“I’m a fan of us,” Carreira said. “Any day in training when we’re working super hard and everything feels like it’s flowing—those days are really fun and really rewarding, sometimes more so than the big competitions. You feel like you gave it your all and everything worked out.”
Even something as silly as a meme.
A frog in a mirror, wearing a crown, crying, telling herself she’s a star, became something more for Carreira and Ponomarenko. It started on Instagram, the two sending the meme back and forth on bad days just to make each other laugh.
Ponomarenko still remembers the first time: sitting in the locker room, one of them saying, “You have to check your phone,” and Carreira losing it—crying, practically—over a frog in a pink dress.
But somewhere along the way, exhausted before a run-through, they started saying it out loud as a joke. It never stopped.
“It’s truly the last thing we tell each other before we get into our starting pose,” Ponomarenko said, “and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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At least he doesn't kill her this time.
