If you haven’t been to a gymnastics meet at the O’Connell Center, you are missing out. More than 8,000 fans were there tonight as the No. 5-ranked Gators defeated Kentucky.

Florida is still having trouble with the balance beam, but it’s not like any of us watching can be critical. I’d probably injure myself if I even tried to WALK across the beam. It’s scary to watch the gymnasts compete. The boyfriend of a former gymnast once told me that he couldn’t watch when his girlfriend compete on the beam.

These young women are every bit the athlete that their male counterparts at UF are, even if they are only 4′10″ tall.

Melanie Sinclair earned her third career perfect 10 on the uneven bars, but the real story of the night was the team’s fourth-annual “Link to Pink” event, held to raise awareness for breast cancer.

The athletes wore pink uniforms instead of orange and blue. The judges’ tables were pink. The words “Hope” and  “Cure” were hanging at opposite ends of the floor, cut from 8′ sheets of plywood. A large portion of the crowd were young girls who idolize the gymnasts on the floor.

Hundreds of cancer survivors formed a tunnel for the gymnasts to run through before the meet and the daughter of a cancer survivor was the awards presenter after the meet, which did the most to promote awareness of breast cancer.

Florida has two home gymnastics meets remaining, Feb. 20 vs. Alabama and March 6 vs. Michigan. Do yourself a favor and make it to one of them!

Florida junior Melanie Sinclair earns a 10.0 on the uneven bars during the Gators' 195.925-193.850 win against Kentucky on Friday at the O'Connell Center / Gator Country photo by Tim Casey