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MOHINI BHARDWAJ
Mohini Bhardwaj (born September 29, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American gymnast.
Bhardwaj (known to her teammates as "Mo") began taking gymnastics at the early age of four. Training in Cincinnati, Ohio she quickly
climbed up the amateur ranks, and by 1993 her coaches had confidence she could make the Olympic team. She made her first US National Team
in 1992. While too young to compete in the 1992 Olympics, she entered the senior ranks in 1993 and racked up an impressive number of
medals in other international competitions.
Determined to make her dreams come true, she moved to Orlando, Florida and started training under Alexander Alexandrov, a former coach of
the Soviet gymnastics team. After training for three years in Orlando, Bhardwaj went with Alexander to Houston, Texas without her parents.
At 17, living alone in a Texas apartment, Mohini began to struggle. Her gymnastics suffered from long nights and partying. At the 1996
Olympic trials she finished a disappointing tenth. At the 1997 Nationals, NBC commentators noted that Bhardwaj was only competing due to
her parents' insistence. In spite of her seeming indifferent, Bhardwaj had a strong showing at these Nationals, finishing third in the all-around
and easily earning a spot on the American World Championships team.
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Mohini Bhardwaj, 2004 US Olympic Trials
Photograph copyright © Heather Maynez, www.gymnpics.com. All rights reserved. |
Although her reputation as a wild child scared off some NCAA recruiters, Bhardwaj was awarded a full gymnastics scholarship to UCLA.
Although her partying continued, UCLA head coach Val Kondos kept her on the team. Kondos' faith paid off: by 1999, Bhardwaj had changed her ways.
She was a key member of the Bruins, earning All-American honors eleven times and winning the NCAA Nationals. Her gymnastics flourished in the
college environment. Her difficulty on all events increased, and she developed a new artistic style on floor exercise. However, it was during
her senior year at UCLA when Bhardwaj really stepped up her game, scoring several perfect 10s and sending notice that she was a viable
contender for a top spot on the elite scene.
After ending her UCLA career with a new perspective and work ethic, Bhardwaj returned to elite competition. She made the US National
Team with a third-place all-around showing at the 2001 National Championships, where she also won vault and placed second on the balance beam.
She followed up her success at Nationals with a strong performance at the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, contributing to the
American team's bronze medal, placing 18th in the all-around and 7th in the vault event finals.
The next year, however, Bhardwaj suffered a dislocated elbow, an injury so serious that it kept her out of action until 2004. Off the
national team and running low on training funds, Bhardwaj found herself taking odd jobs to pay for her gymnastics. Determined to make her
Olympic dream come true, Bhardwaj found herself working out seven hours a day followed by waitressing at nights. A generous $20,000 grant
from former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson enabled her concentrate on her training without financial worries.
At the 2004 Nationals, Bhardwaj placed a disappointing 12th in the all-around, snagging the final spot in the Olympic Trials. However,
a sixth-place finish at the Trials, combined with her impressive vaulting, difficult skills and consistent routines on all other events
earned her a spot on the US Olympic Team.
In Athens, Bhardwaj was an important contributor to the American team's silver medal finish, the team's best ever finish outside the
US. She competed all four events in preliminary competition, earning an all-around placement (8th) that would have advanced her to the
all-around finals if not for the FIG rule limiting all-around competitors to two per country. Carly Patterson
and Courtney Kupets advanced instead. In the team finals, Bhardwaj was used on three events,
turning in solid performances. Her balance beam performance was particularly noteworthy: though probably her worst event in gymnastics,
Mohini was informed after warmups concluded that she would have to perform on the event due to her teammate's injury. Not expecting to
compete beam in finals, and without even having warmed up, Bhardwaj delivered to her capacity. Anything other than a strong performance
would have probably seen the US relegated to bronze, but she did a clean routine and managed to keep the US ahead of a resurgent Russian team.
As team captain, Bhardwaj also served as a stabilizing factor for the younger members of the team, taking them aside and comforting them
when they made errors. Bhardwaj's final performance in the Olympics was the floor exercise event final, where she placed sixth. She appealed
her score at first but after the use of a video replay the original start value and score were both upheld. Bhardwaj's father still claimed
afterwards that she ought to have been awarded bronze. This happened on the same evening as the notorious high bar debacle, when the crowd,
sick of perceived bad judging, booed for twenty minutes following a low score for Alexei Nemov.
Mohini suffered from the same problem as Cheng Fei, whose score was also unpopular; she showed
difficult tumbling and great artistry, but lost marks because of failure to complete the controversial "dance bonus" section which is usually
complicate jumps and turns in combination. This is a requirement that is not entirely popular with fans. Mohini herself is on record as stating
a dislike for the dance bonus and jumps.
Mohini joined the other members of the Olympic team on a national tour after Athens, and unlike the other five she did attempt to continue
into 2005. She attended training camps and was originally selected for the American Cup in January 2005, but had insufficient training time
to be ready and withdrew. She eventually retired from competitive gymnastics later in 2005, at the age of 26, and in 2006 will finally finish
her degree at UCLA. She recently got married to Jeff Barry.
For more information, visit her U.S. Olympic Team biography
or her profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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