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Meet Olympic Gold Medalist Carly Patterson
Although Carly Rae Patterson was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
on February 4, 1988, she is now living in Allen,
Texas with her mother and sister.
Carly is an incredibly accomplished athlete for her age. She
is a former Olympic all-around Champion for the
United States 2004 Olympic Team in Athens, Greece.
Due to injuries in her lower back, Carly is unfortunately not
scheduled to make an appearance competing in
women's gymnasticswith the U.S. 2008 Olympic Team. However,
while Carly is one of the world's most talented
gymnasts, she was not always on the path to greatness.
It was at a young cousin's birthday party in 1994 that Carly's
true gymnastic talent was noticed by a coach at a
gymnastic club. Carly's cousin belonged to a gymnastic club
which hosted the birthday party. At that time, the coach
saw the then six year old Carly tumbling around and immediately
noticed her natural talent. Just six years later, Carly
competed in Belgium's Top Gym Tournament winning the silver
medal in the all-around and the bronze for balance
beam, which is undoubtedly Carly's favorite event.
One year later, Carly competed in the Goodwill Games in Brisbane,
Australia. It was not her best performance,
although she did rank second in the all-around competition before
the final rotation. She was sick during the event
and ended up finishing in seventh place. Despite an overall
disappointing performance, her balance beam routine
was almost flawless and featured what would become know as her
signature move, "the Patterson". This signature
move is a double Arabian dismount from the balance beam.
By 2002, Carly Patterson became the U.S. Junior National All-Around
champion and was considered to be one
of the most important young female gymnasts of the time thus
making her a viable candidate for the 2004 Olympic
All-Around title. After her accomplishment in 2002, she went
on to win almost every competition she entered.
Unfortunately, due to a broken elbow in 2003, Carly had to sit
out of the U.S. National Championships, but still went
on to win the all-around silver medal at the World GymnasticsChampionships
in Anaheim, California making her the
first American woman to achieve this accomplishment since 1994.
This helped solidify her place on the 2004
U.S. Gymnastics Team.
During the 2004 Olympic trials, Carly did not perform to her
best standards and had two falls during her balance
beam routine, which dropped her to third place. It was because
of this that she was not automatically placed on the
2004 U.S. Olympic team, however there was no doubt that she
would end up competing in Athens that year.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Carly Patterson proved just how
good she was, despite that already being clear to the
world. She and her teammates won the silver medal for the team
competition. During these events, Carly also won a
silver medal for the balance beam, which is only fitting since
she takes so much pride into each balance beam routine.
In addition to winning two silver medals during these games,
Carly also set a record. She became the first American
woman to win a gold medal in the all-around during a fully attended
Olympic Games. Her performances at the
2004 Olympics have placed Carly in the history books and paved
the way for a very excitinglife.
Shortly after her great achievements in the 2004 Summer Olympics,
doctors found several bulging disks in Carly's
lowerback. Due to this health issue, she was forced to reduce
the amount of time dedicated to gymnastic training;
however it has not stoppedher on any other level. Carly continues
to make appearances on talk shows, game shows,
and television shows as well as participating in many autograph
sessions and interviews each year. Partly due to
her grueling schedule, Carly retired from gymnastics in 2006
and will not be competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics,
much to the disappointment of many gymnastic enthusiasts. She
will, however, be honored at the 2008 games by
being inducted into the USA Gymnastics
Hall of Fame.
Now that Carly has officially retired from the world of gymnastics,
she continues to pursue many challenges. She recently
served as the American Dental Association's (ADA) Youth Ambassador
for Give Kids a Smile (GKAS) as well as the
ambassador for National Children's Dental Access Day. She is
one of many well known athletes to use her status in a
positive way.
One of her current passions is her music career. In 2005, she
discussed her wishes to pursue a career in music
and announced that she would be working on a demo. That demo
has apparently paid off as she has recently
signed with Music Mind Records and will be releasing her first
single, "Temporary Life (Ordinary Girl)" at the
end of March 2008. Carly has also taken some timeto write an
autobiography discussing her life as a young
gymnast through her Olympic competitions.
About the Author: Grant Eckert is a freelance writer who writes
about sports and leisure activities, similar to what
consumers read in Baseball
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