Mohini Bhardwaj

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Olympic medal record
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Silver	2004 Athens	Team competition

Mohini Bhardwaj (born September 29, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American gymnast.

Bhardwaj (known to her teammates as "Mo") began taking gymnastics at the early age of four. Training in Cincinnati, Ohio she quickly climbed up the amateur ranks, and by 1993 her coaches had confidence she could make the Olympic team. She made her first US National Team in 1992. While too young to compete in the 1992 Olympics, she entered the senior ranks in 1993 and racked up an impressive number of medals in other international competitions.

Determined to make her dreams come true, she moved to Orlando, Florida and started training under Alexander Alexandrov, a former coach of the Soviet gymnastics team. After training for three years in Orlando, Bhardwaj went with Alexander to Houston, Texas without her parents.

At 17, living alone in a Texas apartment, Mohini began to struggle. Her gymnastics suffered from long nights and partying. At the 1996 Olympic trials she finished a disappointing tenth. At the 1997 Nationals, NBC commentators noted that Bhardwaj was only competing because her parents insisted. In spite of her seeming indifference, Bhardwaj had a strong showing at these Nationals, finishing third in the all-around and easily earning a spot on the American World Championships team.

Although her reputation as a wild child scared off some NCAA recruiters, Bhardwaj was awarded a full gymnastics scholarship to UCLA. Her partying continued, however, UCLA head coach Val Kondos kept her on the team. Kondos' faith paid off: by 1999, Bhardwaj had changed her ways. She was a key member of the Bruins, earning All-American honors eleven times and winning the NCAA Nationals. Her gymnastics flourished in the college environment. Her difficulty on all events increased, and she developed a new artistic style on floor exercise.

After ending her UCLA career with a new perspective and work ethic, Bhardwaj returned to elite competition. She made the US National Team with a third-place all-around showing at the 2001 National Championships, where she also won vault and placed second on the balance beam. She followed up her success at Nationals with a strong performance at the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, contributing to the American team's bronze medal, placing 18th in the all-around and 7th in the vault event finals.

The next year, however, Bhardwaj suffered a dislocated elbow, an injury so serious that it kept her out of action until 2004. Off the national team and running low on training funds, Bhardwaj found herself taking odd jobs to pay for her gymnastics. A generous grant from former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson enabled her concentrate on her training without financial worries.

At the 2004 Nationals, Bhardwaj placed a disappointing 12th in the all-around, barely eking her way into the Olympic Trials. However, a sixth-place finish at the Trials, combined with her impressive vaulting, difficult skills and consistent routines on all other events earned her a spot on the US Olympic Team.

In Athens, Bhardwaj was an important contributor to the American team's silver medal finish, the team's best ever Olympian placing away from home. She competed all four events in preliminary competition, earning an all-around score that would have advanced her to the AA finals if not for the FIG rule limiting AA competitors to two-per-country. Carly Patterson and Courtney Kupets advanced instead. In the team finals, Bhardwaj was used on three events, turning in solid performances. Her balance beam performance was particularly noteworthy: though this is her worst piece, Mohini had to perform on it because of injuries to other gymnasts in the team. Anything other than a strong performance would have probably seen the US relegated to bronze, but she did a clean routine and managed to keep the US ahead of a resurgent Russian team. Despite some negative coverage in the US press after the Olympics because of the teams 'failure' to win gold, it is worth noting that the 2004 team achieved the best result by any US gymnastics team away from home ground.

She also served as a stabilizing factor for the younger members of the team, taking them aside and comforting them when they made errors. Bhardwaj's final performance in the Olympics was the floor exercise event final, where she placed sixth. She appealed her score at first but after the use of a video replay the original start value and score were both upheld. Bhardwaj's father still claimed afterwards that she ought to have been awarded bronze. This happened on the same evening as the notorious high bar debacle, when the crowd, sick of perceived bad judging, booed for twenty minutes following a low score for Alexei Nemov.

Mohini suffered from the same problem as Cheng Fei, whose score was also unpopular- she showed difficult tumbling and great artistry, but lost marks because of failure to complete the controversial 'dance bonus' section which is usually complicate jumps and turns in combination. This is a requiremen that is not entirely popular with fans. Mohini herself is on record as stating a dislike for the dance bonus and jumps.

Mohini joined the other members of the Olympic team on a national tour after Athens, and unlike the other five she did attempt to continue into 2005. She attended training camps and was originally selected for the American Cup in January 2005, but had insufficient training time to be ready and withdrew. She eventually retired from competitive gymnastics later in 2005, at the age of 26, and in 2006 will finally finish her degree at UCLA. She is in a relationship with fellow 2004 Olympic gymnast Jason Gatson.

[edit] Other Facts

Mohini is the first Indian-American Olympic medalist ever.
In Sanskrit, Mohini means "illusion". This fact has been repeated by commentators in almost every televised competition Mohini has competed in, and has thus become a running joke among some gymnastics fans, who often use the term "Mo' Hiny means Illusion".
Her mother is from Russia and her father is from India. Her parents met in Toronto.
She was 25 when she participated in the 2004 Athens, Greece Olympic games.
She was an 11-time All-American during her NCAA career.
She is a vegetarian.

[edit] Major competition results

2004 Olympic Games: 2nd team; 6th FX
2004 US Olympic Trials: 6th AA
2004 US Championships: 12th AA; 2nd VT
2001 World Championships: 3rd team; 18th AA; 7th VT
2001 Pan American Championships: 1st Team; 2nd AA; 5th VT
2001 US Championships: 3rd AA; 1st VT; 2nd UB; 6th VT; 7th FX (tie)
2001 NCAA Championships: 1st Team; 1st FX
2000 NCAA Championships: 1st Team; 2nd AA; 1st UB; 2nd BB; 5th VT
1999 NCAA Championships: 11th AA; 6th UB
1999 World University Games: AA (qualified)
1998 NCAA Championships: 4th UB; 7th VT
1997 World Championships: 6th Team; 5th VT
1997 US Championships: 3rd AA; 3rd VT (tie); 5th FX
1997 American Cup: 10th AA (preliminary competition)
1996 US Olympic Trials: 10th AA
1996 US Championships: 12th AA (tie); 2nd BB; 4th VT; 4th UB; 5th FX (tie)
1996 Pacific Alliance Championships: 1st team; 1st AA; 1st VT; 2nd BB; 3rd FX
1996 Moscow World Stars: 4th AA; 2nd UB; 3rd BB; 3rd VT
1995 US Championships: 15th AA; 4th UB (tie); 6th BB
1995 Atlanta Invitational (Olympics Test Event): 8th AA; 1st VT
1995 China Cup: 7th AA; 2nd mixed pairs; 3rd BB: 5th UB (tie); 7th VT
1995 International Mixed Pairs: 5th
1995 US Olympic Festival: 5th AA; 2nd VT; 2nd UB
1994 Puerto Rico International Gymnastics Cup: 2nd VT; 3rd BB 1994 US Championships: 35th AA
1993 US Olympic Festival: 7th AA (tie); 5th BB; 6th VT
1993 US Championships: 10th AA