Kerri Allyson Strug is a retired American gymnast from Tucson, Arizona. She was a member of the Magnificent Seven, the victorious all-around women's gymnastics team that represented the United States at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Strug performed the vault that clinched the gold for the U.S. team despite having injured her ankle.
Shannon Lee Miller is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 1993 and 1994 world all-around champion, the 1992 Summer Olympics all-around silver medallist, the 1996 Olympic balance beam champion, the 1995 Pan American Games all-around champion, and a member of the gold medal-winning Magnificent Seven team at the 1996 Olympics.
The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as the "Gator Nation." The Gators compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and are consistently ranked among the top college sports programs in the United States. The University of Florida currently fields teams in nine men's sports and twelve women's sports.
The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run of 1889, which initially opened the Unassigned Lands in the future state of Oklahoma to non-native settlement. The university's athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The university's current athletic director is Joe Castiglione.
The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisional Collegiate Water Polo Association. Team colors are maize and blue, though these are different shades of "maize" and "blue" from those used by the university at large. The winged helmet is a recognized icon of Michigan Athletics.
Barthold Wayne Conner is a retired American Olympic gymnast. As a member of the US men's gymnastics team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, Conner won two gold medals. He owns and operates the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, Oklahoma, along with his wife, Romanian Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comăneci. In addition, both Comăneci and Conner are highly involved with the Special Olympics.
Mark Philip Schultz is a former American freestyle wrestler. Schultz was a 3-time NCAA champion, Olympic champion and 2-time World champion. In 1995, Schultz was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member. He is also in the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the San Mateo Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame.
Rhonda Faehn is an American college gymnastics coach and former college and elite gymnast. Faehn was the head coach of the Florida Gators women's gymnastics team of the University of Florida for thirteen seasons, from 2003 to 2015. As a gymnast, Faehn competed at the 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and was named as an alternate for the U.S team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. Faehn also competed collegiately, earning a scholarship to UCLA, where she attended from 1990 to 1994. She is best known for leading the Florida Gators to twelve consecutive appearances in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's gymnastics tournament, and three consecutive NCAA championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Faehn left the University of Florida in 2015 to become the Senior Vice President of USA Gymnastics, the governing body of gymnastics in the United States. On May 17, 2018, USA Gymnastics parted ways with Faehn, who came under fire from survivors of former national team doctor Larry Nassar's abuse.
The Indiana State Sycamores are the NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic teams of Indiana State University. Since the 1977–78 academic year, Indiana State has been a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). The Indiana State football team has competed in Division I FCS since the 1982 season, and has been a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) since it was spun off from the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (Gateway) when the latter league merged into the MVC in 1992. Past conference memberships include the Indiana College Athletic League (1895–1922), the Indiana Intercollegiate Conference (1922–1950), the Indiana Collegiate Conference (1950–1968) and the Midwestern Conference (1970–1972). The women's teams were Gateway members from the league's 1982 founding until its absorption by the MVC. In 1986, a year after the Gateway took on football as its only men's sport, the Sycamores football team joined that conference.
The Iowa State Cyclones women's basketball team represents Iowa State University (ISU) and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I. The team is coached by Bill Fennelly, who is in his 28th year at Iowa State. The Cyclones play their home games at Hilton Coliseum on Iowa State's campus.
Paul Ziert is a former gymnastics coach. Ziert was a member of the gymnastics team at Illinois State University. Ziert won the NAIA national championship in the free exercise and tumbling in 1965. Ziert was the head gymnastics coach at the University of Oklahoma. He recruited Bart Conner to the school. In 1977 and 1978, Ziert's teams won the NCAA Men's Gymnastics championship. He coached the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team from 1974 to 1983, and the women's team from 1981 to 1983. Ziert cowrote a book with Conner, Winning the Gold, in 1985. Ziert currently publishes International Gymnast Magazine.
Guard Wayne Young is a retired American gymnast. He is a three-time member of the U.S. gymnastics team at the World Championships, and contributed to a silver medal in the men's team competition in 2001. Three years later, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Young helped his U.S. squad to earn a silver medal in the same program, a best finish since 1984. During his college career, Young has earned six All-American and two NCAA titles in the men's vault. In 2010, Young was inducted to the sports hall of fame by the Brigham Young University.
The NCAA women's gymnastics tournament is an annual gymnastics competition to determine the best collegiate women's gymnastics team in the country. Unlike most NCAA sports, the women's gymnastics championship is not separated into divisions and uses a single National Collegiate tournament instead.
Margaret Mary Nichols is an American former collegiate artistic gymnast. She was the ninth NCAA gymnast to complete a Gym Slam, the first to do so for Oklahoma, and the first NCAA gymnast to have achieved it twice.
The Oklahoma Sooners women's gymnastics team represents the University of Oklahoma in NCAA competition and competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Sooners have won nineteen conference championships, 15 NCAA Regional championships, and have appeared in 21 NCAA National Championships. In 2014, the Sooners won the program's first-ever team national title in the first-ever NCAA gymnastics championships tie, tying with Florida with a score of 198.175. The Sooners have had eighteen individual national champions, 202 NCAA All-Americans, and four Honda Awards.
Stephen D. Penny Jr. is an American businessman and sports administrator. He was president and CEO of USA Gymnastics (USAG) from 2005 until 2017, and is a key figure in the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal.
Kelly Garrison-Funderburk, formerly known as Kelly Garrison-Steves, is a retired American artistic gymnast. An elite gymnast for eight years, she represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. In addition to her Olympic experience, she participated in the 1983, 1985 and 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She was a two-time winner of the Honda Sports Award.
The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal relates to the sexual abuse of hundreds of gymnasts—primarily minors—over two decades in the United States, starting in the 1990s. It is considered the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports history.
Lawrence Gerard Nassar is an American serial child rapist and former family medicine physician. For 18 years, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team, where he used his position to exploit and sexually assault hundreds of young athletes.
Marshall Scott Avener is an American gymnast. He competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics and the 1976 Summer Olympics.
