Annia Hatch
Annia Hatch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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— Gymnast — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Full name | Annia Portuondo Hatch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country represented | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former countries represented | Cuba | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Guantánamo, Cuba | June 14, 1978|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Residence | Ashburn, Virginia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Level | Senior International Elite | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years on national team | 2002–2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Stars Elite | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Head coach(es) | Alan Hatch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Annia Portuondo Hatch (born June 14, 1978, in Guantánamo, Cuba)[1] is a Cuban-American artistic gymnast who competed for the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Career in Cuba
Hatch began gymnastics in her native Cuba at the age of four.[2][3] She won her first Cuban National Championships when she was ten;[3] over the course of her career, she would win the title seven times.[3][4]
Competing for Cuba, Hatch made her debut at the World Gymnastics Championships in 1993 and placed tenth in the all-around.[1] In 1995, she won three medals at the Pan American Games, placing second on the balance beam and third on the vault and uneven bars, as well as fourth in the all-around.[1] The following year, she became the first Cuban gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships, with a bronze on the vault.[1][4]
Hatch qualified to the 1996 Olympics as an individual competitor, but a lack of funding prevented the Cuban Olympic Committee from sending her.[2][3] She retired in 1997; married an American, Alan Hatch; and moved to the United States.[5] With her husband, she became a part-owner and coach of the Stars Academy gym in West Haven, Connecticut.[1] In 2001, she became an American citizen.[2][4]
Career in the United States
Hatch resumed training at the elite level in 2001, with her husband as her coach.[4][5] In mid-2002, she won the U.S. Classic, a qualifier to the National Championships, defeating reigning national champion Tasha Schwikert.[6] She went on to place fourth at Nationals, performing two strong vaults (a double-twisting Tsukahara and a double-twisting Yurchenko) and establishing herself as a contender for a medal at the 2002 World Championships: Muriel Grossfeld, a former national champion who worked with Hatch, called her "probably the best vaulter in the world".[7]
Although Hatch was a U.S. citizen, Olympic rules stated that during the first year after obtaining citizenship in a new nation, an athlete needed permission from her former country of citizenship to represent the new one in international competition.[7] Fidel Castro refused to give Hatch permission to compete for the U.S., prompting American government officials and former President Jimmy Carter to petition Cuba, unsuccessfully, on her behalf.[7] Because Cuba would not release her, Hatch had to wait until 2003 to represent the United States internationally.[4]
Hatch won the vault title at the 2003 National Championships[1] and was named to the 2003 World Championships team, but tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) the day before the start of the competition.[4] It can take up to six months after ACL reconstruction for an athlete to be able to resume training.[8] However, Hatch was able to return to competition by the middle of 2004, in time for the National Championships and Olympic Trials,[4] and she was named to the U.S. team for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.[9][10]
In the team competition at the Olympics, Hatch performed on vault and contributed to the United States' silver medal.[11] Although her ACL was not completely rehabilitated, she still qualified to the vault event final, where she won a silver medal behind Monica Roșu of Romania.[2][12] She was the first American woman to win an Olympic vault medal since Mary Lou Retton in 1984.[13]
Post-Olympics
After the Olympics, Hatch turned to coaching, while also working in fashion (including developing her own clothing line). She coaches at G-Force Gymnastics Training Center in Ashburn, Virginia.[14]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Annia Hatch" (PDF). usagym.org. USA Gymnastics. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
- 1 2 3 4 Walsh, Laura (2004-08-23). "West Haven celebrates Annia Hatch's Olympic silver medal". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2005-05-05. Retrieved 2016-07-25 – via Wayback Machine.
- 1 2 3 4 Armour, Nancy (2003-06-22). "Gymnast, 25, Has Big Plans for Her Return". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Macur, Juliet (2004-06-26). "An Olympic Quest Longer Than Most". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
- 1 2 Rosewater, Amy (2003-03-01). "Hatch Comes Back as an American". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ "Hatch won't let knee injury derail Olympic dreams". Augusta Chronicle. 2004-04-24. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- 1 2 3 Litsky, Frank (2002-08-01). "Twists and Turns in Bid to Compete". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
- ↑ "ACL Surgical Recovery Expectations". Emory Healthcare. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ Elliott, Helene (2004-07-19). "Bhardwaj, Hatch Are on Team". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ Boeck, Greg (2004-07-18). "U.S. women's gymnastics squad finalized". USAToday.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ Boeck, Greg (2004-08-17). "Romania wins gold in women's gymnastics, U.S. silver". USAToday.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ Macur, Juliet (2004-08-23). "For U.S. Gymnast, Long Journey Ends With a Medal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ "Hatch gets rare U.S. medal in vault". ESPN.com. 2004-08-23. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ Johnson, Anna Rose (2015-11-02). "Q&A: Annia Hatch". Inside Gymnastics. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
External links
- https://www.twitter.com/anniahatch
- https://www.facebook.com/anniahatchfans
- https://www.facebook.com/anniahatch04