Josh Dixon takes his next step on the road to the 2016 Summer Olympics when he heads to Connecticut in mid-August for the 2013 P&G Gymnastics Championships at the XL Center in Hartford. The four-day competition serves as USA Gymnastics' national championships.
For Dixon and others, the event is the "re-ranking of the national team," he said. "It will be exciting because this is first year of a brand new four-year cycle. There will be some new faces and some returning [competitors].
"My goal is to be within the top five overall," and he will participate in all six events in Connecticut.
Dixon, 23, is a San Jose, Calif., native, who earned fameand two NCAA team national championshipsat Stanford. He is openly gay and was a participant in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.
"Everyone has to re-earn their spot on the [U.S.] National Team, based on a complex point system," Dixon said of the 15-person squad. "This meet also is our selection for the 2013 World Championship team," running Sept. 25 Oct. 7, in Antwerp, Belgium.
"The year after an Olympics, [the] World Championships are not team-based, and my strengths play into a team-format competition, whereas since it's strictly an individual World Championships, they are looking more for event specialists and top all-around [performers] in the country.
"I'm pretty confident in my ability to be a top three finisher at our national championships on three events, but, in the grand scheme of things, I am not sure how that will play out on the world stage.
"I think I have a good chance, but think I need to focus on hitting two-days' worth of competition, and then the results will pan out."
Dixon said returning to the U.S. National Team is "crucial" for competing internationally. "You have to be on the 15-person U.S. National Team to go anywhere outside of the U.S., and also represent the U.S., for a six-month period until the next re-ranking, in February [2014].
"I really have to build my name domestically and internationally in order to really be in the mix and in contention for 2015-2016.
"This is where it all starts."
Because his goal is clear: wear red, white and blue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016 at the Games of the XXXI Olympiadespecially since Dixon admittedly was "disappointed" that he did not qualify for the 2012 Games in London.
"From a really young age, I knew that [in] 2012 I would be the right age, [with] the right skill-set. It had been a long-term goal. But, looking where I was physically and mentally at that time, I just wasn't good enough," Dixon said, "I broke onto the Senior National Team at the beginning of 2011, and unfortunately I had a pretty traumatic and untimely injury at the end of the collegiate season. In hindsight, just being one of those 15 guys who even got to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials [in 2012], that was a huge honor and accomplishment unto itself, and definitely a stepping-stone to where I want to go in the future. I'm disappointed, but also proud of what I was able to accomplish in the years leading up to 2012, and 2012 as well. Overall, it was a good experience for me."
Dixon's best events are the floor routine and high bar. He admittedly struggles on the rings and parallel bars, mostly because of his height. He is 5-foot-10, and weighs 177 pounds.
"The Olympics have always been a dream of mine, something that I knew I could work toward, but now that it's at least somewhat of a reality, that my goal is somewhat within my grasp, that it's very tangible at this point in my life … it's shocking, humbling because I know how much work is needed to get there," he said. "It definitely is going to be a long three years. The amount of work, the amount of sacrifice you must do is incredible."
Dixon was a seven-time All-American at Stanford, who earned worldwide headlines coming out while still in college, especially since he was romantically tied to a varsity swimmer at the school.
"Stanford was an experience like no other; I wouldn't trade it for the world and I would do it again in a heartbeat," Dixon said. "You're surrounded by such a diverse student-body, by so much greatness inside and outside of the classroom; it's just a really, really unique environment, one that definitely challenges you mentally and physically. Being an athletes at Stanford is added pressure. There are so many brilliant people at Stanford, in so many different fields. You definitely are humbled immediately by who and what you're surrounded by," on campus.
Dixon's Stanford squad won the national championship in 2009 and again in 2011.
"The experience of winning with such a tight-knit group of guys is such a remarkable experience, something that is very rare," he said. "Our team title in 2011 was the school's 100th national championship, which was very exciting."
Dixon said coming out when he did, while still in college, "helped" in gymnastics "because I wasn't carrying that burden anymore."
"So much of what we do [in gymnastics] is mentally taxing, and so much energy for me was spent worrying about coming out, problems of how I would be accepted on my team, by my teammates, by my coaches, my peers, my competitors.
"Coming out allowed me to be me, and was a huge stepping stone in my journey in gymnastics. I now think I can be a positive voice for change, a positive role model for younger and older athletes, and non-athletes."
Neat the end of his sophomore year at Stanford, Dixon came out to another collegiate gymnast who he had known since age 10. They were talking about relationships and things going on in their lives, "and it just came out," he said.
Dixon, as a senior, was dating another Stanford student-athlete.
Coming out was not an issue at Stanford, he said. In fact, Dixon said his teammates "were just happy for me to be me and have a certain level of confidence, which I had not portrayed before [coming out]."
When asked if he now is single or dating, Dixon laughed. "That's a good question. I am currently single. My time spent in the gym training, plus competing, is not very conducive to having a very strong relationship," he said. "The person from [my] senior year [at Stanford] still has a strong presence in my life, but we're not exclusive or dating."
Since coming out, Dixon said he's only received "positive" reactions, especially "how inspirational my story has been to others," he said.
"Not much has changed," since coming out, Dixon said. "I'm still the same person; I just like guys. Plus, I'm more comfortable with who I am."
Such that, Dixon said if he knew years ago about what life would be like when openly gay, he would have come out sooner, he said, "because carrying around that burden for almost three years [in college] is such a distraction. I wasn't able to be myself the way I how know."
Aug. 20 UPDATE:
Josh Dixon among top gymnasts in the U.S.
Dixon, who is openly gay, has earned a spot on the U.S. Men's Senior National Team with his 10th-place all-around performance at the P&G Gymnastics Championships, held this month in Hartford, Conn.
Dixon is now one of 15 athletes who are eligible to represent the U.S. in international competitions.