Guillermo Carlos Alvarez (born October 24, 1982) is an American artistic gymnastics coach and former gymnast. He was a member of the

United States men's national artistic gymnastics team The United States men's artistic gymnastics team represents the United States in Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, FIG international competitions. History The first national team roster was established in 1998. The team has competed at ...

and won three medals while representing the United States at the 2007 Pan American Games.

Early life and education

Alvarez was born October 24, 1982, in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. His father emigrated from

Rioverde, San Luis Potosí Rioverde is a city and its surrounding municipality located in the south-central part of the state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. It is the fifth-most populated city in the state, behind San Luis Potosí, Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, Ciudad Valles, ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

and the family worked in potato fields. A native of

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Alvarez started gymnastics at 10 years old. He trained at Gymnastika, Inc. under coach Alexei Koudria in Wheatridge, Colorado. He attended

Green Mountain High School Green Mountain High School is a public high school in the western part of the city of Lakewood in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. It is administered by Jefferson County Public Schools. Athletics Green Mountain High School offers ...

Lakewood, Colorado Lakewood is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 15 ...

. He enrolled at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

to pursue gymnastics.

Gymnastics career

In college, Alvarez competed for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnastics The Minnesota Golden Gophers represented the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in Division 1 men's gymnastics. They were coached by Head Coach Mike Burns and Assistant Coaches Kostya Kolesnikov and Jordan Valdez. The team's home venue was Matu ...

team from 2002 to 2005 and was the 2005

Nissen Award The Nissen-Emery Award is presented to the most outstanding senior male collegiate gymnast in the United States. The award reflects admirable scholarship, moral characteristics, and sporting success. List of winners Total wins by school See a ...

winner (the "Heisman" of men's gymnastics). Domestically, he was the floor apparatus national champion at the 2005 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. Alvarez was a member of the

2005 Pan American Gymnastics Championships The 2005 Pan American Gymnastics Championships were held in Brazil. Artistic gymnastics events were competed in Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List ...

team and won a team all-around gold medal and silver medal on the floor. The following year, he won two individual medals and one team medal at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Rio 2007, were a major Americas, continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of ...

. He was a member of the 2006 and 2007

World Championship 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 ...

teams. In 2008, he just missed the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, finishing 6th in the all-around and 3rd on

pommel horse The pommel horse, also known as vaulting horse, is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. Traditionally, it is used by only male gymnasts. Originally made of a metal frame with a wooden body and a leather cover, the modern pommel horse has a metal bo ...

, but was not selected. Alvarez retired from competition in 2009 at the age of 26.

Coaching career

Following his retirement, Alvarez began coaching. He began coaching in 2009 at TAGS Gymnastics in

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It had a population of 64,198 at the 2020 census, making it the 16th-largest city in Minnesota. The city is adjacent to the north bank of the Minnesota River, upstream fro ...

, alongside a fellow Minnesota Golden Gophers gymnast. He later became a coach with the Icelandic National Team.

Personal life

Alvarez is the cousin of

Bryan Alvarez Bryan Alvarez (born June 12, 1975) is an American independent professional wrestler, martial artist, satellite radio host, podcaster, and journalist. Alvarez is the editor and publisher of ''Figure Four Weekly'', a fan run, online newsletter t ...

Eponymous skills

Alvarez has one named element on the horizontal bar.

References

External links

*
Guillermo Alvarez
at

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Guillermo 1982 births Living people University of Minnesota alumni American male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in gymnastics Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in gymnastics 21st-century American sportsmen Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnasts