LOS ANGELES, JULY 19, 2004
At 25, Mohini Bhardwaj, sociology major from University of California,
Los Angeles (UCLA) was on Sunday selected for the August Olympics. She
was selected after five days of training at the Olympic team selection
camp at the Women's National Team Training Centre near Huntsville, Texas.
She qualified for the US championships, where she was placed 12th,
to earn the final Olympic trials spot.
At the Olympic trials in Anaheim, Mohini stole the show with an inspired
sixth-place effort and went on to shine with grace and style.
At the Texas selection camp, Mohini continued to post impressive scores
at two mock meets, earning 9.8 points on the vault - her favourite event
- in the first competition and earning 9.45-plus scores on the other
three events.
A former All-American at UCLA who received $20,000 from Pamela Anderson
to fund her training, Bhardwaj made a compelling bid for a spot in Athens
at Olympic trials over the weekend. She finished in sixth place and
earned an invitation to next month's selection camp, where team coordinator
Martha Karolyi will fill the final four spots on the six-woman team.
This is fantastic," said Anderson, who spent Sunday in the gym,
holding up the "Go Mo" signs that became a staple during Bhardwaj's
sterling career at UCLA. "She deserves it. This sport usually ends
for women at such a young age. But she's 25 and she's still doing great."
When she was 15 - the age most top-flight female gymnasts are thinking
about the Olympics - Bhardwaj was considered one of the great young
hopes for the American team. But she shuffled cities, shuffled coaches
and started feeling like a piece of meat.
She grew disenchanted, pretty much gave up on her Olympic dreams. After
a third-place finish at nationals in 1997, it looked like her career,
at least on the world stage, was over.
Even when she enrolled at UCLA that year, she felt like she was just
going through the motions. Then, a turnaround
Because NCAA rules limit the amount of training - about four hours
a day instead of the eight or nine most world-class gymnasts put in
- Bhardwaj realized she could still be a good gymnast without having
to sacrifice her entire life to get there.
She wound up an 11-time All-American at UCLA and won national titles
in floor exercise and uneven bars. She set the UCLA record with eight
perfect 10s, and led the Bruins to two national titles.
2000 Claimed her first NCAA individual title by winning the
uneven bars with a score of 9.95
Runner-up in the all-around
at the NCAA Championships with a score of 39.575 and on beam with a
mark of 9.9
First-team All-American in the all-around, vault
(fifth-place), bars (third consecutive year) and beam
Ended the
season hitting 23 consecutive routines, with a 9.806 on vault at event
finals as her lowest score in that span
Took the Region 1 all-around,
bars and beam crowns
Won the Pac-10 all-around, vault and floor
titles
Became the first gymnast in Pac-10 history to earn all-conference
honors on all four events and the all-around
Tied the Pauley
Pavilion all-around record with a pair of 39.725s
Set Wooden
Center all-around (39.7) and bars (9.975) records
Set Bruin Classic
records on bars (9.975), beam (tied, 9.9) and all-around (39.7)
Super Six Challenge bars winner
Bruin Classic all-around, bars
and beam champion
Finished the regular season ranked first nationally
on bars, second in the all-around, sixth on beam, 10th on vault and
12th on floor
Averaged over 9.8 on all four events, including
a team-best 9.86 on bars and 9.806 on beam
Averaged a team-high
39.431 in the all-around, with three scores of 39.7 or higher and eight
scores of 39.5 or higher
Led the team in individual wins with
29
Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week Jan. 18
UCLA/Sarah Leonard
Fine Jewelers Female Athlete of the Month in January
Two-time
MET-Rx/UCLA Student-Athlete of the Week (Mar. 27-Apr. 2, Apr. 10-16)
Tied her career-high on vault with 9.95s at the Pac-10 Championships
and the NCAA Team Prelims
Twice set new career-highs this season
on bars (9.975)
Scored three career-high tying 9.925s on beam
and also tied her career-high with a 9.95 on floor.
1999 (USA Gymnastics) Earned a berth on the USAs World
University Games squad by placing second at the trials
Qualified
for the all-around finals at the World University Games with a preliminary
score of 36.225 (14th place) but was unable to compete due to an elbow
injury
Her highest mark at the games was a 9.35 on vault.
1999 Earned first-team All-America honors on bars and placed
eighth with a 9.875 at event finals
Earned second-team All-America
acclaim in the all-around with an 11th-place score of 39.275
Scored a season-high 9.9 on bars at Day One of the NCAA Championships
Was slowed by an elbow injury that kept her out of five meets
but returned to score a then-career-high 9.925 on floor in her first
meet back on that event
Went all-around for the first time at
Regionals Apr. 10 and scored a career-high 39.375 to place fourth
Her first bars routine in three months resulted in a third-place score
of 9.875 at Regionals
Recorded career-highs on beam (9.925, second
place) and floor (9.95, second place) at the Pac-10 Championships
Of her eight meets on floor, she placed in the Top 3 five times and
averaged a team-high 9.838
Averaged 9.858 on vault
Placed
first on vault with a career-high tying 9.95 vs. Georgia Jan. 10
Won the all-around, vault and bars in the Bruins season opener
at Cal State Fullerton.
1998 Earned first-team All-America honors on vault and bars
Scored a career-high 9.95 on vault on Day One of the NCAA Championships
Also scored a career-high 9.925 on bars on Day One of the Championships
Tied for fourth on bars at the NCAA Event Finals with a 9.85
Placed seventh on vault at Event Finals with an average score
of 9.5625
Scored a pair of 9.875s on bars and floor in her collegiate
debut at Georgia
Suffered an ankle injury Feb. 5 and was out
of action until competing on bars Feb. 27 at Washington
Scored
UCLA's top mark at that meet with a second-place score of 9.85
Placed in the Top 5 on bars in eight meets
Averaged a 9.861 on
bars
Scored a 9.9 on bars at the Pac-10s to tie for third
Returned to action on beam at Pac-10s and scored a career-high 9.85
to tie for fourth
Competed for UCLA at Regionals on vault for
the first time since January, as well as on bars and beam
Averaged
a 9.702 on vault.
Club Six-year national team member who placed third at the 1997
U.S. Championships to qualify for the World Championships team
Took fifth-place on vault at the World Championships, the highest finish
for an American on that event since Kerri Strug placed fifth in 1992
and the highest placing by any US gymnast that year
Won the all-around
and vault crowns at the 1996 Pacific Alliance Championships in Malaysia
Placed 10th at the 1996 Olympic Trials
Finished second
on beam, fourth on vault and bars and sixth on floor at the 1996 National
Championships
Won the all-around, vault, bars and floor and placed
second on beam at the 1996 Capital Cup
Swept all four individual
event titles at the 1996 Buckeye Classic and placed second in the all-around
Won the vault at the 1995 Atlanta Gymnastics Invitational, the
pre-Olympic event at the Georgia Dome
Competed on the gold medal
team at the 1995 Olympic Festival and won silvers on vault and beam
Runner-up on bars at the 1992 Junior Nationals
Coached
by Rita Brown and former Soviet national team coach Alexander Alexandrov
at Browns Gymnastics from 1993-97
Trained at Queen City
Gymnastics from 1982-92 under coaches Gary Warren and Pat Jones Warren.
Personal Name means illusion in Hindi
Favorite
apparatus is vault
Hobbies include reading and dancing
Describes her biggest athletic thrill as qualifying for the 1997 World
Championships
Parents: Kaushal and Indu Bhardwaj
Has one
younger brother, Arun
Full name is Mohini Bhardwaj
Born
September 29, 1978 in Philadelphia, PA
Sociology major.