Christina Lydia Desiderio (born August 22, 2000, in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

) is a retired American artistic gymnast. Desiderio was named to the 2015 U.S. Junior National team, after her performances at the 2015 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships.

Personal life

Christina Lydia Desiderio was born on August 22, 2000, in

to parents Dominick and Carol (née Noll) Desiderio. She has an older brother, Dominick, who is 2 years older than her, and is a baseball player. She graduated high school a year early. She lives in Hackettstown and commutes over an hour each day to train at

Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center, or Parkettes for short, is a gymnastics club located in Allentown, Pennsylvania that had its beginnings in the early 1960s with a middle school gymnastics program in Allentown that gradually grew into ...

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...

. Desiderio started the sport at Giant Gymnastics in Hackettstown and trained at the club until 2010.

Gymnastics career

2012-15: Level 10 and Junior International Elite career

Desiderio moved up to Level 10 for the 2012 season. Throughout the season, she placed second in the all-around at States, as well as winning three individual titles. Later, at Regionals, Christina tied for sixth in the all-around and was the beam and vault champion. She advanced to J.O.Nationals and was fifty-fourth in the Junior A division. In 2013, Desiderio competed at States only; winning the vault and floor titles as well as finishing fourth in the all-around. In June, she participated in a National Elite Qualifier and achieved Junior International Elite status. She competed at the American Classic at the

Karolyi Ranch The USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center at Karolyi Ranch or simply Karolyi Ranch in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, southeast of Huntsville, was a gymnastics camp facility which was the site of the main training center for the United ...

and was eighth overall. At the U.S. Classic, Christina finished tenth in the all-around. She competed at Nationals; finishing thirteenth in the all-around. Desiderio competed as an elite throughout the whole 2014 season. She requalified to elite status at the 2014 National Elite Qualifier in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

; despite already being qualified. At the 2014 U.S. Classic, she placed eighth in the all-around. She was eighteenth in the all-around at Nationals, after a tough competition. Christina started the 2015 season at the

U.S. Classic The U.S. Classic is an annual summer gymnastics meet for elite artistic gymnasts of the United States. The meet occurs before Nationals and is a qualifier for it. In Olympic years, the aforementioned meets along with the U.S. Olympic Trials are u ...

, where she placed tenth in the all-around and was second on floor. On October 7, 2015, she announced her verbal commitment to the

LSU Lady Tigers gymnastics The LSU Tigers women's gymnastics team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I women's gymnastics. The team competes in the Southeastern Conference and is currently coached by Jay Clark, who is coaching in his fifth season. T ...

program – starting from the 2018–19 academic year.

2016: Senior International Elite career

In 2016 Christina was named to the National Team and invited to compete for a place on the Olympic Team at the 2016 Olympic Trials.

2017–present: Collegiate career

Desiderio graduated from high school a year early as a

homeschooler Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

to begin attending

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

and the

team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desiderio, Christina 2000 births Living people American female artistic gymnasts American children People from Hackettstown, New Jersey People from Independence Township, New Jersey Sportspeople from Warren County, New Jersey Place of birth missing (living people) U.S. women's national team gymnasts LSU Tigers women's gymnasts