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TASHA SCHWIKERT
Tasha Schwikert (born November 21, 1984) is an American gymnast who is a 2000 Olympian, a World
Gymnastics Championships team gold medalist, and the 2005 NCAA all-around national champion.
The daughter of Shannon Warren and Joy Schwikert, Schwikert was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. She trained with coach
Cassie Rice at GymCats club in Las Vegas, and was a member of USA Gymnastics' TOPS developmental team in 1994 and 1995.
At the age of thirteen, in 1998, she earned her first national team berth. Her first international meet was the 1998
City of Popes competition in France, where she won a silver medal on the floor exercise in the junior division.
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Tasha Schwikert, 2004 US Olympic Trials
Photograph copyright © Heather Maynez, www.gymnpics.com. All rights reserved. |
Schwikert first came to prominence as a member of the U.S. team for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Her presence on the
team was controversial: she placed ninth at the Olympic Trials, was not originally named to the team at all, and joined
the squad in Sydney later as a second alternate. When team member Morgan White was injured in training, Schwikert was
named as her replacement, passing over first reserve Alyssa Beckerman. Despite the questions over Schwikert's qualification,
she performed without serious error under pressure while some of her more illustrious teammates made mistakes. Following the
Olympics, Schwikert would become arguably the most visible and noteworthy gymnast in America.
Schwikert led the U.S. team to a surprise bronze medal at the 2001 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Ghent
and was the USA's highest finisher in the all-around, placing fifth. She qualified for the floor exercise and balance beam
event finals. A medal was a possibility in the floor finals — her all around score on this apparatus would have been high
enough for bronze — but she fell on her final tumbling pass.
Later in 2001, Schwikert surged with three solid wins, winning her first US National Championships, the American
Classic competition, and the all-around title at the Pan American Championships. Injury prevented Schwikert from competing
in the 2002 World Championships. However, in 2002 she did win the Pacific Alliance all-around title, her second Nationals,
and the American Cup.
Schwikert tied for second at the 2003 US Nationals. She was the captain of the 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
team in Anaheim, supporting her younger teammates throughout the competition and demonstrating leadership and good sportsmanship.
In the team finals, she only competed on vault and uneven bars but performed both of her routines cleanly, posting the highest
scores of the American team on both events. Her scores helped the American women win their first team gold medal in World
Championships competition.
In the following year, she suffered an injury that greatly disappointed what had become a widespread following. At the
2004 National Championships she won the uneven bars title, but placed off the all-around podium for the first time since 2000.
Despite being hampered by an ankle injury, Schwikert was named as an alternate on the 2004 Olympic team. She flew to
Athens with her two fellow reserves, Chellsie Memmel and Allyse Ishino, but was
not called upon to compete.
Schwikert began attending UCLA in autumn 2004 on a full athletic scholarship. In her first year of competition for the
UCLA Bruins gymnastics team, she won the NCAA National all-around title. She was the only gymnast in 2005 to earn first-team
All-American honors on all four events.
Schwikert was sidelined for most of the 2005–2006 season due to a shoulder injury requiring surgery, but remained
a student at UCLA and a member of the team. Schwikert returned to the UCLA floor and vault lineup for the Pac-10 Championships
in late March, and continued to compete on a limited basis for the rest of the season. While UCLA did not qualify for the
2006 NCAA Nationals as a team, Schwikert qualified as an individual and competed on vault, finishing eleventh in the
preliminary round.
Recovered from her injury, Schwikert ended the 2006–2007 season as one of the top collegiate gymnasts in the nation.
She won the PAC-10 all-around title for the second time in her career, picking up additional gold medals on the floor
exercise, balance beam and vault, and was named the PAC-10 and West Region Gymnast of the Year. She also won the all-around
title at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. At the NCAA National Championships in April, Schwikert was the only
gymnast from UCLA to win an individual medal, earning a silver on the uneven bars. She was the only gymnast in the nation
to rank in the Top 15 on all four individual events, as well as the all-around, and was a nominee for the Honda Award.
chwikert's younger sister, Jordan, is also a member of the UCLA gymnastics team. She and Tasha are in the same year of
school, having opted to enter UCLA at the same time.
Since 2005, Schwikert has been employed as a gymnastics commentator by the WCSN Network. She has covered the World
Gymnastics Championships for three consecutive years, working alongside
Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner.
For more information, visit her
profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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