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}} Vanessa Marie Atler (born February 17, 1982 in Valencia, California) is a retired American elite gymnast. She was the 1996 junior national champion on floor and in the all-around, a five-time senior national champion, the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medalist on the floor exercise and vault and a five-time World Cup champion. At the 1999 American Cup, Atler became the first American female gymnast to successfully perform a Rudi vault. A member of the U.S. national gymnastics team from the age of 12, Atler was one of the United States' most successful gymnasts as a junior in the late 1990s. Known for her explosive vaults, difficult tumbling skills and likable personality, she won or medaled in several important meets, and was considered to be one of the front-runners for the 2000 Olympics. 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.〔 ==Early career== Atler was born on February 17, 1982 in Valencia, California and began gymnastics at the age of 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. By the time she was 12 years old, she was competing at the elite level.〔() Official biography at USA Gymnastics〕 As a junior elite gymnast, Atler had a fruitful career. 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 and winning 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.〔("Getting to know Vanessa Atler" ) USA Gymnastics, June 3, 1996〕 She continued to enjoy success in 1996, as she became the junior all-around and floor exercise U.S. National Champion〔 and was invited to participate in a televised exhibition meet, ''USA vs. the World,'' with members of the Magnificent Seven and international Olympians.〔(USA vs. the World results ) USA Gymnastics, September 2, 1996〕 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. In 1997, she found herself shut out of senior international competition once again, as the FIG raised the age limit from fifteen to sixteen.〔〔("Vanessa Atler: World class gymnast" ) Mary Schubert, Associated Press/''Daily News'' 1998〕 Nonetheless, 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 at the 1997 American Cup, where she however managed to win event titles on beam and vault and tied with Kristy Powell to win the senior all-around title at the U.S. National Championships. At the same competition, she became the national vault champion. She also won the 1997 Canberra Cup in Australia, an important meet for junior international gymnasts.〔〔〔("Atler at peace with herself" ) Canoe Network, September 15, 2000〕 In 1997, however, Atler began to experience problems on the uneven bars. On the second day of the U.S. Nationals, a fall from the apparatus kept her from winning the title outright. This marked the beginning of a string of competitions in which she suffered unusual mistakes and misses on bars. In her diary, she once referred to the bars as "the devil--testing my will and my patience, even my love for the sport."〔Reported at NBC-TV broadcast of 1998 American Cup〕 Over the next few years, bars would become a mental block for the young athlete who time after time failed to put together a mistake-free routine in the heat of competition.〔("Whose star will shine in Sydney?" ) John Wilner, ''Daily News'' 1998〕〔("Decidedly different: Atler's path not routine" ) Bob Duffy, ''Boston Globe'' August 14, 2000〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vanessa Atler」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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