Great American Gymnastics Express

Great American Gymnastics Express, known also as GAGE Center or just GAGE, is an American artistic gymnastics academy, located in Blue Springs, Missouri.

GAGE Center
Full nameGreat American Gymnastics Center
NicknamesGAGE
SportArtistic gymnastics
Founded1979
Based inBlue Springs, Missouri
Head coachAl Fong, Armine Barutyan
MembersMadison Desch, Brenna Dowell, Sabrina Vega, Courtney McCool, Terin Humphrey, Katelyn Ohashi, Christy Henrich, Julissa Gomez, Ivana Hong, Sarah Finnegan, Kara Eaker, Aleah Finnegan, Leanne Wong

History

GAGE was founded in 1979 by its present-day owner and head coach, Al Fong.[1]

Notable Gymnasts and Alumni

GAGE is known for producing high-level gymnasts, including the following:

Madison Desch:

Brenna Dowell:

Kara Eaker:

Aleah Finnegan:

Sarah Finnegan:

Christy Henrich:

Ivana Hong:

Terin Humphrey:

Courtney McCool:

Leanne Wong:

Controversy

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, GAGE found controversy when two of their gymnasts met with tragic circumstances:

Julissa Gomez broke her neck while warming up for vault at a competition in Japan in May 1988. Observers had noticed her struggle with the apparatus over the months leading up to the competition including her former coach Béla Károlyi, past and present teammates, and even her present coach Al Fong. Gomez's technique on the extremely difficult Yurchenko vault had been described as shaky at best, and Gomez was unable to perform the vault with any consistency during practices, sometimes missing her feet on the springboard.[2] A teammate from Károlyi's, Chelle Stack, later stated, "You could tell it was not a safe vault for her to be doing. Someone along the way should have stopped her."[2] However, Julissa's coaches insisted that she needed to continue training and competing the Yurchenko vault in order to achieve high scores.[2] Gomez fell into a coma during treatment due to a hospital error and never awoke, passing away in 1991.

Christy Henrich died from anorexia nervosa in 1994. Her condition was allegedly spurred by comments from international judges and her coaches. Desperate to move up the ranks in the highly competitive world of Olympic-level gymnastics, Henrich took the criticisms to heart; her drive to lose a few pounds progressed to unhealthy eating habits and, eventually, became full-blown anorexia nervosa.[3][4] At the time of her passing she weighed 47 pounds. The impact of her illness and death led to changes in the way coaches across the nation implement nutrition in training, as well as how television and media discuss gymnast's bodies. [5]

References
  1. http://www.gagecenter.com/dragon-gymnastics/
  2. Ryan, Joan (1995). Little Girls in Pretty Boxes. Garden City: Doubleday. pp. 17–20. ISBN 978-0-385-47790-1.
  3. "Dying to Win: The Christy Henrich story" Dateline,1995
  4. Obituary New York Times July 28, 1994
  5. "Striking the Balance", Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, Technique magazine, July 1997
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