Who Is Paul Juda's Girlfriend? All About Reyna Guggino

Olympic gymnast Paul Juda credited his girlfriend, Reyna Guggino, with helping him get to the 2024 Paris Olympics

<p>LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty ; Paul Juda/Instagram</p> Paul Juda reacts after competing in the parallel bars event of the artistic gymnastics men

LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty ; Paul Juda/Instagram

Paul Juda reacts after competing in the parallel bars event of the artistic gymnastics men's qualification during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 27, 2024. ; Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino.

Paul Juda is a bronze medalist and an Olympic all-around finalist — and he says he owes his success to the support of his girlfriend, Reyna Guggino.

The U.S. Olympic gymnast has been dating Guggino since September 2020. The two met at college, where they were both gymnasts for the University of Michigan team. Now, Guggino has traveled to Paris to support Juda at the 2024 Olympic Games, where he and the men’s gymnastics team, earned a bronze medal in the team all-around final, making them the first U.S. team to medal in the sport in 16 years.

"To have that kind of love, to have that kind of support and to have that kind of person next to you that also understands the ins and outs of gymnastics, it's a dream come true,” Juda told PEOPLE after winning bronze.

He added, “Every night's great, every hard day is easy with her. And when I come home, I've got nothing but a best friend. She's the love my life."

So who is Paul Juda’s girlfriend? Here’s everything to know about Reyna Guggino and her relationship with the athlete.

She is a gymnast at the University of Michigan

<p>Paul Juda/Instagram</p> Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino in 2024

Paul Juda/Instagram

Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino in 2024

Guggino is a gymnast herself, committing to the University of Michigan after graduating from H.B. Plant High School in Tampa Bay, Fla. in 2020. She graduated from the school in 2024 with a degree in biology, health and society but announced she would return for a fifth year to compete with the Wolverines in the 2025 season.

She’s had an impressive career with the Wolverines so far, after being named the national champions in 2021 and the Big Ten champions in 2022 and 2023. Guggino also became the second-ever gymnast in NCAA history to lead off a rotation with a 10.0 score, per her bio on the University of Michigan’s website.

Juda has been supportive of her gymnastics career

<p>Paul Juda/Instagram</p> Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino in 2023

Paul Juda/Instagram

Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino in 2023

Though Juda was focused on growing his own gymnastics career, he has also been supportive of Guggino throughout college, celebrating her 10.0 vault score in February 2022 with a sweet post on Instagram.

“Just a few days ago we were watching an NCAA gymnastics meet and I told her that watching her break a 10 would be the greatest thing in the world,” Juda wrote in the caption. “Unbeknownst to me, she would break that 10 just a few days later… this is only the first one babe.”

He continued, “There are more to come. I owe it all to you. No one pushes me like you. You are my everything. I love you.”

Juda and Guggino met during a visit to the University of Michigan during his freshman year

<p>Paul Juda/Instagram</p> Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino at a University of Michigan football game

Paul Juda/Instagram

Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino at a University of Michigan football game

Juda told PEOPLE after his Olympic win that he still vividly remembers the day they first met when he spotted her during her recruitment visit to the college in 2020.

"She was with her recruiting host and she was wearing this really cute outfit in Timberland boots, a beanie, jeans and a Michigan crew neck, and I was like, 'I'm going to marry that girl for sure,' " he said.

"I said to myself, that's the girl I'm going to marry one day. I don't know when, but I'm going to marry that girl for sure,” Juda added.

They began dating in 2020

<p>Paul Juda/Instagram</p> Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino.

Paul Juda/Instagram

Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino.

Juda and Guggino first began dating on Sept. 5, 2020, and have marked their anniversary on Instagram since.

“Girl, I wouldn't have guessed I'd fall for someone as hard as I've fallen for you,” Juda wrote in the caption of a post marking their third anniversary in September 2023. “We've been through the best of times and the worst of times... but we've been through them together. I find more reasons to keep falling in love with you day after day!”

Guggino pushes Juda to be a stronger athlete

<p>Paul Juda/Instagram</p> Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino celebrating Paul's 22nd birthday in July 2023

Paul Juda/Instagram

Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino celebrating Paul's 22nd birthday in July 2023

Juda revealed to PEOPLE that he may not have even made it to the Olympics without the push from Guggino. He shared that up until a month before the Olympic trials he had "started to process coming to terms with not making the team" and was "showing [Guggino] how I was starting to plan things after my gymnastics career would be done."

"I was telling her we could do all these fun things and move on with our lives, and she really had a stern talking-to with me," he said, sharing that Guggino told him, "I don't think you're going to like to hear this, but I came to one of your practices and you just kind of looked like you were giving up, and I know that's not you."

Though he said at the time the words were hurtful to hear and he was “pretty upset with her in the moment,” he knew that Guggino just wanted him to succeed at his dream.

"She said, 'I want you to chase your dream, you only have one chance to chase it,’ ” he said. Now, he says he “owe[s] it all to her.”

"If she didn't have that stern talking-to with me, I probably would've spiraled out and maybe not even made a real push for it," Juda told PEOPLE.

She came out in support of him at the 2024 Olympics

<p>Paul Juda/Instagram</p> Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino celebrating the U.S. gymnastic men's bronze medal win at the 2024 Olympics

Paul Juda/Instagram

Paul Juda and Reyna Guggino celebrating the U.S. gymnastic men's bronze medal win at the 2024 Olympics

With Guggino’s help, Juda made the Olympic team — and his girlfriend was in the stands rooting him on during the competition. She joined his family with blow-up posters of Juda’s face, cheering for him as he took the floor.

"She made so many different surprises for me that I had no idea about," he told PEOPLE.

"She made a kind of NFL denim jacket-type thing with Juda written all over it. She printed out my faces and gave it to my family,” he said. “She got tattoos, she had a shirt with that was knitted with Juda on there, so you can't ask for more of a support system than that."

After the qualifying rounds, Juda told PEOPLE that he searched for Guggino and his family in the stands, only to find them through Guggino’s yelps of support for him and their decorated jackets.

“When we walked into the arena, I didn’t see anybody because I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t know where they’re sitting. I’ll find them eventually,' " he told reporters, including PEOPLE, after the competition. "[Eventually] I hear Reyna’s signature yell, and I was like, 'It’s coming from around that area.' So I hit the routine and I was like, ‘Alright, cool. I do want to find them, I do want to see them.' "

The sight of them made Juda emotional, he admitted, as he acknowledged the long journey they had made to see him perform and make history.

“When I finally locked eyes with them and saw them, they were shaking the big heads of me,” he said. “I mean, I got a little emotional right after the pommel horse, because I was like, ‘They’re all here. They all flew hundreds and thousands of miles to come see me and it cost a lot of money.' "

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