Alicia Sacramone Biography

Alicia Sacramone Biography

DOB: December 3, 1987

Representing: USA

Head Coach: Mihai Brestyan

Best Event: Alicia has won many medals on vault, including a national and world title. I would say without a doubt, vault is Alicia's strong suit, but she is pretty strong all around and contributed to a team silver at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Best Known For: I want to say Alicia is best known for being so outspoken in her interviews. She also definitely comes across to me as the Amanda Borden type teammate who is a little bit older than some of the other girls and super supportive of everyone. She is sort of like the voice of the team. Alicia is also recognized as an inspiration to anyone who started gymnastics a little later than most competitive girls; she began gymnastics at age 8 and began competing elite after only 7 years of training.

Currently: After a brief retirement post-2008 Olympics, Alicia came back from a shoulder surgery and has had quite a bit of success competing elite again. She recently won three medals at the 2011 CoverGirl Classic in Chicago and continues to train elite.

Interesting Fact: Alicia attended Brown University and has considered transferring to Harvard to finish school. She plans to continue her education when she has the time.

Mattie Larson Biography

Since Mattie Larson is everywhere these days, I decided to make her my gymnastics biography of the month. :)

DOB: May 20, 1992

Representing: USA

Coaches: Galina Marinova, Artur Akopyan

Best Event: Mattie has definitely racked up the most gold medals in floor, winning first place at the Junior Pan Am games, WOGA Classic, and US National Championships (2010). She has contributed to quite a few team medals throughout her career.

Best Known For: She's probably most recognized as one of the up-and-coming gymnasts a lot of people were expecting to see at the 2012 Olympics in London prior to her decision to pull out of elite gymnastics and compete with UCLA instead. Due to an injury to her leg, Mattie lost the opportunity to compete with the 2008 Olympic team. After about two years of recovery, she made a comeback and so far has had a lot of success. She has said that there is a chance she may make another comeback into the elite scene after competing college gymnastics.

Currently: Mattie will be going to school this fall, 2011, and training with the UCLA Bruins. She's keeping her options open as to whether or not the 2012 Olympic Games are going to be part of her plan in gymnastics.

Interesting Fact: Her talent for gymnastics was evident very early on in her training. In her level 5 season, Mattie became California state champion on both vault and beam. In levels 6 and 7 she became All-Around state champ and earned first place on beam, floor, and vault.

Mohini Bhardwaj Biography

Mohini Bhardwaj biography
DOB: September 29, 1978

Country Represented: USA

Coaches: Chris Waller, Galina Marinova, Val Kondos-Field, and Rita Brown

Best Event: Based on her scores and placements at US Senior Nationals, Mohini's two best events were vault and beam. She was a consistent gymnast on all events and has earned quite a few All-Around titles at big meets.

Best Known For: Mohini was part of a silver-medal team at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. She nearly missed out on participating at the Olympic trials due to an elbow injury and financial troubles, but, with the help of many part-time jobs and a $20,000 grant from Pamela Anderson, Mohini was able to attend the trials and impress the Karolyis so much that she was named US team captain.

Currently: Mohini retired from gymnastics in 2005 at the age of 26. She is currently coaching at Cascade All Star Gymnastics in Oregon. She is married to a Marine and has a son born in 2009.

Interesting Fact: Before much of Mohini's elite career took off, she took a scholarship to become one of the standout members of UCLA's gymnastics team. This is where Mohini increased the difficulty level of her skills and re-focused to go on to the Olympics, where she became the first Indian-American to win an Olympic medal.

Photo Copyright J. Bierbaum. Thanks for the great pic!

Chellsie Memmel Biography

Chellsie Memmel

DOB: June 23, 1988

Country Represented: USA

Coaches: Andy Memmel (that's right, her father, who talks about what it's been like to coach his own daughter all the way to the Olympics here) coached Chellsie at his gym, M&M Gymnastics, at the beginning of her career. For a while Chellsie was coached by Jim Chudy at Salto Gymnastics before returning to M&M to be coached by her father again after the 2004 Olympics.

Best Event: Having dealt with many injuries throughout her career, Chellsie often had to scratch certain apparatuses, so determining Chellsie's best event is difficult. She is known to be great on beam and bars, primarily because she often had to skip out on vault or floor to avoid aggravating her injuries.

Best Known For: Chellsie is known for her participation in the 2008 Olympics as well as her position as alternate at the 2004 Olympics, but she is also well-known for being 2005 All-Around Champion at Worlds. She is tied with Shawnn Johnson as the 5th most decorated female American gymnast.

Currently: Chellsie is still practicing and competing. She recently bought her first home in West Allis, WI. You can get all kinds of updates on Chellsie on her twitter, @cmemmel.

Interesting Fact: Chellsie's youngest sister, Skyler, currently competes with M&M gymnastics and recently won every event at her sate championships and qualified for Nationals!

Doninique Dawes Biography

Dominique Dawes

DOB: November 20, 1976

Country Represented: USA

Coach: Kelli Hill

Best Event: Dominique is one of those gymnasts whose numerous medals are actually quite evenly spread across all four events, so I can't say that she has a "best" apparatus. She is known for being very dynamic on all events and fun to watch on floor.

Best Known For: Dominique Dawes has participated in three Olympic games: Barcelona, Atlanta, and Sydney. She is probably best known for her role in the 1996 Magnificent 7 team win at Atlanta. She is also the first African American female gymnast to earn an Olympic medal for an individual event.

Currently: In recent years, Dawes has been pursuing a career in acting and modeling, appearing in multiple music videos ("Betcha by Golly Wow" by Prince, "We Run This" by Missy Elliot). She also served as president of the Women's Sports Foundation from 2004 to 2006.
Interesting Fact: Dawes was a spokesperson for the "Uniquely Me" campaign, started by the Girl Scouts of America to promote self-esteem.

Shannon Miller Biography

Shannon Miller biography
DOB: March 10, 1977

Country Represented: USA

Coach: Steve Nunno, Peggy Liddick

Best Event: During Shannon's competition years, she racked up the most gold medals for her performances on beam, an event that she was incredibly consistent and solid on. She was also known to be very entertaining to watch on floor. She has been recognized for her artistry on both of these events. Her routines often included some really beautiful choreographic elements.

Best Known For: Shannon Miller was one of the leading members of the Magnificent Seven team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where the USA women won gold and Shannon earned an individual gold on beam. Although Shannon also participated in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, the 1992 Magnificent 7 team probably comes to mind for most people when thinking of Shannon Miller. In general, she is recognized as "the most decorate gymnast, male or female, in U.S. history." She earned a total of 16 medals from World and the Olympic Games throughout her career.

Currently: Miller retired officially in 2000 after making a brief comeback to the gymnastics world but dropping out of the Sydney Olympic Trials due to a knee injury. She is now married and has a son, Rocco, born in 2009. Shannon received a law degree from Boston College as well as a B.B.A in marketing and entrepreneurship, which she is putting to use in the world of business; Shannon now spends her time giving gymnastics clinics, speaking at gyms, and developing workout videos.

Interesting Fact: Shannon is the only female athlete who has been inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame more than once - she earned this honor as an individual and as a member of the gold medal winning team.

Carly Patterson Biography

Carly Patterson Bio

DOB: February 4, 1988 
Country Represented: USA 
Coach: Evgeny Marchenko
Best Event: Carly is uniformly known as a great, consistent beam worker, but what always separated her from other gymnasts is the fact that she never really had a week event; she was disciplined in her form on all four events, which allowed her to win and All-Around gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, as well as at the US Senior Nationals.
Best Known For: Her performance at the 2004 Olympic Games! She is recognized mainly for her All-Around gold, which she won with a score of 38.387, but she also earned herself a silver on beam as well as a silver in the team competition.

Currently: After the 2004 Olympics, it was discovered that Carly had a few bulging disks in her back, and for that reason she retired from gymnastics entirely. Since then, she has pursued a music career, but she will always be remembered for her gymnastics career, as she is now a member of the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Interesting Fact: Carly has a full-length music album called "Back to the Beginning," which has been released on iTunes along with a few single tracks. Prior to releasing her album, she was on a show called Celebrity Duets, produced by Simon Cowell, where she had the opportunity to sing with multiple famous musicians. Not the best singer in the world, but at least the fame she gained from the Athens Olympics gave her the chance to try out something new. Here is a video of a song called "Here I am," which was featured on the show Make it or Break it.

He Kexin Biography

DOB: Her birthday is listed as January 1, 1992, though the age controversy that arose at the Beijing Olympics has caused a lot of people to believe that she was born in 1994. Some records arose that indicated she was not old enough to compete in 2008, but the issue was eventually claimed to have been a simple error in transferring records when she switched teams. The passport obtained by the Chinese Federation claimed that she was born in '92, and the age investigation was eventually dismissed, though a lot of people still have strong opinions on the issue.
Country Represented: China
Coach: Huang Yubin
Best Event: Bars, judging by the practically unmatched difficulty level of her UB routines and her somewhat controversial gold medal in the event at the Beijing Olympics. Bars is her event specialty.
Best Known For: Probably her Olympic gold on bars, as well as the Chinese team gold medal. As far as bars go, I think she's definitely recognized for her difficult connections and release moves (at Worlds she competed a great Li Ya release which she connects with a Jaeger - her routine in team finals earned her a 16.333, though she had an unfortunate fall during event finals).



Currently: She is still competing and definitely plans on returning for the 2012 Olympics in London.
Interesting Fact: He Kexin scored a 16.800 at the Cottbus Cup. It was only her second international meet, and her score was good enough to be deemed the highest uneven bars score earned at an international competition under the current Code of Points.

Hollie Vise Biography

The gymnast of the month for December is Hollie Vise! Today, the 6th, is Hollie's birthday, so I thought it appropriate to choose her for the monthly bio. (And also I'd like to give a special December birthday shout-out to gymnasticsluver!)

DOB: December 6, 1987
Country Represented: USA
Coach: Evgeny Marchenko, a Russian acrobat
Best Event: Based on her gold medal at the 2003 World Championships, she was best on uneven bars, but she was also considered to be a great beam worker.
Best Known For: She competed in the 2003 World Championships, bringing home a gold on bars as well as the gold for the team competition. She competed at the 2004 Olympic Trials but was not chosen to be a part of the final Olympic team, as they needed vault specialists and she was best on beam/bars. She is also well-known for her signature mount pose on beam (pictured).
Currently: Hollie studies at the University of Oklahoma and competes with their gymnastics team.
Interesting Fact: Her grandfather is Burton Gilliam, a fairly well-known actor who has appeared in 17 films and many different television programs.

Nadia Comaneci Biography

The gymnast of the month for November is...

Nadia Comaneci!

DOB: November 12, 1961
Country Represented: Romania
Coaches: Bela and Marta Karolyi
Best Event: She was great at every event, but the very first Perfect 10 went to Nadia's incredible bar routine at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
Best Known For: Nadia was the first gymnast to receive a Perfect 10 at the Olympics, but she didn't receive just ONE perfect 10. She went on to earn six more perfect scores in her career. She received three gold medals at the 1976 Olympics - Bars, Beam, and All-Around - and she won two more gold medals in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Currently: Nadia is currently living in the US and is married to Olympic gymnast Bart Conner. They have a young son named Dylan. :)
Interesting Fact: When Nadia received her first 10.0, scoreboards only had space for three digits, thus the scoreboard flashed "1.00" after her performance. Bela Karolyi, Nadia's coach, was apparently outraged and yelled toward the judges, "Where is Nadia's score?" That's when an announcement was made over the loudspeaker that, for the first time in gymnastics history, the score was a 10.0.

Nastia Liukin Biography

Nastia Liukin!

DOB: October 30, 1989
Country Represented: United States
Coach: Her father, Valeri Liukin. She trains at WOGA, which is owned by her family.
Best Event: Based on scores and overall presentation, I'm gonna have to name UB as her best event.
Best Known For: Her 2008 Olympic AA win! :)
Currently: Still training. Nastia has also made a few TV/movie appearances and has her own GK leo line.
Interesting Fact: There are so many! Excuse me for listing more than one, but... Nastia was born in Moscow and is fluent in Russian. Both of her parents were champions in the Soviet Union, her father a gold medalist in gymnastics and her mother a World Champion rhythmic gymnast. She is also a spokesmodel for Covergirl!

Dominique Moceanu Biography

I thought it would be fun to do a Gymnast of the Month, based on birth month :) Born in September is the lovely and talented...

Dominique Moceanu!

Bio -

DOB: September 30, 1981
Country Represented: America, but is of Romanian descent
Coaches: Marta and Bela Karolyi
Best Event: This is debatable, but I always loved to watch her on beam. She had a pretty cool mount and her routines were chalk-full of difficult skills (Get it? CHALK-full? Eh? Changed the spelling for a little gymnastic humor there :P Lol)
Best Known For: Her position on the 1996 Women's Olympic team - the Magnificent Seven, who brought home the American team gold.
Currently: Retired from gymnastics, she is married and a mother of two kids, Carmen and Vincent.
Interesting Fact: With the money she earned from her career as a gymnast, she helped build a gym called Moceanu Gymnastics, Incorporated. It opened in 1997.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the information!