USA Athlete Bios

MEN

Alexander Artemev
Sr. Artistic

Artemev was a member of the 2007 World Championships Team that placed fourth in the team competition. He won the pommel horse world bronze medal in 2006, the first U.S. man to do so since 1979. At the Visa Championships, Artemev won the pommel horse gold medal and the parallel bars silver medal in 2007 and was the all-around champion in 2006. He competed in the 2007-08 Tyson American Cup, finishing second in 2008 and fourth in 2007. At the 2008 Winter Cup Challenge, he placed first on pommel horse and third in the all-around. Artemev is a member of Team Chevron and trains at 5280 Gymnastics in Wheat Ridge, Colo.
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Raj Bhavsar
Sr. Artistic

Bhavsar, an alternate on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, was a member of the U.S. Men’s Teams that won the team world silver medals in 2001 and 2003. He was second in the all-around and still rings at the 2008 Winter Cup Challenge and placed first on the vault and third on the parallel bars. Bhavsar was third on the parallel bars at 2006 Visa Championships and competed in the 2007-08 Tyson American Cup, finishing sixth in 2008. A member of Team Chevron, he trains at Houston Gymnastics Academy.
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Michael Devine
Sr. Trampoline

Devine, who trains at J & J Tumbling and Trampoline, placed second in trampoline and synchronized trampoline at the 2008 Winter Classic. He has a U.S. title in synchronized trampoline from 2006 and placed second in synchro at the 2007 U.S. Championships. He was a member of the 2007 World Championships Team.
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Chris Estrada
Sr. Trampoline

Estrada is a three-time U.S. trampoline champion (2005-07) and three-time U.S. synchronized trampoline titlist (2004-06). In international competition in 2007, he won gold in trampoline at the Pan American Games, and placed fourth in synchronized trampoline and 16th in trampoline at the World Championships. He made the finals at three World Cups in 2007, finishing fourth in synchro in Quebec City, Quebec, seventh in both trampoline and synchro in Ostend, Belgium, and seventh in synchro in St. Petersburg, Russia. He trains at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
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Paul Hamm
Sr. Artistic

Hamm returned to competitive gymnastics at the 2007 Visa Championships and won the floor exercise, his 10th career national title. He recently won the all-around, floor exercise and parallel bars at the 2008 Winter Cup Challenge, and won the all-around at the 2008 Tyson American Cup. Hamm became the first U.S. male gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title when he won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Just one year earlier, Hamm made history by winning the United States’ first-ever men’s world all-around title at the 2003 World Championships, where he also tied for first on floor and won a team silver medal. Hamm, a member of Team Chevron, took time off after the 2004 Olympic Games to earn his college degree at Ohio State University, where he trains.
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Jr. Men

WOMEN

Jana Bieger
Sr. Artistic

Bieger, who trains at Bieger International Gymnastics, won three silver medals at the 2006 World Championships: team, all-around and floor exercise. Just a week later, she went on to win the uneven bars and floor exercise titles at the World Cup event in Stuttgart, Germany. Earlier this year, she was a member of the team that won the title at the Italy-Spain-Poland-USA friendly competition. At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, she won the team, vault and floor exercise and placed third in the all-around.
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Darline Hill
Sr. Artistic

Hill, who was named to her first senior national team in 2007, finished sixth on the uneven bars and floor exercise and ninth in the all-around at the 2007 Visa Championships. She finished fourth in the uneven bars at the 2007 Grand Prix in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Nastia Liukin
Sr. Artistic

Earlier this year, Liukin won her second Tyson American Cup crown. Along with her team title, she won the balance beam gold medal and finished second on the uneven bars at the 2007 World Championships. Liukin, who trains at WOGA, now has nine world medals (four gold and five silver), tying the mark of nine world medals held by Shannon Miller, who has earned more world and Olympic medals than any other U.S. gymnast (16 total). From 2003-06, Liukin won four straight U.S. all-around titles (junior in 2003-04 and senior in 2005-06), and 10 national individual event crowns (six junior and four senior). She added another U.S. title on the uneven bars in 2007. At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, Liukin tied for first in the all-around and won the uneven bars title, as well as was a member of the gold-medal team and finished second on the balance beam.
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Olivia Courtney
Sr. Artistic (alt.)

Courtney helped the U.S. Women win the team title at the 2008 Italy-Spain-Poland-USA friendly competition, and earned the team gold medal and placed fifth in the all-around at the 2007 Junior Pan American Championships. She placed fourth on uneven bars and tied for fourth on vault in the junior division at the 2007 Visa Championships.
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Chelsea Davis
Sr. Artistic (alt.)

Davis won gold medals in the team competition and all-around, and a silver medal on the uneven bars at the 2008 Gymnix International. At the 2008 Italy-Spain-Poland-USA competition, she won the team gold medal and placed sixth in the all-around. Davis was a member of the U.S. Team that won the team title at the 2007 Junior Pan American Championships, and she also placed second on balance beam and third in the all-around. In the junior division at the 2007 Visa Championships, Davis placed fourth in the all-around and fifth on the floor exercise.
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Ava Gehringer
Sr. Rhythmic

Gehringer was a member of the 2007 World Championships Team. In international competition in 2007, she won bronze medals in clubs at the 5th Baltic Rhythmic Gymnastic Cup and in ribbon at the Opal Cup. Gehringer placed fourth in the all-around at the 2007-08 Rhythmic Challenge, and earned fourth-place finishes in the all-around, rope, clubs and ribbon at the 2007 Visa Championships.
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Rachel Marmer
Sr. Rhythmic

Marmer placed first in rope, second in the all-around and clubs, and third in hoop and ribbon at the 2007 Visa Championships. A member of the 2007 World Championships Team, she most recently placed second in the all-around at the 2008 Rhythmic Challenge and claimed a bronze medal in rope at the Madiera Tournament in Portugal. Marmer won four consecutive U.S. junior all-around titles and 11 U.S. junior individual event titles from 2003-06. At the Pacific Alliance Championships, she won the junior all-around, hoop, clubs and ribbon gold medals in 2006, and the junior all-around, rope, ball, clubs and ribbon gold medals in 2004.
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Lisa Wang
Sr. Rhythmic

Wang won the all-around at the 2007-08 Rhythmic Challenge, and finished first in the all-around, hoop and clubs, and second in rope and ribbon at the 2007 Visa Championships. At the 2007 Pan American Games, she won gold medals in the all-around and ribbon, and placed second in clubs and rope. At the Visa Championships, Wang won U.S. titles in the all-around, ball and ribbon in 2006, and in ball, clubs and ribbon in 2005. She has represented the United States at three World Championships (2003, 2005 and 2007).
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Brittany Dircks
Sr. Trampoline

Dircks finished 15th at the 2007 World Championships to secure one of two wild card Olympic spots for the United States, the country's third straight appearance in women's trampoline at the Olympic Games. She is the 2007 U.S. trampoline and synchronized trampoline champion. In 2007, she placed fifth in synchro at a World Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., and seventh in trampoline at the Pan American Games. She trains at Head over Heels.
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Alaina Williams
Sr. Trampoline

Bieger, who trains at Bieger International Gymnastics, won three silver medals at the 2006 World Championships: team, all-around and floor exercise. Just a week later, she went on to win the uneven bars and floor exercise titles at the World Cup event in Stuttgart, Germany. Earlier this year, she was a member of the team that won the title at the Italy-Spain-Poland-USA friendly competition. At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, she won the team, vault and floor exercise and placed third in the all-around.
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Jr. Women


 

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