has been working with Naddour for three years and says, “the chance to be on an international floor with [him] competing to qualify for the Olympic games is gonna be a special thing.”
Of course, it will be most special for the athlete who, like every other kid, dreamed of competing in the Olympics when they were older. Now that Naddour has his chance, he plans on making the most of it and doing just what he always has been to get there.
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