University of California, Santa Cruz student Isabelle Connor will represent Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics. Connor is a member of the country's rhythmic gymnastics team. She is the first Olympian in the university's history. Connor fell in love with rhythmic gymnastics as a young girl. "It is an artistic sport so it has a very unique ability for you to express yourself through that. I have always loved expressing myself through music and dance," Connor said. Despite being a talented junior athlete, Connor did not envision herself competing in the Olympic Games. "When I was younger, I was not naturally a very big dreamer. I just tried to do my best at my small goals... I did not think that it was a realistic thing. Now, I am aware that I can dream of things that seem unrealistic," Connor said.After years of competing as an individual, Connor switched her focus to group competition. At the age of 17, she moved to Chicago to train with the U.S. national team. It was then that Connor began believing in an Olympic dream, "I started to think, 'wow this is really possible. I can do this."Rhythmic gymnastics is a relatively young Olympic sport. The individual competition was added to the Games in 1984. Group competition began in 1996. The U.S. has never medaled in either discipline, however, Connor and her team have seen success on the international stage. The team won a silver medal in both all-around and five balls at the 2019 Pan American Games. Connor said the team is focused on continuing that success in Tokyo. "Every time, we are just trying to get the U.S. as high up as possible. We did that in 2019 and hopefully we can do that and continue to make history for the sport."The rhythmic gymnastic competition begins on Aug. 6 with individual athletes. The group competition begins on Aug. 7. The 21-year old was accepted by UCSC in 2018 but has delayed her enrollment in order to focus on gymnastics. She will attend the university in the fall.