BERKELEY, Calif. — In a tiny, out-of-the-way gym hidden among the hills on the outskirts of the campus of the University of California here, Toni-Ann Williams enthusiastically dragged a huge mat to the balance beam area before getting to work. She carried her own vault springboard to run through several repetitions.
Her upgraded floor exercise needed to be just right at the World Gymnastics Championships in Scotland, a 10-day meet that began Friday, where Jamaica’s hopes of making history by qualifying its first Olympic gymnast ride on Williams’s every high-flying flip and acrobatic twist. As Williams practiced, her college teammates were working on routines they were months away from performing in competition.