Great American Gymnastics Express

Great American Gymnastics Express, known also as GAGE Center or just GAGE, is an American artistic gymnastics academy, located in Blue Springs, Missouri.

GAGE Center

Full name	Great American Gymnastics Center
Nicknames	GAGE
Sport	Artistic gymnastics
Founded	1979
Based in	Blue Springs, Missouri
Head coach	Al Fong, Armine Barutyan
Members	Madison Desch, Brenna Dowell, Sabrina Vega, Courtney McCool, Terin Humphrey, Katelyn Ohashi, Christy Henrich, Julissa Gomez, Ivana Hong, Sarah Finnegan, Kara Eaker, Aleah Finnegan, Leanne Wong

History

GAGE was founded in 1979 by its present-day owner and head coach, Al Fong.[1]

Notable Gymnasts and Alumni

GAGE is known for producing high-level gymnasts, including the following:

Madison Desch:

• 2014 World Championships US team gold medalist (traveling alternate)
• 2014 Pan American Championships team champion
• 2015 Pan American Games team champion and all-around silver medalist
• Alabama gymnastics (2017–20)

Brenna Dowell:

• 2013 World Championships alternate
• 2014 World Championships alternate
• 2015 World Championships team champion
• Oklahoma Gymnastics (2015, 17–19) – 4x NCAA champion

Kara Eaker:

• 2018 World Championships team gold medalist
• 2019 World Championships team gold medalist
• 2018 Pan American Championships team and balance beam champion; floor exercise bronze medalist
• 2019 Pan American Games team and balance beam champion; floor exercise silver medalist

Aleah Finnegan:

• 2019 Pan American Games team champion

Sarah Finnegan:

• 2012 Olympic Games alternate
• 2010 Pan American Championships team champion and balance beam bronze medalist
• LSU Gymnastics (2016–19) – 2x NCAA champion

Christy Henrich:

• 1989 World Championships competitor

Ivana Hong:

• 2007 World Championships team champion
• 2007 Pan American Games team champion and all-around bronze medalist
• 2008 Olympic Games alternate
• 2009 World Championships balance beam bronze medalist

Terin Humphrey:

• 2003 World Championships team champion
• 2004 Olympic Games team and uneven bars silver medalist
• Alabama Gymnastics – 2x NCAA champion

Courtney McCool:

• 2004 Olympic Games team silver medalist
• 2003 Pan American Games team champion and vault silver medalist
• Georgia Gymnastics – 4x NCAA Champion

Leanne Wong:

• 2018 Junior National Champion
• 2019 American Cup gold medalist
• 2019 Pan American Games team champion and uneven bars silver medalist
• 2019 World Championships non-traveling alternate

Controversy

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, GAGE found controversy when two of their gymnasts met with tragic circumstances:

Julissa Gomez broke her neck while warming up for vault at a competition in Japan in May 1988. 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 present 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 any consistency during practices, sometimes missing her feet on the springboard.[2] A teammate from Károlyi's, Chelle Stack, later stated, "You could tell it was not a safe vault for her to be doing. Someone along the way should have stopped her."[2] However, Julissa's coaches insisted that she needed to continue training and competing the Yurchenko vault in order to achieve high scores.[2] Gomez fell into a coma during treatment due to a hospital error and never awoke, passing away in 1991.

Christy Henrich died from anorexia nervosa in 1994. 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.[3][4] At the time of her passing she weighed 47 pounds. The impact of her illness and death led to changes in the way coaches across the nation implement nutrition in training, as well as how television and media discuss gymnast's bodies. [5]

References

1. http://www.gagecenter.com/dragon-gymnastics/
2. Ryan, Joan (1995). Little Girls in Pretty Boxes. Garden City: Doubleday. pp. 17–20. ISBN 978-0-385-47790-1.
3. "Dying to Win: The Christy Henrich story" Dateline,1995
4. Obituary New York Times July 28, 1994
5. "Striking the Balance", Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, Technique magazine, July 1997