Great American Gymnastics Express, known also as GAGE Center or GAGE, is an American artistic gymnastics academy, located in
Blue Springs, Missouri
Blue Springs is a city in Jackson County, Missouri, United States. Blue Springs is located east of Kansas City. It is the 8th largest city in the Kansas City metropolitan area and 10th largest city in the state of Missouri. As of the 2020 cens ...
.
GAGE was founded in 1979 by its present-day owner and head coach,
Al Fong.
Notable alumni
Among the gymnasts who trained at GAGE are:
*
Lynnzee Brown,
2024 Olympian (representing Haiti)
*
Madison Desch, a gold medalist with the U.S, team at the
2014 World Championships
*
Brenna Dowell, a
2015 World Championships team champion and four-time NCAA champion
*
Kara Eaker, a two-time
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
team gold medalist
*
Aleah Finnegan,
2024 Olympian (representing the Philippines),
2019 Pan American Games
The 2019 Pan American Games (), officially the XVIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Lima 2019, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization held in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019, with preliminar ...
team champion
*
Sarah Finnegan, a two-time NCAA champion
*
Christy Henrich, a
1989 World Championships competitor;
Ivana Hong, a
2007 World Championships team champion
*
Terin Humphrey, a
2004 Olympic Games
The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece.
The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
team and uneven bars silver medalist and two-time NCAA champion
*
Courtney McCool, a
2004 Olympic Games
The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece.
The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
team silver medalist and four-time NCAA champion
*
Leanne Wong, a
2022 World Championships team gold medalist
Controversy
The deaths of GAGE gymnasts in 1988 and 1994 drew controversy.
In May 1988,
Julissa Gomez broke her neck while warming up for vault at a competition in Japan. Observers had noticed her struggle with the apparatus over the months leading up to the competition, including her former coach Béla Károlyi, past and present teammates, and even her own coach, Al Fong. Gomez's technique on the extremely difficult
Yurchenko vault had been described as shaky at best, and Gomez was unable to perform the vault with consistency during practices, sometimes missing her feet on the springboard.
A teammate from Károlyi's,
Chelle Stack, later said, "You could tell it was not a safe vault for her to be doing. Someone along the way should have stopped her."
However, Gomez's coaches insisted that she needed to continue training and competing the Yurchenko vault in order to achieve high scores.
Gomez fell into a coma during treatment due to a hospital error and never awoke. She died in 1991.
In 1994,
Christy Henrich died from
anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin.
Individuals wit ...
. Her condition was allegedly spurred by comments from international judges and her coaches. Desperate to move up the ranks in the highly competitive world of Olympic-level gymnastics, Henrich took the criticisms to heart; her drive to lose a few pounds progressed to unhealthy eating habits and, eventually, became full-blown
anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin.
Individuals wit ...
.
["Dying to Win: The Christy Henrich story" ''Dateline,''1995] She weighed 47 pounds when she died. Her death led to changes in the way coaches across the nation implement nutrition in training, and how television and media discuss gymnasts' bodies.
"Striking the Balance"
, Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, ''Technique'' magazine, July 1997
References
External links
* {{Official website, gagecenter.com
Companies established in 1979
Gymnastics clubs in the United States
Gymnastics in Missouri