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KATE RICHARDSON
Kate Richardson (born June 27, 1984 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian artistic gymnast.
She began gymnastics at age three. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she placed 7th in the floor exercises event. She is currently
a student at UCLA.
Member of Canada's Women's Artistic Gymnastics Team, 1996–2004. National Novice Champion, 1996; Junior Champion,
1998; and Canadian Champion, 2001.
At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, Richardson became Commonwealth All-Around Champion, also winning
gold on Balance Beam. She competed for Canada at two Summer Olympic Games — Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 — where
she qualified for the Floor Exercise Final, placing 7th. She was the first Canadian woman to qualify for an Olympic final.
Even more remarkable was the fact that she qualified for the Olympics whilst competing in the NCAA, a feat not achieved
in women's gymnastics since Kelly Garrison Steves in 1988. Fellow Bruin
Mohini Bhardwaj also competed.
In 2002, Richardson was granted an athletic scholarship to attend UCLA, where she joined the Bruins' Gymnastics Team,
repeating NCAA Champions in 2003 and 2004. Her teammates have included fellow individual NCAA champions
Kristen Maloney,
Tasha Schwikert and
Jamie Dantzscher. During her four years competing for the Bruins, she also
won Individual NCAA Championship titles on Balance Beam (2003), Bars (2003) and Floor Exercise (2006). In 2006, she was named
Pac-10 Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
She has now retired from competitive gymnastics.
For more information, visit her
profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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