Jamie Natalie

Jamie Natalie is a retired American gymnast.

Natalie was born on 22 February 1979 in Wilmington, Delaware and grew up there.

Natalie was a club gymnast at Prestige Gymnastics in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Natalie was a member of the Junior National team for two out of three years between 1994 and 1997.

In 1994, he won bronze in the all around at J.O. Nationals.

He graduated from Alexis I. duPont High School in 1997.

Natalie was an intermittent member of the Senior National team between 1997 and 2001.

Natalie competed for Ohio State from 1998-2001, under coach Miles Avery.

Natalie was a seven-time all-American.

In 1998, he was named to the 1998 Goodwill Games.

In 1999, Natalie won gold on the high bar at the U.S. National Championships; a knee injury hampered him from competing on all events.

In 2000, because he had pursued collegiate gymnastics rather than the USOC's program, the USOC elevated two inferior and lower-scoring gymnasts to the Olympic team and named Jamie as the "alternate."

The USOC's attempt to send a message was widely derided and became the subject of continuing scrutiny.

In fact, the "backroom" dealings and secretive process that resulted in what was widely considered to be punitive action, exposed the US Olympic coaches' biases to nationwide embarrassment and shame.

In 2000, Natalie was the NCAA champion in the all-around and in floor exercise.

In 2000, Natalie again placed first on the high bar and finished tied for sixth in the all-around.

These results qualified Natalie to the 2000 Olympic Trials.

Before the meet, Natalie told his coach 'I'm making the team, I'm going after it.' Starting the meet on high bar, he scored a 9.9, which was the highest scored routine of the meet.

After sticking his landing, Natalie stomped off the podium, slapping high fives and walking up and talking to the camera.

Next, on floor exercise, Natalie earned a 9.625.

He showed a similar emotional reaction, walking up and down, getting congratulations from other gymnasts and making the outburst "do the math now, baby" in the vicinity of the judges.

The NBC commentator said, 'if you like rah rah in your gymnastics, we have your man, Jamie Natalie of Ohio State'.

After five events, Natalie was sixth and faced the parallel bars.

He scored a 9.625, his best result on that apparatus during the season.

This moved him into fifth in the all around ranks.

2000 was the first year that U.S. selection was not based strictly on the top all-rounders.

Only the first four all-rounders (based on a 60-40 average of Trials and U.S. Nationals) were assured spots on the Olympic Team.

Blaine Wilson, Paul Hamm, Sean Townsend, and Stephen McCain were the top four.

The last two spots were chosen by a committee.

They chose Morgan Hamm and John Roethlisberger, who had finished sixth and seventh, respectively; Natalie was named as the alternate.

After the announcement, Natalie and Roethlisberger were stunned.

Roethlisberger pulled Natalie aside for a private conversation before the team answered questions.

When he emerged, Natalie told the press:

"They could just pick the top six guys, but that might not be the best team. You have to put the best team on the floor. I can see where they’re coming from. Morgan is absolutely great on floor and vault. And John is great on the other four events. It’s a no-brainer."

The head of the selection committee and the coach for the 2000 delegation was Peter Kormann, who had been the Ohio State coach until Natalie's freshman year.

He said the committee had only considered the value of all gymnasts on different events in order to help the team, and not the all around scores after the top four were chosen.

"We went with the guys we thought could get the job done. It's not because of brothers like the Hamms or personalities. This was about what was best for the team. This is the team we believe can bring home a medal."

He was a highly decorated college gymnast, achieving the 2001 Nissen-Emery Award and a two-time individual all-around national champion.

In 2001, Ohio State were the team champions, and Natalie repeated his all-around gold.

That year, he was awarded the Nissen-Emery Award, the men's gymnastics version of the Heisman.