A rocky road led senior Johanny Sotillo to happiness at Iowa.
By Mason Clarke
The road began in Venezuela in 1991. There, Johanny Sotillo developed a love for gymnastics before she could walk.
“Since I was born, I was in the gym,” Sotillo said.
It’s not an exaggeration, either. Sotillo’s mother, Mercedes Villaneuva, was a gymnastics coach and frequently brought Sotillo with her to the gym.
Sotillo began traveling as a gymnast at a young age, joining her national team at age 12. Even at 12 years old, she was journeying around, staying in dorms, and going lengths of time without seeing her family.
After a few years, her national team moved to her home city, allowing her to stay with her family for a while. That, too, would only last so long.
“My senior year of high school I did an exchange program in Michigan, and I said I was going to quit gymnastics because I didn’t want to do it anymore,” Sotillo said. “I didn’t do it for like 6 months, and then my mom was like ‘you should probably go see a gym.’ ”
Sotillo then decided to rejoin her national team. She then started looking seriously for a chance to compete at an American college. A connection with the Denver gymnastics head coach helped out and she wound up becoming a Hawkeye.
Technically a sophomore during the winter of the 2012-13 school year, Sotillo had to sit out the season to fulfill transfer requirements.
“I had to watch from the stands,” Sotillo said. “It was kind of hard.”
After redshirting, Sotillo was prepared to take action with the Hawkeyes the following season. She then tore her Achilles tendon. Another season came and went without a competition for Sotillo.
Yet Johanny Sotillo kept a positive persona.
“It was a season-ending injury so I had to sit down,” Sotillo said. “Fortunately I was able to be on the floor with [my teammates], and I traveled with the team. That was a very nice experience to make that bond stronger with them.”
She came back strong for the 2014-15 season, earning top-12 finishes in events both at the Big Ten Championships and at NCAA Regionals.
With what could have been a completed college career, her coach wasn’t sure she’d be back.
“We approached her about would she even want to come back,” head coach Larissa Libby said. “She’s quite a bit older. Gymnastics takes a toll on your body, and we weren’t even sure it was something she could physically handle.”
She came back. Now in her senior season, Sotillo competes for Iowa in the uneven bars and the beam, the two events which do not stress her previously injured ankle.
Two years after the Achilles injury, Sotillo is now a key leader on her team.
Despite the hardships, one would be hard-pressed to find Sotillo without a smile on her face.
“All she cares about is making sure that what she does impacts the team positively, no matter what it is,” Libby said. “When she talks to the team about not wasting opportunities… [she tells them] to value when you have the chance to see your family. Imagine if you don’t get to see your mom for a year-and-a-half. Venezuela’s in a bad place right now. I don’t know that she can go home.”
Despite her juggling of things in life, Sotillo finds time to help out her teammates.
“She’s just there for you, and she’ll do anything she can to help you,” junior Angel Metcalf said. “I always go to Jo So if I need help with anything. She’s always happy; she’s always positive; she’s always driven.”
Sotillo is now balancing her time as a gymnast and as a student with her time as a friend and a leader for her teammates.
“We all look up to her. I wish I could be like her because she is so amazing,” Metcalf said. “She’s got it all, and that’s all I can say about her.”
