2004 Olympics: Top Stories

12:17 AM CDT on Monday, August 9, 2004

By CATHY HARASTA / The Dallas Morning News

She's easy on the eardrums.

That might not sound like a highly technical assessment of world champion gymnast Carly Patterson's skills. But Don Peters, who coached the 1984 U.S. Women's Olympic Team, has listened intently while observing Patterson's progress.

"She gets her game face on," said Peters. "She very rarely misses. If you watch the way she lands on the beam, she lands like a cat. It's really good training and really good technique."

Good enough for Patterson to become an Olympic champion?

In the cradle of the Games, the Allen gymnast noted for her powerful execution will try to win the ultimate prize. Coaches and athletes say Patterson, 16, has the tools and the temperament to excel in Athens.

"I think Carly is a phenomenal gymnast," said Kerri Strug, whose valiant vault on a smashed ankle made her a heroine of the Olympic champion U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Patterson's knack for recovery after a rare mishap has contributed to her reputation as a great competitor. Her mental toughness was among the first traits that attracted the admiration of legendary Olympic coach Bela Karolyi and his wife, Martha, the U.S. women's team coordinator.

Patterson's career began unintentionally. She was 6 when she attended the eighth birthday party for her cousin, Farin Fabre, in their native Baton Rouge, La. In what now seems like fate, the party was at a facility called Elite Gymnastics.

It so happened that gym owner Johnny Moyal, a three-time Olympian for Israel and an All-American gymnast at LSU, was coaching his young team that afternoon. He happened to spot one of the birthday party's guests as she jumped into a pit of foam cubes and flipped on the mats.

"She was very talented physically, a great athlete," said Moyal, who sent the partygoer – Patterson – home with a note asking that her parents bring her back to the gym for an evaluation. "This little girl looked like she was something special."

Patterson trained with Moyal for five years before her family moved to Houston. The next year, a second auto industry career move for her father, Ricky, landed Patterson in North Texas, at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano.

Smiley N. Pool / DMN

Carly Patterson stands at attention during the national anthem at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Anaheim, Calif.

Evgeny Marchenko, co-owner of WOGA, and Natasha Boyarskaya, one of the gym's coaches who is an expert choreographer, have trained Patterson since 2000. Patterson spends more than 35 hours a week in the gym, which required her to switch from Allen public schools to private schooling last year.

"A lot of gymnasts can do great at practice," Marchenko said. "Carly has the ability to do things the same way in competition."

Among the highlights of her last two seasons, Patterson has won a world team gold medal, a world all-around silver medal, two senior national titles (floor exercise and a tie with Bedford native Courtney Kupets for the 2004 U.S. all-around championship) and two Visa American Cup championships.

Bela Karolyi named Mary Lou Retton, Vanessa Atler and Patterson the three best American gymnasts he has seen.

Patterson was the first to perform the double Arabian balance beam dismount in a major competition.

"It's a very risky trick with a blind landing," Marchenko said of the move known as the "Patterson." "It's pretty spectacular."

After Patterson had elbow surgery in September, Marchenko carefully paced her recovery to gear her for the Olympic year. Martha Karolyi said Marchenko has done a good job of keeping Patterson from becoming distracted.

But the pressure of outside expectations for Patterson worries Strug.

"She's going into every competition expected to win it all," Strug said. "And I don't think that's fair. I don't think she should have to go into the Olympics with everybody thinking she's going to be the next Mary Lou."

Mary Lou Retton was quick to dismiss concerns about Patterson after her slip-ups on the balance beam – her favorite apparatus – at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Anaheim, Calif., in June.

"Carly's just awesome," Retton said with trademark enthusiasm. "Awesome!"

Smiley N. Pool / DMN

Carly Patterson began her march toward the Olympics 10 years ago.

Patterson finished third behind trials winner Kupets and runner-up Courtney McCool. Patterson fell off the balance beam in each round of the two-session trials, missing on a switch leap and a standing Arabian.

Marchenko was unfazed.

"She was possibly over cautious," Marchenko said. "When she falls, she falls. Her routines are very stable. She's very calm and cool. She never gave up. Her spirit was not broken, not damaged."

Indeed, she posted the highest scores at the final Olympic team selection camp's two competitions in New Waverly, Texas, in mid-July, including a 9.9 on the floor exercise. She was named to the team, and Marchenko was appointed the Olympic squad's assistant coach at the camp's finale July 18.

Patterson said she is not focusing on the competition in Athens, which will include Russia's Svetlana Khorkina, who topped Patterson for the world all-around title last year.

Said Patterson: "Now is the time for me to get ready and just concentrate on me."

E-mail charasta@dallasnews.com