Former OU gymnast Maggie Nichols hopes to inspire with new book, 'Unstoppable'

NORMAN — Maggie Nichols is many things.

A former world-class gymnast. The most decorated gymnast in the history of OU women’s gymnastics and perhaps college gymnastics as a whole. A sexual-abuse survivor.

Nichols’ story, as “Athlete A” — the first to come forward to report Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor, to USA Gymnastics — has been well told.

But Nichols hadn’t fully shared her story in her own words.

During her time with the Sooners from 2016 through 2020, Nichols knew she wanted to write a book about her journey.

Now, that book is a reality.

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“Unstoppable! My Journey from World Champion to Athlete A to 8-Time NCAA National Champion and Beyond” was released last month.

“My story is one of resilience and overcoming,” Nichols said Wednesday. “I hope I reach everybody but I feel like it’s more targeted to athletes.”

Nichols will hold a book signing at 5:15 p.m. Friday at Lloyd Noble Center ahead of the top-ranked Sooners' meet against West Virginia, which is scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m.

“I really just wanted to share my story — all the highs, all the lows and the lessons that I learned,” Nichols said. “Throughout my career, I dealt with a lot of injuries and obviously a lot with USA Gymnastics. I just wanted to share my story of how I overcame with a positive outlook.

“I just hope that people are inspired by my story and also learn a lot from it. … There’s a lot of detail in my book that people don’t already know.”

Nichols considered using “Undeniable” for the book title but ultimately landed on “Unstoppable.”

“We just felt like that was the most fitting, and I just love that word,” Nichols said. “I feel like it’s very empowering, so that’s kind of how we landed on that one and I truly love it.”

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While there’s plenty about Nichols’ involvement as a victim not only of Nassar but also of the USA Gymnastics cover-up of the abuse, the book goes well beyond that.

“I think people mainly kind of know me as the gymnast from Oklahoma and also as Athlete A, so I thought it was really fun to incorporate other stories and other aspects of my career, my journey, and my life into my story,” Nichols said.

Nichols said the process of writing the book was tough at times.

“It was definitely difficult to relive some of the dark and hard times of my life and my career,” Nichols said. “But I thought it was really important to do so just to educate other people and also people who may have dealt with the same things and could relate to it and feel less alone.”

Since her gymnastics career ended — with the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out the 2020 postseason and Nichols’ chance for yet another NCAA all-around title —Nichols has been plenty busy.

She spent two seasons as a graduate assistant with the Sooners, and while collegiate coaching could still be in her future, she’s busy with several other ventures.

Nichols does online personal training through her own fitness app, runs the Maggie Nichols Foundation to “help heal victims and survivors of all type of abuse,” puts on gymnastics meets around the country, and regularly travels for speaking engagements.

“It’s fun to do a bunch of different things,” Nichols said.

Nichols is looking forward to returning to Lloyd Noble Center.

“I’m just so excited to meet each and every person and just be in a very special place that just means so much to me,” Nichols said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Former OU gymnast Maggie Nichols hopes to inspire with new book