Bronze medals a long time coming for U.S. Olympians
HARTFORD, Conn. — Ten years and half a world removed from the regimentation, physical pounding and unyielding pressure that made its Olympic experience akin to an episode of Survivor, the 2000 USA Gymnastics women’s team received bronze medals Wednesday for competing with honor and surviving to tell the tale.
The U.S. women — Elise Ray, Dominique Dawes, Amy Chow, Kristin Maloney, Jamie Dantzscher and Tasha Schwikert — were elevated from fourth to third after the International Gymnastics Federation earlier this year disqualified China for using an underage gymnast at the 2000 Games.
Together for the first time in a decade, the Sydney Six received their medals, newly cast using molds from the Sydney Games, from International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz.
The scene — Hartford’s dingy XL Arena — was scarcely a stand-in for the glamour and buzz of Sydney’s SuperDome, but the emotions seemed to be genuinely Olympian.
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HARTFORD, Conn. — Ten years and half a world removed from the regimentation, physical pounding and unyielding pressure that made its Olympic experience akin to an episode of Survivor, the 2000 USA Gymnastics women’s team received bronze medals Wednesday for competing with honor and surviving to tell the tale.
The U.S. women — Elise Ray, Dominique Dawes, Amy Chow, Kristin Maloney, Jamie Dantzscher and Tasha Schwikert — were elevated from fourth to third after the International Gymnastics Federation earlier this year disqualified China for using an underage gymnast at the 2000 Games.
Together for the first time in a decade, the Sydney Six received their medals, newly cast using molds from the Sydney Games, from International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz.
The scene — Hartford’s dingy XL Arena — was scarcely a stand-in for the glamour and buzz of Sydney’s SuperDome, but the emotions seemed to be genuinely Olympian.
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