Vanessa Atler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vanessa Marie Atler is a retired American elite gymnast. She was best known for her explosive, difficult vaults and tumbling skills, and was the first female American gymnast to perform a Rudi vault, which she debuted at the 1999 American Cup. On floor, Atler had a large repertoire of tough elements. For several years, her first tumbling run on floor was a double layout-punch front-stag leap combination.

1 Early career
2 Senior career
3 After 2000
4 Appearances in other media
5 External links and references

[edit] Early career

Atler was born on February 17, 1982 in Valencia, California and began gymnastics at the age of 5. By the time she was 12 years old, she was competing at the elite level.

As a junior elite gymnast, Atler had a fruitful career. In 1995, she gained attention by placing third in the all-around, behind Olympian Kerri Strug and Heather Brink, at the Olympic Festival and winning the silver medal in the all-around at that year's U.S. National Championships. Atler also made her international competitive debut in 1995, winning the floor exercise title at the prestigious International Junior Gymnastics Competition in Japan. Atler's success continued in 1996, as she became the junior all-around U.S. National Champion and was invited to participate in a televised exhibition meet, USA vs. the World, with members of the Magnificent Seven and international Olympians.

With her February 1982 birthdate, Atler missed the age cutoff for senior competition--which would have given her a chance to compete for a spot on the 1996 Olympic team--by only six weeks. In 1997, she found herself shut out of senior international competition once again, as the FIG raised the age limit from fifteen to sixteen.

Nonetheless, Atler competed well in 1997, participating in both junior events and senior meets that were not bound by the FIG's new age restrictions. She placed second at the 1997 American Cup and tied with Kristy Powell to win the senior all-around title at the U.S. National Championships. She also won the 1997 Canberra Cup in Australia, an important meet for junior international gymnasts.

In 1997, however, Atler began to experience problems on the uneven bars. On the second day of the U.S. Nationals, a fall from the apparatus kept her from winning the title outright. This marked the beginning of a string of competitions in which she suffered unusual mistakes and misses on bars. In her diary, she once referred to the bars as "the devil--testing my will and my patience, even my love for the sport." Over the next few years, bars would become a mental block for the young athlete who time after time failed to put together a mistake-free routine in the heat of competition.

[edit] Senior career

In 1998, Atler was finally age-eligible for senior competition. The year got off to an inauspicious start, as a fall from the bars cost her the all-around title at the American Cup.

At the 1998 Goodwill Games, Atler was chosen to compete on floor exercise and vault, her two strongest apparatus. She won both events, defeating, in the process, a roster of Olympic and World medalists. She had a similarly strong showing at the 1998 Copa Gimnastica in Mexico City in the fall, where she had a good competition on all four events--including bars--and placed third in the all-around behind Viktoria Karpenko and Simona Amanar.

In 1999, however, Atler had significant struggles. Early in the year, she once again fell off the bars at the American Cup, placing third overall and winning the vault gold medal. At a meet in Paris, she severely injured her ankle when she landed out-of-bounds on a tumbling pass. Atler recovered in time to compete at the 1999 U.S. Nationals, where she won the event titles on the vault and the balance beam. However, in the all-around, she once again she fell from bars and finished second to Kristen Maloney. Following the U.S. Nationals, Atler left her longtime coaches at Charter Oak gymastics club, Steve and Beth Rybacki.

Atler was too injured to compete at the U.S. World Team trials, but was petitioned onto the team on the strength of her scores at Nationals. Competing at the 1999 World Gymnastics Championships in Tianjin, China, Atler was injured, out of shape and unprepared for the competition. The stress proved to be too great as she only hit one clean routine throughout the team competition, and scored in the low 8s on bars and beam. She qualified for the all-around finals, but, struggling with her ankle injury, placed 31st in the all-around.

In late 1999, Atler moved to Texas to train with 1988 Olympic champion Valeri Liukin at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA). Still struggling with her bars performances, she performed respectably at the 2000 U.S. Nationals and finished fourth. However, at the Olympic Trials a few weeks later, Atler experienced a complete meltdown. She was unable to hit even one clean routine over the two days of competition, and botched moves that she usually performed well. As a result, the Olympic Selection Committee opted to leave her completely off the U.S. Olympic Team.

[edit] After 2000

Atler trained briefly in 2001 at Ronnhert Park Gymnastics, but soon retired. In 2005, she appeared on the television show Starting Over.

[edit] Appearances in other media

Stunt double for the Lifetime Television film Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, 1997.
Commercial for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, 1999
Starting Over, 2005 [1]