Samantha Peszek

Samantha Peszek
— Gymnast —
Peszek in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Samantha Nicole Peszek
Nickname(s)	Sam
Country represented	United States
Born	(1991-12-14) December 14, 1991 Indianapolis, Indiana
Hometown	Indianapolis, Indiana
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Height	1.53 m (5 ft 1⁄4 in)
Weight	50 kg (110 lb)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Club	Sharp's Gymnastics Academy
College team	University of California, Los Angeles
Head coach(es)	Marvin Sharp
Former coach(es)	Peter Zhao
Music	"Reflejo de Luna" by Cranial and It's 'You' by N.O.H.A.
Medal record Women's gymnastics Competitor for the  United States Summer Olympics 2008 Beijing Team World Championships 2007 Stuttgart Team Pan American Games 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team U.S. National Championships 2009 Dallas Balance Beam Competitor for UCLA Bruins NCAA Championships 2015 Fort Worth All Around 2015 Fort Worth Balance Beam 2011 Cleveland Balance Beam 2011 Cleveland Team 2012 Duluth Team

Samantha Nicole Peszek (born December 14, 1991 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American gymnast. She was a member of the United States' silver-winning 2008 Olympic women's gymnastics team.^[1] Following her elite gymnastics career, she competed in NCAA Gymnastics for the UCLA Bruins. She is a 17-time All-American, the 2011 and 2015 NCAA balance beam champion, and the 2015 NCAA all around co-champion with Kytra Hunter.

Career

In 2007, Peszek competed on the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the 2007 Pan American Games.

In March 2008, she competed at the American Cup. She placed third in the all-around competition, behind teammates Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson.

After a solid performance at the 2008 U.S. National Championships, Peszek continued to prove her worth to the U.S. team at the Olympic Trials. At the conclusion of the meet, when she was invited to the final Olympic selection camp, most experts, including NBC's analysts, predicted she would be selected for the team. Indeed, she was selected on July 19, 2008 at the conclusion of the selection camp in New Waverly, Texas. Along with Peszek, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone, and Bridget Sloan were selected for the team.

During the 2008 Summer Olympics, Peszek injured her ankle during warm-ups just minutes before the women's qualification and was restricted to the uneven bars. She was the second gymnast to be injured on the 2008 Women's gymnastics Olympic team, the other being Chellsie Memmel.^[2] After the Beijing Olympics, Peszek expressed her desire to continue her elite gymnastics career.

After letting her ankle heal, Peszek competed for the first time after the Olympics at the 2009 CoverGirl Classic, where she competed only vault and beam, placing second and ninth. She then decided to compete at the VISA Championships with hopes of making the world team as a three-event specialist; she planned to postpone surgery to fix a torn labrum in her shoulder. During the championships she placed second on beam and seventh on floor. Peszek was then added to the U.S. national team and made it to the second and final selection camp, during which she pulled out and decided to get her torn labrum fixed. She signed with UCLA.

In 2011, Peszek won the balance beam title at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics championship, where she became the first college gymnast to do a standing full twist on the beam. She was a first team All-American on beam in both 2011 and 2012.^[3]

Peszek redshirted the 2012-2013 NCAA season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in December. Later in 2013, she became an NACGC/W Scholastic All-American for the third consecutive year. And she was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame Class of 2013 as a member of the 2007 women's world championships team.

In 2014, Peszek made a triumphant return to the NCAA competitions. During the regular season, Peszek averaged 9.91 on vault (highest at 9.950), 9.906 on uneven bars (highest at 10.0), 9.921 on balance beam (highest at 9.950) and 9.888 on floor exercise (highest at 9.925). And during a tri-meet against Michigan and Utah, Peszek made another triumphant comeback in the all-around competition (first time since the 2012 NCAA National Championships) by clinching the meet all-around title with a 39.65 (9.925 on vault, 9.875 on uneven bars, 9.925 on balance beam, 9.925 on floor exercise). She then posted a career-high all-around score during the tri-meet against Utah State and Bowling Green with a 39.70 (9.950 on vault, 9.975 on uneven bars, 9.925 on balance beam, 9.850 on floor exercise).

In March 2014, Peszek competed at the 2014 Pac 12 Conference Championship. She contributed scores of 9.825 on vault, 9.900 on uneven bars, 9.925 on balance beam and 9.775 on floor exercise to the UCLA team's fourth-place finish. Individually, she was named the 2014 Pac 12 balance beam champion and finished second in the all-around competition.

In 2015, she opted to use her final year of NCAA eligibility and competed for one last year as a fifth-year senior. She proved that she was still at the top of her game by winning the 2015 NCAA title on the balance beam with a score of 9.95^[4] as well as becoming the NCAA all-around co-champion with University of Florida gymnast Kytra Hunter with a score of 39.60.^[5]

Personal life

Peszek is from Indianapolis, Indiana. She is Catholic and graduated from Cathedral High School in 2010.^[6] She also attended St. Simon the Apostle Grade School where she got high honors.

After Beijing, Peter Zhao, Peszek's long-time coach at DeVeau's School of Gymnastics, retired from coaching and returned to China to help with his family business. Peszek transferred to Sharp's Gymnastics Academy. She trained alongside Olympic teammate Bridget Sloan.^[7]

In April 2009 Peszek announced on her Twitter that she had committed to UCLA to compete in NCAA gymnastics for the Bruins.^[8] She was the first of the 2008 US Women's Gymnastics team, apart from former collegiate athlete Alicia Sacramone, to announce NCAA intent. Peszek graduated from UCLA & resides in Los Angeles.

Routine skills

Elite (2008)

• Vault - Double Twisting laid out Yurchenko
• Uneven bars - Straight Mount to High Bar; Kip; Swing 1.5; Jaegar; Clear Hip 1/2 to Gienger; Clear Hip; Bail Handstand; Stalder Transition to High Bar; Giant Full; 1/1 Double Layout Dismount
• Floor Exercise - 1.5 Twist to Double Back Tuck; Double Layout; Ring Leap to Switch 1/2; Arabian Double Front; Triple Turn; Switch 1/1; Double Pike
• Balance Beam - Back Tuck 1/1 to Back Pike; Front Aerial to Flip Flop to Layout Step Out; Switch Side; Front Tuck; Aerial Cartwheel; Full Turn with leg at Horizontal; Wolf Hop to Switch Leap to Gainer Layout Step Out; Round Off Double Pike Dismount

NCAA (2014)

• Vault - Full Twisting laid out Yurchenko
• Uneven bars - Glide kip; Squat on LB to hang on HB; KCHS; Giant 1/1, Geinger; KCHS; Bail Handstand; Toe-on to HB; Double Layout Dismount
• Floor Exercise - Double Layout; Front Layout 1/1, Front Layout; Split leap; Split leap 1/2; Double Pike; Double Spin, Wolf Jump 1/1
• Balance Beam - (Back Tuck 1/1;) Front Aerial, Back Tuck; Switch Leap, Straddle Jump; Spin; Back Handspring, Layout Stepout, Layout 1/1

Floor music

• 2009: "Reflejo de Luna" by Alacran and It's 'You' by N.O.H.A.
• 2008: "Whatever Lola Wants" by The Gotan Project
• 2007: "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou
• 2005: "Mr. Pinstripe Suit" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Competitive history

2015 season

2014 season

2013 season

2012 season

2011 season

2009 season

2008 season

2007 season

2006 season (junior career)

• Scores from U.S. National Championships and Olympic Trials are totaled from 1st and 2nd day meets to produce a final score.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Samantha Peszek.

• Samantha Peszek on Twitter
• Samantha Peszek at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Samantha Peszek at USA Gymnastics
• Samantha Peszek at the United States Olympic Committee

World Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Team Competition     1934:  Czechoslovakia 1938:  Czechoslovakia 1950:  Sweden 1954:  Soviet Union 1958:  Soviet Union 1962:  Soviet Union 1966:  Czechoslovakia 1970:  Soviet Union 1974:  Soviet Union 1978:  Soviet Union 1979:  Romania 1981:  Soviet Union 1983:  Soviet Union 1985:  Soviet Union 1987:  Romania 1989:  Soviet Union 1991:  Soviet Union 1994:  Romania 1995:  Romania 1997:  Romania 1999:  Romania 2001:  Romania 2003:  United States 2006:  China 2007:  United States 2010:  Russia 2011:  United States 2014:  United States 2015:  United States 2007:  United States (USA), Ivana Hong, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Samantha Peszek, Alicia Sacramone, Shayla Worley

2008 USA Olympic Gymnastics Team (Bronze Medal – Men's Team, Silver Medal – Women's Team) Men's artistic gymnastics athletes Alexander Artemev Raj Bhavsar Joseph Hagerty Jonathan Horton Justin Spring Kevin Tan Women's artistic gymnastics athletes Shawn Johnson Nastia Liukin Chellsie Memmel Samantha Peszek Alicia Sacramone Bridget Sloan Rhythmic gymnastics athletes DNQ Trampoline athletes Chris Estrada Erin Blanchard Coaches Liang Chow (Head Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Márta Károlyi (Assistant Head Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Valeri Liukin (Women's artistic gymnastics coach) XueYi (Peter) Zhao (Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Mihai Brestyan (Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Marvin Sharp (Women's artistic gymnastics coach) Andy Memmel (Women's artistic gymnastic coach)