So, I got this idea from Letstalkaboutgymnastics which is a great article, you guys should check it out by following the blue link. Anyway, I thought it was a great idea, But Letstalkaboutgymnastics only did it once a week. Since I am a HUGE gym fan, I'll do it everyday. But if I can't get to it........ Guess what? My gym fans get Gymnast of the Day twice to make up for the day I missed. So, for the first Gymnast of the Day Article, I would love to chat about Carly Patterson, 2004 Olympic All-Around Champion. I will tell you about Carly's career back to when she started gymnastics. Here we go with the story of 2004 Olympic Champion, Carly Rae Patterson.
Young Carly was at her cousin's birthday party at Baton Rouge's Elite Gymnastics Club. She had a lot of raw talent, so the head coach there, Johnny Moyal, who was a 3-Time Israeli Champion, suggested lessons for the young Carly. Her mother, who was a former gymnast herself, was hesitant because of the demands of the sport. But when little Carly started to tumble around the house, Carly's mom signed her up so she didn't get injured tumbling in their small home. In 2000, Carly competed in the Top Gym Tournament and captured a silver medal in the all-around as well as a bronze on the balance beam, her upmost favorite event.
At the 2001 Goodwill Games, Carly was in the silver medal position, but she missed 3 tumbling passes on floor, and she ended up going all the way down to 7th all around. Carly didn't let this ruin her dream "I am not going to quit, even after my disappointing floor, sure, I wasnt sure what happened, but I am going to fix it. I am going to go through and follow my dreams of Olympic Glory. I was happy with my first three rotations, especially beam". Carly had a better year in 2002, when she was named the Junior National Champion. Carly then opened out her senior career by winning the 2003 Nationals, Carly was forced to sit out of her first Nationals as a senior gymnast, she suffered from a broken elbow. But Carly petitioned to go to the Worlds Team despite not being at Nationals, but because of Carly's raw potential, Marta Karolyi decided that she would put her on the team. Carly competed in the all around competition, where she got the silver medal. Which was a record because no USA gymnast had gotten the Worlds medal since 1994.
Once again, Patterson won the prestigious 2004 all around title. At the 2004 Nationals, she tied with Courtney Kupets for the National Title. Carly also won the floor title, and placed second on her best event, the balance beam. At the 2004 Trials, Carly had uncharacteristic falls off the balance beam, two over the course of two days, dropping her to 3rd place, but Carly earned a trip to the camps, and had solid performances, thusly getting her onto the team.
In 2004, during preliminaries, Carly finished first place overall, and qualified to the beam final as well. During the team final, the whole team struggled, but Carly also had her own slew of mishaps. She under-rotated her vault, she hit her feet on the high bar, and her balance beam routine was marred by balance checks, which is so uncharacteristic for this young athlete, she only lived up to her full potential on floor exercise. She admitted that she was stressed because her vault was rushed. They had to settle for the silver medal. It was a great battle in the all around between 3-time World Champion Svetlana Khorkina and our home girl, Carly Patterson. Carly next competed at the beam finals where she received the silver medal behind Romania's Catalina Ponor.
Carly Patterson was one of the most successful gymnasts ever and she was one of my favorite gymnasts when the 10.00 system was still in gymnastics. She always managed a stellar beam routine, here it is.
Carly Patterson (USA) - 2004 Olympic Games - All Around ...
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