Getti Kehayova's Journey to Breaking the Largest Hula Hoop Record

My name is Gatti Kejava and I have the Guinness World Records title for largest hula hook spun

What first got me interested in hula hoops, it was actually my older sister

When I was only nine years old, she gave me the very first hula hoop I ever owned

And I grew up traveling in the circus with my sister and our parents traveling all over the world performing as acrobats

And then my sister and I had our very own hula hoop act. So she is the one that basically got me started into loving hula hoops

My father back in the 80s, he set a Guinness World Record title for the seven-person high perchpole act

A person jumped off of a teetterboard, got catapulted to do a somersault in mid-air, and land on top of the seventh person

My older sister has her very own record for spinning the most hula hoops at one time

About four years ago I retired from performing and I decided to move to Las Vegas the entertainment capital of the world where I became a rigor or technician with Cirque de Soleil

I also became a hula hoop fitness instructor. What inspired me to break a Guinness World Records title was the fact that I have a history

with my family of being in the Guinness World Records book in the past

It just so happens that a year and a half ago, a co-worker of mine had mentioned to me that they had seen on social media a gentleman spinning the world's largest hula hoop

And she very naturally just said to me, I will bet anything that you can make a bigger hula hoop and beat his record

And at that moment, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. And I thought, wait a minute, maybe I still have it in me to do one more record for myself

Growing up in the circus, you end up performing many acts, training for many things

But this was indeed the hardest thing I've ever done. In order for this to be a successful record

I was supposed to spin the hula hoop three times or more

without it touching the floor or the ground. I had to train for about a full year every day every single day training before I would go to work before and after my hula hoop fitness classes It was nonstop It was quite painful because the hula hoop is pretty heavy

So every time that revolution and spin comes around and it touches every part of your body

it felt like a punch up against your ribs, which is kind of why I try to wear this protective vest

It's trying to take control over you to knock you down, but you're trying to control it to just keep it up and spinning

So it's like a back and forth type of motion. It's extremely hard to explain

It's not easy. And there's no way you can just stand in one place and spin the hula hoop

You have to actually turn with it all the way around. My neighbors always did think it was kind of odd

every time they would drive by. They had no idea why I was even doing this. But I think after a little time

they understood the reason behind it. And on the day of the record, of course, I decided to invite all of my close family

close friends, coworkers, and neighbors or just people happen to be walking by here

I felt all sorts of emotions. I went from feeling extremely nervous to extremely scared

to extremely pumped and ready to do it. I did have one unsuccessful attempt where the hula hoop I had so much power in the swing of the hula hoop that it actually ended up kind of hitting me across the face But that didn make me stop I knew that the next time around I was going to be able to successfully achieve it

So when I finally did achieve the record, I was very, very happy for that

Since my sister was the one that gave me the very first hula hoop when I was just a little girl

and I had a lot of respect for her, and I looked up to her so much

She was my idol, and she was also featured in the book herself

So this particular record for myself is just a huge honor, and I'm basically doing it for her and for my family's honor as well

because they were also featured in the book. The advice that I would like to give to anybody out there that wants to break a new record

You have to be extremely determined and don't ever give up. You have to practice and train hard every day

So just never give up and keep pushing yourself to the limits