The IAC Games weren't always about tests of strength and speed. Agility was also something the athletes competed over. It may be easy to think agility was an aspect of speed, but tests of agility required more than just being fast. The IAC Gymnastics Showcase was a good example of that. The events involved required flexibility and muscle control that were tricky to master.
Though there were some Animalians who exceeded in this category. A large amount of them were based on arboreal animals, particularly primates. Though there were some other competitors from outside those groups, like a few lizards and even some birds. Frogs in particular have done well in these series of competitions.
But one particular Animalian stood out from the others in many ways. Rocket was seen as the underdog in these gymnastics by quite a few people. There were some that even saw hir as a dark horse candidate, so to speak. An uplifted fish shouldn't have much of an edge in these kinds of games, outside of water. Some people say that Rocket's name was misleading, expecting that name to belong to a raccoon. There were even a few disparaging words against Rocket's hermaphroditic nature.
However, Rocket wasn't just any kind of fish. Shi was a mangrove killifish, an underrated, but very hardy species. Shi had been jumping through air longer than most of these people would have guessed. Shi didn't even need any modifications to the Animalian virus to become the amphibious dual-sexed being she was now. And while shi may not be the biggest fish around, shi was going to show them how well shi can move.
But before the vault, Rocket was doing one other game first. The still rings are traditionally considered a men's sport as it takes considerable upper body strength to keep oneself up in the air while holding onto the rings. In this case, being a hermaphrodite worked in Rocket's favor as shi technically qualified as a male. Not that hir muscles were really any weaker as an Animalian. Still, the still rings were no easy feat. In fact, in some ways it was harder for hir since shi had hir tail to move as well. But still, Rocket was able to do some moves that would dislocate the shoulders of an average person, including an inverted cross and was able to land neatly on the mat. The fact that shi jumped 15 feet into the air to start hir routine made it all the more spectacular.
But what made Rocket really stand out was the vault. Shi couldn't jump the way shi used to as a fish, but hir leg muscles were pretty strong. And hir jump at the start of hir still rings routine showed how high shi could jump. Now the question was how far shi could go. The crowd watched the killifish run to the springboard, jumped and flipped, partially landed hand-first on the vaulting horse, push off, spin in midair, and landed neatly on hir feet. Hir form was very good considering shi had to compensate for hir tail. Shi also got a good distance of 10 feet, considering shi had to focus more on form than distance.
While other Animalians would be getting gold in their species category, Rocket certainly made gold in hir category which mainly consisted of the other cold-blooded Animalians participating. Shi certainly had exceeded expectations in this event. Which would definitely mean endorsement deals for hir in the future. But for Rocket, the important part was that the mangrove killifish would have a bit more acknowledgement in the animal kingdom now.