Vanessa Atler

Vanessa Marie Atler (born February 17, 1982) is an American former elite gymnast.

Atler was born on February 17, 1982, in the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita, California, and began gymnastics at age 5.

She has a brother who played baseball, her mother was a tennis instructor, and one of her cousins had been a Minnesota Vikings quarterback.

At age 11, she began training at Charter Oak Gliders in Covina, California, and was coached by Beth Kline-Rybacki and Steve Rybacki.

By the time she was 12 years old, she was competing at the elite level.

As a junior elite gymnast, Atler had a fruitful career.

With her February 1982 birth date, Atler missed the age cutoff for senior competition—which would have given her a chance to compete for a spot on the 1996 Olympic team—by only six weeks.

A member of the U.S. national gymnastics team from the age of 12, Atler was one of America's most successful and talented gymnasts in the late 1990s.

In 1995, she gained attention by placing third in the all-around, behind Olympian Kerri Strug and Heather Brink, at the U.S. Olympic Festival.

She also won a gold medal on beam and a silver medal on floor.

She went on to win the silver medal in the all-around at that year's U.S. National Championships.

Atler also made her international competitive debut in 1995, winning the floor exercise title at the prestigious International Junior Gymnastics Competition in Japan.

In February, Atler won the junior all-around title at the American Classic.

In June at the U.S. National Championships, she became the junior national champion in the all-around and the floor exercise.

She was invited to participate in a televised exhibition meet, USA vs. the World, with members of the Magnificent Seven and international Olympians.

She is also the 1996 junior national all-around and floor champion.

She is the 1997 U.S. national all-around champion, the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medalist on the floor exercise and vault, and a four-time national champion in the individual events of vault, balance beam, and floor exercise.

In 1997, she found herself shut out of senior international competition once again, as the FIG raised the age limit from fifteen to sixteen.

Atler competed well in 1997, participating in both junior events and senior meets that were not bound by the FIG's new age restrictions.

She placed second all-around at the 1997 American Cup and won event titles on vault and beam.

In August at the 1997 U.S. National Championships, she won the national all-around title in a tie with Kristy Powell.

At that same competition, she also won the vault title and the bronze medal on uneven bars.

She went on to win the all-around title at the 1997 Canberra Cup in Australia, an important meet for junior international gymnasts.

During that same year, Atler began to experience problems on the uneven bars.

On the second day of U.S. Nationals, a fall from bars kept her from winning the all-around title outright.

This marked the beginning of a string of competitions in which she suffered unusual mistakes and misses on bars.

In her online diary, she once referred to the bars as "the devil--testing my will and my patience, even my love for the sport."

Over the next few years, bars would become a mental block for the young athlete who regularly struggled to put together a mistake-free routine in the heat of competition.

Atler's main issue on bars involved a release move called a Comaneci salto, which she fell on at three consecutive National Championships from 1997 to 1999.

This led to persistent questioning as to whether the Comaneci should have been removed from her bar routine despite the fact that she did complete the skill successfully on occasion.

In 1998, Atler was finally age-eligible for major senior international competition.

In March at the American Cup, a fall from bars cost her the all-around title and she placed fourth all-around.

In event finals at the same competition, she won the vault title and placed third on bars with a hit routine.

In July at the 1998 Goodwill Games, Atler was chosen to compete on floor exercise and vault, her two strongest apparatus.

She won the gold medal on both events, defeating a field of Olympic and World medalists.

In August at the 1998 U.S. National Championships, she won the all-around silver medal, as well as the gold medal on floor and the silver medal on vault.

A disastrous 8.225 on bars during the first night of competition cost her a chance to defend her all-around title, but she rebounded well on the second day and received a 9.8 for her hit bar routine.

At the 1999 American Cup, Atler became the first female gymnast to successfully perform a Rudi vault.

However, injuries, coaching conflicts, gym changes, mental breakdowns and bulimia symptoms derailed her progress in 1999 and 2000, and after a poor showing at the 2000 Olympic Trials, she was controversially left off the Olympic team despite placing sixth overall.

Known for her explosive vaults, difficult tumbling skills and charismatic personality, she won or medaled in several important meets, and was considered to be one of the front-runners for the 2000 Olympics.