Tori Boggs is our newest O2 Athlete, and we’re excited to share her story. O2 recently chatted with Tori about being a jump rope world champion, a Cirque du Soleil performer, and a growing social media star. How many people can say that?
How did your love for jump rope start? Were you that girl who hogged the jump rope on the school playground?
Tori: [Laughs] Actually, I would not use the jump ropes at recess because I did not like the jump ropes they had. They weren’t very good!
I first saw jump rope [as a sport] when I was five, and I fell in love with it.
I had to learn to jump rope. I was really bad at first. I was so uncoordinated! It took me so long just to be able to do a single jump.
So the ropes at school were not up to par? What makes a good jump rope?
Tori: For a lot of the stuff I’m doing in my videos, my rope is only six dollars. So a good jump rope is not necessarily expensive. It just needs the right parts to make it functional. Really easily adjustable in size is good because everyone jumps differently.
Beaded ropes can be some of the best, especially because they will last outside. You also have a lot of visual cues on the rope so you can see it. There’s also the tangible feedback of the weight of the rope and the audible feedback of the rope hitting the ground.
I have loved RPM ropes for a long time, from both an athlete standpoint and a design standpoint. Now they are one of my sponsors, and I 100% recommend them for double unders and anything CrossFit related. But a lot of people will try to go with a wire rope when they first start out, and the handles with the ball bearings are not the place to start because you do not learn to use your body properly with the rope and how to control it.
When did you start jumping competitively?
Tori: I was seven when I went to my first competition, and I got last place. I told my mom I never wanted to get last place again.
When I went to my first national tournament, I saw a bunch of little kids doing 3-Minute Speed, and [being good at Speed] became my first real objective. You can be eight years old and beat someone who is 28 years old purely based off of who is fastest.
In a national or world tournament, the prelim rounds are in age categories, and if you win, you are the National or World Age Division Champion. But, the last day is the finals, and those are called Grands. They are regardless of age group.
I won 30 Grand World titles, and I was the youngest to ever to win the All-Around Grand World Championship title.
Is there one that stands out that you’re most proud of?
Tori: I think my greatest moment would be surpassing 1,000 jumps in three minutes. I got 1010 jumps at the World Jump Rope Championships in 2017. I literally trained since I was eight years old to do that. My mom coached me. She took me to the gym at 5am before school, stayed late after practice, and gave up all her weekends and summers. My mom was there on the floor coaching me that day. My brother ran down on the competition floor too. It was this really amazing moment that took me so long to achieve.
You’re also a performer with Cirque du Soleil. How did that happen?
Tori: I interviewed at Ohio State University for a scholarship. All I talked about in the interview was jump rope, and they said, ‘You know you can jump rope here. We can help you make that happen.’
Tori chose Ohio State. With the help of a Professor who was a jump rope fan, she made jump rope a club sport at the school. She helped other schools start their programs as well, and now there are 32 across the country.
Tori: To promote jump rope at Ohio State, I started doing performances anywhere I could. I ended up on The Ellen Degeneres Show because Ohio State made a video for alumni that went viral. Performing randomly started from there, and I was flying out every weekend to performances like NBA half-time shows and America’s Got Talent.
At Ohio State I studied industrial design and pre-med, and when I graduated, the plan was to go to med school. Then all of a sudden, I got this offer to perform with Cirque du Soleil.
I saw Cirque when I was a little girl, but I didn’t know anything about the circus--most people grew up in a circus family or they went to a circus school and graduated with a Circus Arts degree. That was nothing I knew about.
So basically you asked yourself, ‘Do I go to med school or do I join the circus?’
Tori: [Laughs] Yes! I know, what a choice! I have loved the experience. It’s incredible to work in such a creative and professional company. I just cannot describe the love and the joy for this job. It will be tough to live up to for the rest of my life.
And so where did the social media videos come in?
Tori: When COVID hit last spring I was performing in theaters in Germany, and they said we couldn’t leave because we wouldn’t be able to come back into the country. So we just kind of hung out there for seven months. My apartment there had this outdoor space on a rooftop. I was very lucky for this, though the floor tiles were loose so I twisted my ankles most of the summer [Laughs].
At first, I just would send my parents videos of me jumping to show them that I was in good spirits and doing ok. Then I started posting them. And then suddenly, I had this whole Instagram world going on.
Check out @snorib on Instagram or @toriboggs on TikTok for her jump rope tutorials and incredible videos!
Tell us how you became an O2 Athlete.
Tori: When I first tried O2, I really loved it. It’s easy to integrate into my training and my life. I love to open one after practice and really feel hydrated. I also find myself drinking O2 with my lunch because it tastes so good!
When I recently traveled to Italy, I could only take the powders. I took the Immunity Mix on the plane to help keep me healthy. When I got there, I was training with some other athletes and shared the Hydration Mix with everyone. It was a hit!
I love the O2 story and the values of Honesty, Humility, and Hustle--it all totally fits me and aligns with my values. I follow the other O2 Athletes and respect and admire them as well. I felt like I would be in really good company here.
And it all just fell into place. The best relationships are the easy ones that make sense and happen naturally and that has been O2.
Be sure to check out Tori's Athlete Page for more scoop on workouts, playlists, and O2 favorites!