Olympics Gold Medalist Meets District 219 Gymnasts

The opportunity to meet the 2004 all-around Olympics gold medalist in gymnastics, Carly Patterson, sent ripples of excitement through the Niles North High School gymnastics gym on Wednesday night as young gymnasts rolled, tumbled and bounced on padded floor mats waiting for the star to appear. 

Many of the budding athletes are too young to remember Patterson’s medal winning performances at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. However, like Brittany Ebling, a Niles North Senior and varsity captain, they learned of Patterson’s Olympic feats by downloading pictures and videos of her victories and researching her life through Google searches. Once Ebling discovered the Olympic medalists’ accomplishments, she expected Patterson would urge everyone to excel in their sport.

“You can always work harder,” Ebling observed.

Ebling didn’t have long to wait, as Carly Patterson soon entered the gym to the cheers of over 100 students, parents and high school staff. Taking the center of the gym floor, Patterson briefly spoke about the upcoming Cover Girl Classic, which is the final qualifying event before this year’s USA Gymnastics’ national championship. Patterson encouraged everyone to attend the event on July 23 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, and noted that Shawn Johnson, the 2008 Olympic gold and silver medalist, will be among the competing gymnasts.

As the Olympic gold medalist opened the floor to questions from the audience, she spoke of how she began her career.

“I started out in a Baton Rouge gymnastics club just like the clubs many of you are in right now,” she told the students.

She the young gymnasts everyone to remember the fundamentals of the sport.

“Always do the basics,” Patterson said. “Always remember to do your floor exercises before any competition. Even though it might be boring, it is the foundation of every routine.”

In answer to a young hopeful’s question of how much she trained before the Olympics, Patterson said that she put in seven hour days. “My life’s motto is that hard work never disappoints. Keep working at it. With enough work, you will eventually get through the frustrations of your sport.”

With the questions answered, Patterson spent the rest of the evening autographing pictures, posing for photographs and giving words of encouragement to each of her young fans.

Carly Patterson’s inspiration was not lost on admirers Clare Embil, age 12, and Jasmin Dirks, age 10, both future Niles West High School students. Embil, a Culver seventh grader, echoed the star’s words regarding hard work.

“Gymnastics is not a place for complainers or whiners,” Embil asserted. “Gymnastics is a sport for people who don’t take no for an answer.”