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ELYSE HOPFNER-HIBBS
Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (born September 12, 1989 in Mississauga, Ontario) is a Canadian gymnast.
Elyse won four medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games: team bronze, gold in the women's uneven bars and women's beam, and
silver in the women's all-around. She was very unfortunate not to take the all-around title, having achieved the same score as
eventual winner Chloe Sims of Australia. The new tie break rule had to be used to separate them (previously ties were not uncommon
in gymnastics, even in the all-around). Sportingly, Sims invited Elyse onto the gold medal podium with her. Despite the disappointment,
Elyse finished the championship as one of the most decorated gymnasts there (she tied with Hollie Dykes of Australia for the highest medal total).
In the 2006 World Championships, Elyse won a bronze medal on the beam, the first medal ever for a Canadian woman at the World
Championships. Canada has recently been strong in men's gymnastics — Kyle Shewfelt won the
floor exercise in the 2004 Olympics — but less so in women's competition. So although Elyse is still relatively inexperienced, she
has a strong claim to be considered the most successful Canadian female gymnast of all time. Others such as Stella Umeh and
Kate Richardson (both Commonwealth all-around champions) have made major finals, but did not
win medals in them.
Elyse plans to continue training and hopes to be named to the Canadian team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Then, she will attend UCLA on an NCAA scholarship.
For more information, visit her
profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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