Sophina DeJesus sat with Ellen DeGeneres on her "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" this week to talk about her gymnastics floor routine that went viral a few weeks ago. Her performance earned her UCLA team victory over their rivals from Utah.

Since the performance was uploaded online, the video went viral. Watch UCLA gymnast Sophina perform her hip-hop "Whip Nae Nae" floor routine on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" below:

Sophina explained that the idea came to her after she decided to make one last impression during her senior year. She worked with her sister, who was a fellow dancer, to come up with a routine.

"I want this year to be a bang and hit hard. So over the summer, I was like thinking of some cool dance moves and some good music, and my sister's an amazing dancer so she helped me put some cool things in," she explained. "And the dab and the nae nae and whip are really in, so I wanted people to follow along and have fun with me."

Sophina and her sister's hardwork paid off as they beat their Utah gymnastics team rival by only 0.025 of a point and captivated the Internet. She worked four hours a day for that routine and shed tears and obtained injuries including a fractured back and a broken finger.

Before she redid her winning performance, Sophina revealed in the show that she has performed on the talk show before.

"I was in a dance crew called Diamonds in the Rough when I was about 12 years old in 2006," she said and a video preview of her performance played on the screen.

Watch the original performance of the young and talented Latina below:


Gymnastics is considered a white sport and Sophina's experience was met with struggles. She was in and out of gymnastics despite winning awards while growing up because it was hard for her to make friends.

"I went through a struggle where I ... lost who I really was," she said.

When her college senior year came, she felt ready to compete for the sport again. She took various dance classes while practicing the routine with her sister. It was then that she won against Utah and become an Internet sensation.

"It's not mainly about one ethnicity doing this sport," Sophina said when asked about her ethnicity. "I do embrace my ethnicities for sure, and I hope to inspire others that are my ethnicity and aren't and everyone in general, because we are all equal."

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