Shavahn Nikole Church (born May 3, 1989 in

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) is an American-British

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

who lives and trained in

. She formerly competed for the United States but decided in 2005 to represent Great Britain.

Early life

Church was born and raised in California to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

parents Raymond and Mandy Church. She has two sisters, Carley and Jade, who were also born in the United Kingdom. Her grandparents live in England. She began training gymnastics at age 7.

Career

Church was a member of the U.S. Junior National Team in 2003. In 2004, she competed at the American Classic, finishing third on

floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, considered an apparatus. The floor exercise (English abbreviation FX) is the event performed on the floor, in both women's and men's artistic gymnastics (WAG and MAG). The same flo ...

and fifth all-around. Her placements qualified her for the U.S. championships in June 2004, where she broke her hand on her first event, the

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

. Following an October 2004 ACL tear and faced with the likelihood of not making the U.S. Worlds team for 2005, Church decided to switch to competing for Great Britain while continuing to live and train in the U.S. She made her major international debut at the 2005 World Championships in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Not fully recovered from an injury and severely out of competition practice, she placed 20th in the all-around. Church was a member of the English team for the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

. Due to an injury to captain and world bronze medallist

Beth Tweddle Elizabeth Kimberly Tweddle (born 1 April 1985) is a retired English Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. Renowned for her uneven bar and floor routines, she was the first female gymnast from Great Britain to win a medal at the Rhythmic Gymnas ...

, the team had to compete with only four members, and were unable to challenge

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for the gold medal. Instead, in the last rotation, they were in a dogfight with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

for the silver. Church's bars routine secured second place for the team. In the all-around, Church was in medal contention until her beam routine, where a narrow save after a large wobble was not enough to prevent her from dropping behind, and she finished fifth. In apparatus finals, she bounced back, finishing second on bars to

Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs Elyse Null ( Hopfner-Hibbs, born September 12, 1989) is a Canadians, Canadian former gymnast, UCLA gymnastics alumna, and YouTube personality. She was born in Mississauga, Ontario. Career She first started gymnastics in 1993, and competed in he ...

of Canada. Church was also a member of the British team for the 2006 European Championships in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. She had hopes of more success on bars (her highest Commonwealth Games score would have qualified her to the European finals), but injury struck in the qualifying rounds and she was unable to complete the competition. Later in 2006, she underwent surgery, and the recovery kept her out of further competition that year. As a member of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

women's gymnastics team, Church's competition debut was delayed after arthroscopic surgery on her right knee. In 2008, her only year of competition, she scored a season-best (9.875) at the

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships The NCAA women's gymnastics tournament is an annual competition sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the team and individual national champions of women's collegiate gymnastics among its member programs ...

, which was her final gymnastics meet. She was named a UCLA letterwinner for the year. In July 2008, Church announced her retirement from gymnastics and began a coaching career in California.

Eponymous skill

Church has an eponymous uneven bars release move listed in the Code of Points.

Competitive History

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Church, Shavahn 1989 births Living people American female artistic gymnasts British female artistic gymnasts English female artistic gymnasts Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Gymnasts at the 2006 Commonwealth Games U.S. women's national team gymnasts People from Tarzana, Los Angeles 21st-century American women Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 21st-century English sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in gymnastics