Carly Patterson

Carly Rae Patterson is a versatile American performer. She is a singer and songwriter. She was also a highly successful artistic gymnast. Patterson is most famous for her performance at the 2004 Olympic Games. At those Games, she won the gold medal in the all-around event. This title means she was the best gymnast across all disciplines. She was the first American woman to win this title at an Olympics that was not boycotted.

This distinction is important because many previous champions competed during years of political boycotts.

Artistic gymnastics requires mastery of several specific apparatuses. These include the vault, the uneven bars, the balance beam, and the floor exercise. To win the all-around, a gymnast must score highly on every single one. Patterson even has an eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points. This is a set of rules that defines gymnastics moves. Her skill is called the Arabian double salto forward tucked. She performs this difficult move on the balance beam. It has a difficulty value of G, which is 0.7.

Patterson's journey into sports began by chance in 1994. She attended a cousin's birthday party at a gymnastics club. This club was called Elite Gymnastics in Baton Rouge. She was coached there by Yohanan Moyal, a former Olympian from Israel. By the year 2000, she was only 12 years old. She began competing on the international stage that same year. In Belgium, she won a silver medal in the all-around at the Top Gym Tournament. She also earned a bronze medal on the balance beam.

Her career moved through several competitive stages. In 2002, she became the U.S. junior national all-around champion. She then transitioned to her senior career in 2003. That year, she won the American Cup as the youngest competitor at age 15. She also earned a silver medal at the World Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim, California. At that same event, she helped the United States team win a gold medal. This was the first time the American women won a team gold at the World Championships.

The 2004 Olympic season was a major turning point. Patterson won the all-around at the American Cup in early 2004. She also became a co-national champion later that year. During the Olympic Trials, she fell off the balance beam twice. This caused her to drop to third place. However, she performed well at a national training camp. This allowed her to make the official Olympic team for Athens.

At the 2004 Olympic Games, Patterson faced significant pressure. The U.S. women's team struggled during the team final. Patterson had a stressful start on the vault. She under-rotated her vault and stubbed her foot on the uneven bars. Despite these errors, the U.S. team won the silver medal. In the individual all-around, Patterson fought back. She scored 9.575 on the uneven bars and 9.725 on the balance beam. She also scored 9.712 on the floor exercise. She narrowly defeated the Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina to win gold. On August 23, she won a silver medal in the balance beam final with a score of 9.775.

Patterson retired from gymnastics in 2006. She had been diagnosed with several bulging discs in her lower back. Her doctor advised her to stop to ensure she could walk well as she aged. After retiring, she turned her focus to music. She signed a demo contract with Papa Joe's Records for four songs. Later, she signed with MusicMind Records in Chicago. She released the single "Temporary Life (Ordinary Girl)" in 2008. Her debut album, titled Back to the Beginning, was released in 2009. She has since been inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame and the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.