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VANESSA ATLER
Official website: www.atler.com
Vanessa Marie Atler is a retired American elite gymnast. She was best known for her explosive, difficult vaults and
tumbling skills, and was the first female American gymnast to perform a Rudi vault, which she debuted at the 1999 American Cup. On floor,
Atler had a large repertoire of tough elements. For several years, her first tumbling run on floor was a double layout-punch front-stag
leap combination.
Atler was born on February 17, 1982, in Valencia, California and began gymnastics at the age of 5. By the time she was 12 years old,
she was competing at the elite level.
As a junior elite gymnast, Atler had a fruitful career. In 1995, she gained attention by placing third in the all-around, behind Olympian
Kerri Strug and Heather Brink, at the Olympic Festival and winning the silver medal in the all-around
at that year's U.S. National Championships. Atler also made her international competitive debut in 1995, winning the floor exercise title
at the prestigious International Junior Gymnastics Competition in Japan. Atler's success continued in 1996, as she became the junior all-around
U.S. National Champion and was invited to participate in a televised exhibition meet, USA vs. the World, with members of the
"Magnificent Seven" — the 1996 United States Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team which won the first ever Gold Medal for the United States in the
Women's Team Competition at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics — and international Olympians.
With her February 1982 birthdate, Atler missed the age cutoff for senior competition — which would have given her a chance to compete
for a spot on the 1996 Olympic team — by only six weeks. In 1997, she found herself shut out of senior international competition once
again, as the FIG raised the age limit from fifteen to sixteen.
Nonetheless, Atler competed well in 1997, participating in both junior events and senior meets that were not bound by the FIG's new age
restrictions. She placed second at the 1997 American Cup and tied with Kristy Powell to win the senior all-around title at the U.S. National
Championships. She also won the 1997 Canberra Cup in Australia, an important meet for junior international gymnasts.
In 1997, however, Atler began to experience problems on the uneven bars. On the second day of the U.S. Nationals, a fall from the apparatus
kept her from winning the title outright. This marked the beginning of a string of competitions in which she suffered unusual mistakes and
misses on bars. In her diary, she once referred to the bars as "the devil — testing my will and my patience, even my love for the sport."
Over the next few years, bars would become a mental block for the young athlete who time after time failed to put together a mistake-free
routine in the heat of competition.
In 1998, Atler was finally age-eligible for senior competition. The year got off to an inauspicious start, as a fall from the bars cost
her the all-around title at the American Cup.
At the 1998 Goodwill Games, Atler was chosen to compete on floor exercise and vault, her two strongest apparatus. She won both events,
defeating, in the process, a roster of Olympic and World medalists. She had a similarly strong showing at the 1998 Copa Gimnastica in Mexico
City in the fall, where she had a good competition on all four events — including bars — and placed third in the all-around behind
Viktoria Karpenko and Simona Amânar.
In 1999, however, Atler had significant struggles. Early in the year, she once again fell off the bars at the American Cup, placing
third overall and winning the vault gold medal. At a meet in Paris, she severely injured her ankle when she landed out-of-bounds on a
tumbling pass. Atler recovered in time to compete at the 1999 U.S. Nationals, where she won the event titles on the vault and the balance beam.
However, in the all-around, she once again she fell from bars and finished second to Kristen Maloney.
Following the U.S. Nationals, Atler left her longtime coaches at Charter Oak gymastics club, Steve and Beth Rybacki.
Atler was too injured to compete at the U.S. World Team trials, but was petitioned onto the team on the strength of her scores at
Nationals. Competing at the 1999 World Gymnastics Championships in Tianjin, China, Atler was injured, out of shape and unprepared for the
competition. The stress proved to be too great as she only hit one clean routine throughout the team competition, and scored in the low 8s on
bars and beam. She qualified for the all-around finals, but, struggling with her ankle injury, placed 31st in the all-around. After the
World Championships, Atler had surgery twice on her ankle.
In late 1999, Atler moved to Texas to train with 1988 Olympic champion Valeri Liukin at the
World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA). Still struggling with her bars performances, she performed respectably at the 2000 U.S. Nationals and
finished fourth. However, at the Olympic Trials a few weeks later, Atler experienced a complete meltdown. She was unable to hit even one clean
routine over the two days of competition, and botched moves that she usually performed well, changing her vault in mid-air, modifying tumbling
passes on floor and falling on her back on her balance beam dismount. As a result, the Olympic Selection Committee opted to leave her completely
off the U.S. Olympic Team.
In 2001, she trained briefly at Rohnert Park Gymnastics, but announced her retirement in April.
For more information, visit her biography at www.usa-gymnastics.org.
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