Elsa Garcia

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Elsa García Rodriguez Blancas, born February 8, 1990, is a Mexican gymnast from Monterrey. She trains at the Regio Club Gimnástico where she is coached by husband and wife Antonio Barraza and Teresa Lopez. Elsa trains alongside national team member Marisela Cantú. Her coaches describe Elsa as a hard working gymnast, but one who still enjoys the sport very much.^[1] Garcia is currently Mexico's top female Gymnast and is rated a strong chance to qualify to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

For Elsa, gymnastics started as a game and a way to control her undying energy as a child. At the age of three she began her classes alongside her sister Laura. Her coaches noticed her natural talent and ability to commit to her training and began training her for competition. At age 8, she found her way to Regio Club Gimnastico where she met her actual coaches and trained alongside Mexican national champions Cristina Lozoya, Marisela Cantú, Rocío Leal, Abril Sánchez and others. Her first steps in gymnastic gold was in Méxicos Junior Olympic games in which she won the all around title for six consecutive years, apparatus 1st places as well as contributing to the team title. She started to be noticed and fell under the economic support of the state of Nuevo León and later of the Mexican Federation.

Elsa's breakout performance was at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games, where at the age of just 12, she became the youngest champion in the competition's history. She won the all-around title and first place with the Mexican team, as well as silver medals on balance beam and floor exercise. Elsa also had a strong performance at the Pacific Alliance competition that year. Elsa returned to the Pacific Alliance competition in 2004, winning the junior vault title (tied with the USA's Jana Bieger) and a silver on the floor. Still ineligible to compete as a senior, Elsa performed well at the Gymnix Internatonal and Leverkusen Cup junior competitions in 2005.

Elsa's breakout Senior performance was at the 2006 American Cup, held in Philadelphia. Here, Elsa placed 5th All Around at the prestigious invitational competition. Elsa's success continued, winning 4 gold medals at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games and placing 33rd in the preliminaries for the 2006 World Championships. However, 2007 was to be the year in which Elsa would establish herself as a major gymnast. She returned to the American Cup, winning the bronze medal in the all around. After this competition, she had a series of strong results on the World Cup circuit, including two gold medals at the Cottbus event in Germany.

Elsa has stated that her goals for the rest of 2007 are to continue training for World Championships and help the Mexican team finish in the top 18 at the 2007 World Championships, qualifying them to send two gymnasts to the Beijing Olympics.^[2]

[edit] Trivia

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She was born February 8th 1990 in Monterrey México at the "Ginequito" Hospital.
Elsa's favourite apparatus is Floor.^[1]
Elsa has one sister named Laura Garcia^[2]
Her personal motto is: "To enjoy every moment as it were my last, because it's not coming back" and "To make the most out of everything."^[2]
Elsa owns three cats: Elizabeth, Catzilla and Rulo as well as a golden Labrador named Rufo.
Her favorite food is Quesadillas
Elsa has a facebook support group named "Elsa Garcia Mejor gimnasta de México"
Her Favorite restaurant is Applebee's
Elsa plans to study something related with fashion design after fulfilling her gymnastics career.