American Gymnasts: Gold Medal Dreams [Mass Market Paperback]

Chip Lovitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000

They've set their sights on Sydney in 2000!

During the Atlanta Summer Olympics, Americans were transfixed by the Magnificent Seven, the young women who led the United States to its first-ever team gold medal in gymnastics. Since that underdog win, U.S. gymnasts have continued to succeed in international competition, performing routines with power and grace. Just in time for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, here's the scoop on the American gymnasts who are front-runners in the race for Olympic gold, including:

* Kristen Maloney, the two-time national champion who even has an uneven-bars move, "The Maloney," named after her

* Vanessa Atler, a three-time U.S. gold medalist and 1998 Goodwill Games champion, who has been called the new Mary Lou Retton

* Elise Ray, the two-time U.S. gold medalist whose spectacular performance at the 1999 World Championships exceeded all expectations

Plus Morgan White, Jennie Thompson, updates on 1996 gold medalists Dominique Moceanu and Amy Chow, and many more Olympic hopefuls!

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671785451
• ISBN-13: 978-0671785451
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,303,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gold medal dreams that sadly never happened, May 26, 2004

By 

Celeste M. Harmer (Clifton Heights, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Gymnasts: Gold Medal Dreams (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was written just before the 2000 Olympics and is full of prognostications of an American women's gold-medal sweep in Sydney to rival their brilliant coupe of the 1996 Atlanta games; sadly, the American women's team that competed in the Sydney Olympics was a rather lackluster group: Not one gymnast made it to the event finals, and the highest individual ranking garnered was Elise Ray's 13th-place finish. It was the most dismal Olympic showing since the 1970's, and you wondered what had happened between 1996 and 2000 that caused the American women to completely fall flat.

This is written in an interesting slant for children, but some of the gymnasts' biographies, even if they are true, are rather invidious and would cause a lot of depression in a young athlete: most of the gymnasts started gymnastics at the age of 3, hit the ground running, and were coached by top-notch coaches who flew gleefully out of retirement upon seeing these girls perform. It must make a young gymnast who hasn't attained such lofty heights what she is doing wrong.

The biggest drawback about this book is the color photos. I don't know if it was poor camera angles, an overall lack of bad form on the gymnasts' part, or both, but these are the worst gymnastics photos I've ever seen.