Bridget Sloan

Bridget Sloan
— Gymnast —
Full name Bridget Elizabeth Sloan
Country represented  United States
Born (1992-06-23) June 23, 1992
Cincinnati, Ohio
Hometown Pittsboro, Indiana
Residence Gainesville, Florida
Height 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m)
Weight 104 lb (47 kg)
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Senior International Elite
Club Sharp's Gymnastics Academy
College team University of Florida (class of 2016)
Head coach(es) Jenny Rowland
Former coach(es) Marvin Sharp, Rhonda Faehn
Medal record
Women's gymnastics
Competitor for the  United States
Summer Olympics
2008 Beijing Team
World Championships
2009 London All-Around
2010 Rotterdam Team
Pan American Games
2011 Guadalajara Team
Pacific Rim Championships
2010 Melbourne Team
U.S. National Championships
2009 Dallas All-Around
2009 Dallas Uneven Bars
2009 Dallas Floor Exercise
2007 San Jose Floor Exercise
2008 Boston Uneven Bars
NCAA National Championships
2015 Fort Worth Team
2014 Birmingham Team
2014 Birmingham Uneven Bars
2013 Los Angeles Team
2013 Los Angeles All-Around
2013 Los Angeles Balance Beam
2015 Fort Worth Vault
2015 Fort Worth Uneven Bars
2013 Los Angeles Uneven Bars

Bridget Elizabeth Sloan (born June 23, 1992) is an American elite gymnast. She was the 2009 all-around World Champion, the 2009 all-around U.S. National Champion and an Olympic silver medalist with the United States team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She is currently a member of the Florida Gators women's gymnastics team of the University of Florida, with whom she has won three consecutive NCAA National Championships team titles. Sloan was also the 2013 NCAA all-around and balance beam National Champion and the 2014 NCAA uneven bars National Champion. In 2015 Sloan became the first Florida gymnast, and the seventh NCAA gymnast overall, to achieve 10.0 marks on all four events.[1]

Early life and career

Sloan was born on June 23, 1992 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She began participating in organized gymnastics at the age of 4. She grew up in Pittsboro, Indiana, and graduated from Tri-West Hendricks High School. She trained at Sharp's Gymnastics Academy in Indianapolis, Indiana, alongside her fellow 2008 Olympic team member, Samantha Peszek.

Senior Career

2007

In her first year as a senior, 2007, Sloan placed 5th all-around and 3rd on bars at the U.S. National Championships. She served as the alternate on the American team for the 2007 World Championships. Sloan also represented the United States at the Good Luck Beijing Olympic test event in December 2007, where she won the bronze medal in the all-around and a silver on floor exercise.[2]

2008

In March 2008, Sloan suffered a torn meniscus while warming up at a meet in Italy.[3] She was forced to sit out the competition and returned home for surgery and rehabilitation, but recovered in time to compete at the 2008 U.S. National Championships, where she competed only on beam, bars and floor; and the U.S. Olympic Trials. Sloan was named to the U.S. team after the final selection camp in Houston in July 2008.[4]

At the 2008 Olympics, Sloan competed in both the qualifying and team final rounds of competition. Her contributions to the team became critical in the qualifying round, where the Americans were forced to put up only four athletes on three events, and count all four scores, due to injuries to Chellsie Memmel and Samantha Peszek. Sloan made small errors on floor and uneven bars but performed well under pressure.[5] Her all-around scores placed her 11th overall among all competitors.[6] In the team finals, Sloan competed on vault, contributing a 15.200 score to the American team's silver medal win.[7][8]

2009

In February 2009, Sloan competed in the Tyson American Cup and placed second to 13-year-old Jordyn Wieber. In August, Sloan competed in the US Nationals and had a shaky preliminary competition. However, her consistency in the finals won her the gold medal in the All-Around, Floor and Uneven Bars.

In October at the 2009 London World Championships, after a shaky preliminary round, Sloan qualified 5th for the all-around and 7th for the uneven bars final. In the all-around final, she won the gold medal over teammate Rebecca Bross by 0.050. Sloan earned her place in gymnastics history as the fifth American woman to win the World all-around title. In the bars final, she placed 6th.

2010

Injuries plagued Sloan throughout the year, greatly limiting her in competitions. An ankle injury early in the year limited her participation in the Pacific Rim Championships to bars. The same injury kept Sloan to the beam at the CoverGirl Classic. A new pectoral injury prevented her from defending her National all-around title. At Nationals she performed two tentative beam routines, one that included a fall, and placed 11th on the apparatus. However, Sloan impressed National Team Coordinator Márta Károlyi with her improvement at the selection camp, and was brought to the World Championships to perform on bars and floor, placing fourth in the bars final.[9][10][11]

2011

Sloan sat out the majority of the competitive season while recovering from surgery on her bicep. She stated that it was unlikely she would take part in the 2011 National or World Championships in an effort to stay healthy for the 2012 season, her ultimate goal being the 2012 Olympics.[12]

Although Sloan did not compete in the 2011 National Championships, she later headed to the Karolyi Ranch in New Waverly, Texas, to participate in both selection camps for the 2011 World Championships team. She was subsequently named to the team for the 2011 Pan American Games.[13] She competed only on the uneven bars and floor exercise in Guadalajara, and scored in the thirteens on both apparatus. She failed to qualify for either of the event finals, even though on uneven bars it was due to the "two [athletes] per country" rule (Bridgette Caquatto and Shawn Johnson both scored higher than her).

2012

As a result of Sloan's injuries and her participation for the USA team at the Pan American Games the previous year, she was able to successfully petition a spot at the U.S. National Championships. She had intended to compete at Classics, but decided not to out of respect for her coach, who would have been unable to attend the Classic as he was attending his father's funeral.[14] At the championships, she performed in all four events for the first time since 2009, coming 6th on the Uneven Bars and 10th in the All-Around.[15] She was chosen to compete at the Olympic Trials. During the first night of the Olympic Trials, she injured her elbow during bars warmup and was forced to withdraw due to the injury, subsequently ending both her chances at the London Olympic Games and her national team career.[16]

College

Sloan accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she is a member of coach Rhonda Faehn's Florida Gators women's gymnastics team.[17] Sloan deferred enrollment at the university until the 2012 fall semester, which allowed her to seek a second consecutive spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[18] Due to injury, Sloan was forced to withdraw from the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, and rejoined 2010 World Championship teammate Mackenzie Caquatto on the Florida Gators team.

In 2013, at her first NCAA Championship with the Gators, Sloan captured the all-around title with a score of 39.600.[19] She then led her team to their first NCAA Championship title, scoring 39.75 all-around.[20] In event finals, Bridget also won the beam title.[21] Bridget is an eight-time All-American (first-team honors in all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise at the NCAA Championship; first-team honors for all-around, uneven bars and balance beam, and second-team in vault in the first National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches (NACGC) All-America regular-season awards).[22] After the season, Sloan was named as the 2013 recipient of the Honda Sports Award, recognizing her as the outstanding women's college gymnast/ She was only the fourth freshman to win in the award's 37-year history, and the second consecutive Florida freshman to win the award.[23][24]

2014 was Sloan's second season with the Gators, who won their second consecutive NCAA National Championships as a team. Individually, Sloan was the NCAA National Champion on the uneven bars, was a first-team All-American on vault and bars and second team All-American on floor. She was named NACGC Southeast Region Gymnast of the Year and earned NACGC first team All-American status on all four events.[25]

In the first meet of the 2015 season, against Ball State on Sunday January 11, 2015, Sloan was named the SEC Specialist of the Week for her 10.0 score on vault.[26] However, she also injured her ankle during the meet,[27] and was sidelined for five meets.[28] Sloan returned to competition toward the end of the regular season. She was a member of the Gators team as they won their third consecutive NCAA National Championships title, and individually placed second on vault and uneven bars, earning first team All-American honors. Sloan also placed sixth in the all-around. She has become the first gymnast from Florida to achieve perfect 10.0 scores on all four events, and is only the seventh NCAA gymnast ever to achieve the feat.[29]

Routines and skills

Elite (2008)

Difficulty: 5.8 (15.800)

Difficulty: 6.7 (16.700)

Difficulty: 6.5 (16.500)

Difficulty: 6.3 (16.300)

Elite (2009)

Difficulty: 5.8 (15.800)

Difficulty: 5.9 (15.900)

Difficulty: 6.1 (16.100)

Difficulty: 5.9 (15.900)

Elite (2010)

Difficulty: 6.1 (16.100)

Difficulty: 5.8 (15.800)

Difficulty: 5.6 (15.600)

Elite (2012)

Difficulty: 5.0 (15.000)

Difficulty: 6.4 (16.400)

NCAA (2014)

Competitive history

Senior career

Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2010 World Championships Rotterdam, Netherlands Team 2 175.196 3 233.643
Uneven Bars 4 14.666 9 14.700
Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2009 American Cup Chicago, IL All around 2 59.600
U.S. Championships Dallas, TX All Around 1 117.550 3 57.700
Uneven bars 1 29.450 3 14.550
Floor exercise 1 29.350 3 14.300
Balance beam 5 28.850 6 13.950
World Championships London, UK All Around 1 57.825 5 56.075
Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China Team 2 186.525 2 246.800
U.S. Olympic Team Trials Philadelphia, PA Uneven bars 8 30.100
Balance beam 12 29.100
Floor exercise 14 28.850
U.S. Championships Boston, MA Uneven bars 3 31.700
Balance beam 7 30.600
Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2007 U.S. Championships San Jose, CA Floor exercise 2 30.350
All around 5 118.00
Uneven bars 5 29.750
Balance beam 10 28.600
U.S. Classic Battle Creek, MI All around 1
Uneven bars 2
Vault 3
Balance beam 3
Floor exercise 3 (T)

Floor music

References

  1. ↑ http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2015/03/17/olympic-sports-david-boudia-picks-silver-beijing/24906353/
  2. ↑ Crumlish, John (2007-12-07). "Sloan Ready To Stay On Competitive Roll". International Gymnast. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  3. ↑ Crumlish, John (2008-05-26). "Interview: Bridget Sloan". International Gymnast. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  4. ↑ "Olympians At Last." NBCOlympics.com. July 19, 2008. Accessed on July 19, 2008.
  5. ↑ Wilner, Barry (2008-08-12). "In Beijing, Hoosier gymnast Sloan gets unexpected starring role". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  6. ↑ "All-around qualification scores". NBC Olympics. 2008-08-10. Archived from the original on August 17, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  7. ↑ "Team final scores". NBC Olympics. 2008-08-12. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  8. ↑ Yoculan, Suzanne (2008-08-12). "Analysis of the Women’s Gymnastics Team Final". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  9. ↑ "Sports | The Indianapolis Star". indystar.com. 2010-08-15. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  10. ↑ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOMEDqonEOt1gz47BVajzpnQQMYAD9HGQ3800[]
  11. ↑ Woods, David (2010-08-12). "Sports | The Indianapolis Star". indystar.com. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  12. ↑ Ainsworth, Alexa (2009-10-16). "Gymnastics Bridget Sloan likely out of Nationals, keeps eye on big picture". Universal Sports. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  13. ↑ Amanda Turner, "Wieber Leads US Women's Team to Tokyo," article, InternationalGymnast, 21 September 2011, http://www.intlgymnast.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2771:wieber-leads-us-womens-world-team-to-tokyo&catid=2:news&Itemid=166, accessed 23 September 2011.
  14. ↑ Couch Gymnast, 15 in 15 Bridget Sloan, 15 June 2012 http://www.thecouchgymnast.com/?p=6689
  15. ↑ http://usagym.org/pages/athletes/athleteListDetail.html?id=308134
  16. ↑ Whiteside, Kelly (2012-06-29). "2008 Olympian Bridget Sloan out of London trials with injury". USA Today. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  17. ↑ . April 13, 2011 http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=20387. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ↑ "Olympian, world champion Bridget Sloan signs with UF gymnastics – Swamp Things – Gators Blog – Orlando Sentinel". Blogs.orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  19. ↑ http://www.teamusa.org/News/2013/April/18/Bridget-Sloan-Flips-For-Florida.aspx
  20. ↑ http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2013/04/florida-finally-wins-ncaas/
  21. ↑ http://balancebeamsituation.blogspot.com/2013/04/event-finals-live-blog.html
  22. ↑ http://www.gatorzone.com/gymnastics/bios.php?year=2013&player_id=42
  23. ↑ http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=25613
  24. ↑ Collegiate Women Sports Awards, Past Honda Sports Award Winners for Gymnastics. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  25. ↑ http://www.gatorzone.com/gymnastics/bios.php?year=2016&player_id=42
  26. ↑ http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=29509
  27. ↑ http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=29496
  28. ↑ http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=30176
  29. ↑ http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2015/03/17/olympic-sports-david-boudia-picks-silver-beijing/24906353/

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