Full name | World Champions Centre Elite |
---|---|
Nicknames | WCC |
Sport | Artistic gymnastics |
Founded | 2014 |
Based in | Spring, Texas |
Owner | Ron & Nellie Biles |
Head coach | Laurent Landi Cecile Canqueteau-Landi |
Manager | Zachary Francis |
Members | Simone Biles Jordan Chiles Olivia Greaves Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos Zoe Miller Joscelyn Roberson Tiana Sumanasekera |
Website | worldchampionscentre |
World Champions Centre (WCC) is an American artistic gymnastics academy, located in Spring, Texas. It is home to Olympic champion Simone Biles and is owned by her family. [1]
After the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Aimee Boorman, the longtime coach of Simone Biles, was looking to leave Bannon's Gymnastix. As a result, Biles' mother, Nellie, who co-owned a chain of fourteen nursing homes around Texas, suggested that the family build a gym. [2] World Champions Centre originally opened in March 2014 in a temporary center before moving in September to a warehouse. It now[ when? ] features a 29,000-square-foot (2,700 m2) gym floor. [3] The gym opened to the public in May 2016. [4]
The inaugural Biles Invitational was held in 2018 at World Champions Centre. [5]
Starting in 2020, the event served as a qualifying meet for the Nastia Liukin Cup. [6]
Notable World Champions Centre gymnasts include Olympic Champions Simone Biles (2016, 2020, 2024) and Jordan Chiles (2020, 2024), as well as 2024 Olympic alternate Joscelyn Roberson. [7] [8] All three are additionally World Champions (Biles 2013–2015, 2018–2019, 2023, Chiles 2022, and Roberson 2023). French Olympian and World bronze medalist Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos began training at WCC in 2022. [9]
Additionally Pan American Games champions Zoe Miller and Tiana Sumanasekera train at WCC.
Chellsie Marie Memmel is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2005 world all-around champion and the 2003 world champion on the uneven bars. She was a member of the United States women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Anastasia "Nastia" Valeryevna Liukin OLY is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic all-around champion, a five-time Olympic medalist, the 2005 and 2007 World champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World champion on the uneven bars. She is also a four-time all-around U.S. national champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller for the third-highest tally of World Championship medals among U.S. gymnasts. Liukin also tied Miller's record as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games. In October 2011, Liukin announced that she was returning to gymnastics with the hopes of making a second Olympic team. Liukin did not make the 2012 Olympic team and retired from the sport on July 2, 2012.
Valeri Viktorovich Liukin is a Kazakh-American retired artistic gymnast currently working as a gymnastics coach. Representing the former Soviet Union, Liukin was the 1988 Olympic champion in the team competition and individually on the horizontal bar, and Olympic silver medalist in the all-around and the parallel bars.
The World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) is a two-facility gymnastics club located in Frisco and Plano.
The American Cup, formerly known as the AT&T American Cup through a sponsorship arrangement that ended in 2018, was an elite senior level international gymnastics competition that had been held in the United States from 1976 to 2020. It was usually held in February or March of each year. In 2011, it became part of the International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series. With the exception of 2005, it has been exclusively an all-around competition. Past champions include Olympic all-around champions Nadia Comăneci, Mary Lou Retton, Vitaly Scherbo, Paul Hamm, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin, Gabby Douglas, and Simone Biles. The final American Cup took place on March 7, 2020, in Milwaukee.
The Nastia Liukin Cup is an annual artistic gymnastics competition held in the United States and hosted by Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin.
The U.S. Classic is an annual summer gymnastics meet for elite artistic gymnasts of the United States. The meet occurs before Nationals and is a qualifier for it. In Olympic years, the aforementioned meets along with the U.S. Olympic Trials are used for selection to the team.
Alexandra Claire McMurtry is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2013 Nastia Liukin Cup champion and the 2017 NCAA Champion. She competed in NCAA gymnastics for the Florida Gators and was the 10th person in NCAA history to record a Gym Slam.
The United States women's national artistic gymnastics team represents the United States in FIG international competitions.
Marine Clémence Boyer is a French female artistic gymnast. She was a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2023 World Championships and was also a part of the 2018 and 2024 Europeans and 2018 Mediterranean Games silver medal winning teams and the 2016 European bronze medal winning team. Individually she is the 2018 Mediterranean Games gold medalist, the 2016 European silver medalist, the 2018 European bronze medalist and the 2024 European bronze medalist on the balance beam. She represented France at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics. She is the 2016 French all-around champion and an eleven-time medalist at the FIG World Cup series.
Mélanie Johanna de Jesus dos Santos is a French artistic gymnast. She was a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2023 World Championships. She is the 2019 European all-around champion, a two time European champion on the floor exercise, and the 2021 European champion on the balance beam. She is also the 2018 European silver medalist with the French team, the 2019 European silver medalist on the balance beam, and the 2017 European bronze medalist in the all-around. She represented France at the 2020 Summer Olympics where she placed sixth with the team and on the uneven bars and eleventh in the all-around. She is the 2017, 2018, and 2019 French all-around champion, and she won the Longines Prize for Elegance in 2019.
The women's uneven bars event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July and 1 August 2021 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. Approximately 90 gymnasts from 53 nations competed on the uneven bars in the qualifying round.
The 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Stuttgart, Germany from October 4–13, 2019. The championships took place at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, and was the third time the city of Stuttgart hosted the event following the 1989 and 2007 editions, and the fifth time Germany hosted it.
Olivia Greaves is an American artistic gymnast and was a member of the United States women's national artistic gymnastics team (2018–2022).
The 2021 Winter Cup was an artistic gymnastics competition held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. In past iterations it was only for men’s artistic gymnasts, however, this competition was the first time that women’s artistic gymnasts were included.
Haleigh Alexandra Bryant is an American artistic gymnast currently competing for Louisiana State University in the NCAA. She is the 2024 NCAA Champion in the team and individual all-around, and is the 2021 NCAA Champion on vault.
The 2022 Winter Cup was an artistic gymnastics competition held at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco. Like the previous year it included both men's and women's artistic gymnastics.
The women's artistic individual all-around event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was scheduled to take place on 28 July and 1 August 2024 at the Bercy Arena. 60 gymnasts from 32 nations competed in the all-around in the qualifying round.
The 2023 U.S. Classic, known as the 2023 Core Hydration Classic for sponsorship purposes, was the 39th edition of the U.S. Classic gymnastics competition. The event was held on August 4–6, 2023 at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
The 2024 Winter Cup, known officially as the Kentucky Winter Classic, was an artistic gymnastics competition held at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, on February 23–25, 2024. As in recent years, the competition included men's and women's gymnastics.