Olympics
Women's gymnastics: Carly Patterson may be next Olympic darling

By Jeff Metcalfe
The Arizona Republic

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ATHENS — The Courtneys beat her at the Olympic trials, but there was never any doubt that the leader of the U.S. women's gymnastics pack is Carly Patterson.

The 16-year-old Texan was second all-around in the world last year and reinforced that by leading all qualifiers for the Olympic all-around final on Thursday. Today, she'll handle a third of America's 12 routines in the pursuit of a team gold medal to bookend with the 2003 World Championships team title.

Patterson is on the verge of breakout fame akin to Mary Lou Retton in 1984 or Kerri Strug in '96.

That's why McDonald's already features her on 70 million cups and bags even though Patterson admits she's not a client.

"I can't tell you" about her last McDonald's meal, Patterson said in May. "I can't really have McDonald's right now." After a gentle tap on the shoulder, Patterson was careful to point out that salads now are offered under the arches.

NBC analyst Tim Daggett, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, believes Patterson has breakout star potential.

"She's a tremendous athlete," he said. "One of the things Carly has going for her is that she is one of the most calm athletes I've ever seen in the sport. You hear about the zone. You can almost see the zone in her eyes when she's going."

It's possible that Patterson will do what no American woman gymnast has: lead the team to gold and win all-around. Retton did the latter when the team won silver. The Magnificent Seven, with Strug, won as a team but the only individual gold went to Shannon Miller on balance beam.

Patterson began to distinguish herself last year when an Achilles injury kept Courtney Kupets out of the world team final. The two tied for the all-around title at this year's U.S. Championships, then Patterson fell off the balance beam in qualifying and the finals at the trials in Anaheim, finishing behind automatic Olympic qualifiers Kupets and Courtney McCool.

Yet it was a no-brainer to pick her for the Olympic team. She reinforced that by scoring 9.5 or higher on every event in the preliminaries.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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