Carly Patterson
Encyclopedia
Carly Rae Patterson is an American
singer and former gymnast
. She is the 2004 Olympic All-Around Champion and a member of the USA Gymnastics
Hall of Fame. She currently lives in Allen
, Texas
.
i Olympian, noticed her talent and suggested that she begin to take lessons. Originally, her mother was hesitant about it, but Carly started tumbling and jumping around her house. There was not much room, and as her mom did not want her to get hurt, she enrolled her in gymnastics. In 2000, Patterson participated in the Top Gym Tournament in Belgium
and won the silver medal in the all-around and the bronze medal for balance beam, her favorite event.
At the 2001 Goodwill Games
in Brisbane, Australia, she was ranked second in the all-around before the final rotation. She missed three landings on the floor exercise, however, and finished seventh overall. "I don't know what happened," she said. "I can't give up, I will keep going. I was happy with my first three rotations, especially beam."
Patterson was named the U.S. Junior National All-Around champion in 2002. She had previously received fourth place in 2000 and third place in 2001. She then began her senior career by winning the 2003 American Cup
, where she was the youngest competitor at the event, having just turned 15. This set of wins solidified her as a leading American gymnast and viable candidate for the 2004 Olympic all-around title.
She was forced to sit out the 2003 U.S. National Championships, which would have been her first Nationals event as a senior, because of a broken elbow. Although she could not compete she was able to successfully petition to the 2003 World Gymnastics Championships. At the 2003 World Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim, California
, she earned the all-around silver medal —the first time an American woman had won an all-around medal at that competition since 1994. She also helped her team to earn the team gold medal, a first for the American women.
Patterson again won the all-around at the prestigious American Cup in 2004. In the first major meet of the Olympic year, she swept the competition, winning all four events and the all-around, collecting a total of $14,000 for her wins ($10,000 for the all around, $1,000 per event). Just days before the competition her coach, Evgeny Marchenko, had lost his mother. He barely arrived in time for the competition and during the meet Patterson dedicated her performance to his mother.
In 2004, she became a co-champion with Courtney Kupets
in the all-around event at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. She also won the floor exercise and placed second on balance beam.
At the 2004 Olympic trials, Patterson had two uncharacteristic falls on balance beam over the course of two days, dropping her to third place. Although she did not earn an automatic Olympic berth at this competition, her successful performances at the training camp following trials were more than enough to place her on the team.
in Athens
, Patterson competed as an all-around athlete in the preliminary competition, finishing first overall and qualifying for the all-around and balance beam finals. The United States faced difficulties in the team final, and Carly had her share of mishaps. She under-rotated her vault, stubbed the low bar with her foot, and her beam routine was marred by wobbles and a lunge forward on the dismount; only on floor did she perform as well as she was capable of. She later admitted to being distracted after a rushed start on vault, with her coach saying, "The beginning of the competition was stressful. It set the tone." The U.S. Women, the reigning world champions, settled for silver.
The Individual All-Around proved to be the much-anticipated battle between Patterson and legendary three-time World all-around champion Svetlana Khorkina
. After scoring lower than usual on the vault (9.375), Patterson was stronger on her last three events, scoring 9.575 on uneven bars, 9.725 on the balance beam, and 9.712 on the floor exercise. She won the gold medal, only the second American woman to do so, and the first American woman to ever win the Olympic all-around title in a non-boycotted Olympic Games. Mary Lou Retton
was the first American woman ever to win the title, at the 1984 Summer Olympics
in Los Angeles, but because those Games were boycotted by the Soviet Union
, meaning Retton did not face stiff competition from the Soviet gymnasts (who consistently dominated the sport during that period, accounting in 1984 for six of the seven previous Olympic all-around champions and nine of the ten previous World all-around champions), Patterson's victory had a unique significance.
On August 23, 2004 she competed in the finals for the beam event where she received a score of 9.775 and won the silver medal behind Cătălina Ponor
of Romania
.
Leading up to the 2004 Olympic Games
, she was prepared by her two former Soviet coaches: the famous Russian acrobat
Evgeny Marchenko, who immigrated to the United States from Latvia
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
, and Natalya Boyarskaya.
She stayed occupied with event appearances, gymnastics-related and otherwise. She also landed a number of high profile corporate sponsorships; she appeared in a Mobile ESPN commercial aired during Super Bowl XL. She also finished her authorized biography
, which was released in April 2006.
. The program was a reality show executive produced by Simon Cowell
of American Idol
fame. Celebrities not known for singing were teamed up with professional singers; one of the eight celebrities was voted off each week. The show aired every Thursday on FOX with a results show each Friday, from September 7, 2006 to October 13, 2006.
On September 8, 2006, during the results show, she joined Cheech Marin
and Lea Thompson
in the bottom three. The audience, however, spared Patterson from elimination to continue competing the next week on Thursday, September 14.
On September 15, 2006, during the results show, Carly Patterson was eliminated from the competition (singing a duet with Jesse McCartney
). Patterson said that she would continue to sing. She also encouraged the audience to continue voting for the remaining celebrities because each vote raised money for charity.
to record the demo. On December 18, 2005, she announced that she signed a demo contract for four songs with Papa Joe's Records, owned by Joe Simpson, father of Jessica
and Ashlee Simpson
. She worked with singer and writer Chris Megert. They wrote and produced songs titled "Time to Wake Up" and "Lost in Me".
On February 4, 2008, Carly signed a recording contract with MusicMind Records, a Chicago
based Indie label. Her single "Temporary Life (Ordinary Girl)" was released on iTunes on March 25, 2008. Her debut album Back to the Beginning was scheduled for release August 5, 2008, coincidentally, the same week as the start of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
. However, the CD was not released until more than a year later, on August 25, 2009, and in the interim, Patterson released another single, "Time to Wake Up," on iTunes on February 19, 2009. She currently as of July 2011 has a full-length album available on iTunes and Amazon.com.
On September 10, 2008, a remixed version of Carly's "Temporary Life (Ordinary Girl)" was played on the Bobby Bones Show
. The mixed version featured the new artist Captain Caucasian, which is the pseudonym
for Bobby Bones.
Carly's song "Here I Am" was featured on the second season of the ABC Family series Make It or Break It, which is a television drama series that focuses on the lives of teen gymnasts who strive to make it to the Olympic Games.
, starring Missy Peregrym
, Jeff Bridges
, and Vanessa Lengies
.
Patterson also appeared in an episode of Make It or Break It in the episode "And the Rocky goes to.." presenting an award to Olympic Gymnast Payson Keeler, played by Ayla Kell
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer and former gymnast
Gymnast
Gymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Female artistic:Australia...
. She is the 2004 Olympic All-Around Champion and a member of the USA Gymnastics
USA Gymnastics
United States of America Gymnastics or USAG is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. The mission of USA Gymnastics is to encourage participation and the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of gymnastics....
Hall of Fame. She currently lives in Allen
Allen, Texas
Allen is a city in Collin County, Texas, United States, a northern suburb of Dallas. As of the 2010 census the city had a total population of 84,246.-Geography:According to the City of Allen, the city has a total area of...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
Pre-Olympic career
Patterson was at her cousin's birthday party at Baton Rouge's Elite Gymnastics club in 1994 when coach Johnny Moyal, a three-time IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i Olympian, noticed her talent and suggested that she begin to take lessons. Originally, her mother was hesitant about it, but Carly started tumbling and jumping around her house. There was not much room, and as her mom did not want her to get hurt, she enrolled her in gymnastics. In 2000, Patterson participated in the Top Gym Tournament in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and won the silver medal in the all-around and the bronze medal for balance beam, her favorite event.
At the 2001 Goodwill Games
Goodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
in Brisbane, Australia, she was ranked second in the all-around before the final rotation. She missed three landings on the floor exercise, however, and finished seventh overall. "I don't know what happened," she said. "I can't give up, I will keep going. I was happy with my first three rotations, especially beam."
Patterson was named the U.S. Junior National All-Around champion in 2002. She had previously received fourth place in 2000 and third place in 2001. She then began her senior career by winning the 2003 American Cup
American Cup (gymnastics)
The American Cup, is an elite senior level international gymnastics competition held in the United States, and is generally considered to be one of the first major competitions of the Gymnastics season, as it is held in March or February of each year. In 1978-79 the event was sponsored by Dial and...
, where she was the youngest competitor at the event, having just turned 15. This set of wins solidified her as a leading American gymnast and viable candidate for the 2004 Olympic all-around title.
She was forced to sit out the 2003 U.S. National Championships, which would have been her first Nationals event as a senior, because of a broken elbow. Although she could not compete she was able to successfully petition to the 2003 World Gymnastics Championships. At the 2003 World Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim, California
Anaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
, she earned the all-around silver medal —the first time an American woman had won an all-around medal at that competition since 1994. She also helped her team to earn the team gold medal, a first for the American women.
Patterson again won the all-around at the prestigious American Cup in 2004. In the first major meet of the Olympic year, she swept the competition, winning all four events and the all-around, collecting a total of $14,000 for her wins ($10,000 for the all around, $1,000 per event). Just days before the competition her coach, Evgeny Marchenko, had lost his mother. He barely arrived in time for the competition and during the meet Patterson dedicated her performance to his mother.
In 2004, she became a co-champion with Courtney Kupets
Courtney Kupets
Courtney Anne Kupets is an American gymnast. She is best known for her 2003 and 2004 all-around national championships ; her membership on the 2002 and 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and 2004 Olympic teams; and her individual bronze medal on the uneven bars at the 2004...
in the all-around event at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. She also won the floor exercise and placed second on balance beam.
At the 2004 Olympic trials, Patterson had two uncharacteristic falls on balance beam over the course of two days, dropping her to third place. Although she did not earn an automatic Olympic berth at this competition, her successful performances at the training camp following trials were more than enough to place her on the team.
2004 Summer Olympics
At the 2004 Olympic Games2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Patterson competed as an all-around athlete in the preliminary competition, finishing first overall and qualifying for the all-around and balance beam finals. The United States faced difficulties in the team final, and Carly had her share of mishaps. She under-rotated her vault, stubbed the low bar with her foot, and her beam routine was marred by wobbles and a lunge forward on the dismount; only on floor did she perform as well as she was capable of. She later admitted to being distracted after a rushed start on vault, with her coach saying, "The beginning of the competition was stressful. It set the tone." The U.S. Women, the reigning world champions, settled for silver.
The Individual All-Around proved to be the much-anticipated battle between Patterson and legendary three-time World all-around champion Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina is a popular Russian gymnast and seven-time Olympic medalist, who is now a deputy at the Russian State Duma. With an unprecedented nine gold, eight silver, and three bronze World Championships medals, she is one of the most successful female gymnasts of her era and has...
. After scoring lower than usual on the vault (9.375), Patterson was stronger on her last three events, scoring 9.575 on uneven bars, 9.725 on the balance beam, and 9.712 on the floor exercise. She won the gold medal, only the second American woman to do so, and the first American woman to ever win the Olympic all-around title in a non-boycotted Olympic Games. Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title, after 14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.-Personal life:Retton was born in Fairmont, West...
was the first American woman ever to win the title, at the 1984 Summer Olympics
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
in Los Angeles, but because those Games were boycotted by the Soviet Union
1984 Summer Olympics boycott
The boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. The boycott was a follow up to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The boycott involved 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies, led by the Soviet Union who initiated the boycott on May 8, 1984, and joined...
, meaning Retton did not face stiff competition from the Soviet gymnasts (who consistently dominated the sport during that period, accounting in 1984 for six of the seven previous Olympic all-around champions and nine of the ten previous World all-around champions), Patterson's victory had a unique significance.
On August 23, 2004 she competed in the finals for the beam event where she received a score of 9.775 and won the silver medal behind Cătălina Ponor
Catalina Ponor
Cătălina Ponor is a gymnast from Constanţa, Romania. After beginning training with the national team in 2002, Ponor won several medals with the Romanian team, along with individual balance beam and floor exercise medals. Almost unknown until late 2003, Ponor has made several important...
of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
Leading up to the 2004 Olympic Games
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
, she was prepared by her two former Soviet coaches: the famous Russian acrobat
Acrobatics
Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, as well as many sports...
Evgeny Marchenko, who immigrated to the United States from Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
, and Natalya Boyarskaya.
After Athens
Soon after the Olympic games ended, it was discovered that Patterson had several bulging disks in her lower back that had gone unnoticed. She announced her intention to take time off from the sport to rehabilitate her back, but she officially retired from the sport in 2006 without ever participating in another major competition. She recalled the decision in a 2009 interview, saying, "I started having some back issues, and honestly, my doctor was like, ‘Carly, you really need to stop if you want to be able to walk when you get older’....So I retired and moved on to singing.” Her coach said in a TV interview, "It's hard to top an all-around gold."She stayed occupied with event appearances, gymnastics-related and otherwise. She also landed a number of high profile corporate sponsorships; she appeared in a Mobile ESPN commercial aired during Super Bowl XL. She also finished her authorized biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
, which was released in April 2006.
Celebrity Duets TV show
On August 29, 2006, she started her appearance on the show Celebrity DuetsCelebrity Duets
Celebrity Duets was an American reality television show of the progressive game-show type, which combined celebrities of different backgrounds with professional singers in a weekly elimination competition....
. The program was a reality show executive produced by Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
fame. Celebrities not known for singing were teamed up with professional singers; one of the eight celebrities was voted off each week. The show aired every Thursday on FOX with a results show each Friday, from September 7, 2006 to October 13, 2006.
On September 8, 2006, during the results show, she joined Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
and Lea Thompson
Lea Thompson
Lea Katherine Thompson is an American actress and director. She is best known for her 1990s NBC situation comedy Caroline in the City and her portrayal of Lorraine Baines McFly, Marty McFly's mother, in the Back to the Future trilogy...
in the bottom three. The audience, however, spared Patterson from elimination to continue competing the next week on Thursday, September 14.
On September 15, 2006, during the results show, Carly Patterson was eliminated from the competition (singing a duet with Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney is an American singer-songwriter, actor and voice actor. McCartney achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career...
). Patterson said that she would continue to sing. She also encouraged the audience to continue voting for the remaining celebrities because each vote raised money for charity.
Music career
Patterson first expressed interest in becoming a professional singer in a March 2005 interview. On August 21, 2005, she gave an interview on FOX Sports Net's Sports Sunday in which she gave more details on her future career. She sang a small segment of "Damaged" and said that she went to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to record the demo. On December 18, 2005, she announced that she signed a demo contract for four songs with Papa Joe's Records, owned by Joe Simpson, father of Jessica
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Ann Simpson is an American recording artist, actress, television personality, and fashion designer whose rise to fame began in 1999. Since that time, Simpson has achieved many recording milestones, starred in several television shows, movies, and commercials, launched a line of hair and...
and Ashlee Simpson
Ashlee Simpson
Ashlee Nicole Simpson is an American singer and actress. In 2004, she rose to prominence with the success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and the reality series, The Ashlee Simpson Show. In October 2005, following a North American concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson released...
. She worked with singer and writer Chris Megert. They wrote and produced songs titled "Time to Wake Up" and "Lost in Me".
On February 4, 2008, Carly signed a recording contract with MusicMind Records, a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
based Indie label. Her single "Temporary Life (Ordinary Girl)" was released on iTunes on March 25, 2008. Her debut album Back to the Beginning was scheduled for release August 5, 2008, coincidentally, the same week as the start of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. However, the CD was not released until more than a year later, on August 25, 2009, and in the interim, Patterson released another single, "Time to Wake Up," on iTunes on February 19, 2009. She currently as of July 2011 has a full-length album available on iTunes and Amazon.com.
On September 10, 2008, a remixed version of Carly's "Temporary Life (Ordinary Girl)" was played on the Bobby Bones Show
Bobby Bones Show
The Bobby Bones Show is a morning radio show broadcast in Austin, Texas, on 96.7 KISS FM and syndicated in Wichita, Kansas, Amarillo, Texas, Lubbock, Texas, Augusta, Georgia, Waco, Texas, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Bobby Bones is accompanied by co-hosts Lunchbox, Amy, Carlos, and Alayna. Jay Shannon...
. The mixed version featured the new artist Captain Caucasian, which is the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
for Bobby Bones.
Carly's song "Here I Am" was featured on the second season of the ABC Family series Make It or Break It, which is a television drama series that focuses on the lives of teen gymnasts who strive to make it to the Olympic Games.
Film
Patterson made a cameo appearance at the end of the 2006 film Stick ItStick It
Stick It is an American teen comedy-drama film starring Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, and Vanessa Lengies. It was written and directed by Jessica Bendinger, writer of Bring It On; the film marks her directorial debut...
, starring Missy Peregrym
Missy Peregrym
Melissa "Missy" Peregrym is a Canadian actress and former fashion model. She made her feature film debut in the 2006 gymnastics comedy drama Stick It. She played a recurring role as Candice Wilmer on the NBC television series Heroes, and starred in the CW television series Reaper...
, Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
, and Vanessa Lengies
Vanessa Lengies
Vanessa Lynne-Marie Lengies is a Canadian actress best known for starring in the drama American Dreams as Roxanne Bojarski...
.
Patterson also appeared in an episode of Make It or Break It in the episode "And the Rocky goes to.." presenting an award to Olympic Gymnast Payson Keeler, played by Ayla Kell
Ayla Kell
Ayla Marie Kell is an American actress. She is known for the role of Payson Keeler on Make It or Break It.-Career:...
.
See also
- Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer OlympicsGymnastics at the 2004 Summer OlympicsAt the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, three disciplines of gymnastics were contested: artistic gymnastics , rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline...
- United States at the 2004 Summer OlympicsUnited States at the 2004 Summer OlympicsThe United States was represented at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, by the United States Olympic Committee . The delegation of 613 athletes was the largest the country has ever sent to the Summer Olympics...