Great American Gymnastics Express, known also as GAGE Center or just GAGE, is an American artistic gymnastics academy, located in

Blue Springs, Missouri Blue Springs is a city located in the U.S. state of Missouri within Jackson County. Blue Springs is located east of downtown Kansas City and is the 9th largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population wa ...

History

GAGE was founded in 1979 by its present-day owner and head coach, Al Fong.

Notable Gymnasts and Alumni

GAGE is known for producing high-level gymnasts, including the following: Madison Desch: * 2014 World Championships US team gold medalist (traveling alternate) * 2014 Pan American Championships team champion *

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

team champion and all-around silver medalist * Alabama gymnastics (2017–20)

Brenna Dowell Brenna Dowell (born March 4, 1996) is a former American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. A prevalent gymnast on the National scene throughout the 2010s, D ...

: * 2013 World Championships alternate * 2014 World Championships alternate * 2015 World Championships team champion * Oklahoma Gymnastics (2015, 17–19) – 4x NCAA champion

Kara Eaker Kara Eaker (born November 7, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. On the balance beam she is the 2018 Pan American and 2019 Pan American Games champion and a two-time United States national silver medalist (2018, 2019). On floor exercise she ...

: * 2020 Olympic team alternate * 2018 World Championships team gold medalist * 2019 World Championships team gold medalist * 2018 Pan American Championships team and balance beam champion; floor exercise bronze medalist *

2019 Pan American Games ; ay, Taqinipuniw anatt’apxtanxa'' , nations participating = 41 , athletes participating = 6,680 , events = 419 in 38 sports , opening ceremony = July 26 , closing ceremony = August 11 , officially opened by = Martín Vizcarra , to ...

team and balance beam champion; floor exercise silver medalist * Utah Gymnastics (2022–25)

Aleah Finnegan Aleah Finnegan (born January 4, 2003) is a Filipino-American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the United States' women's national gymnastics team from 2019–21 and was part of the team that won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games. She is ...

: *

team champion *

2021 Southeast Asian Games ) , caption = , host city = Hanoi, Vietnam , nations participating = 11 , athletes participating = 5,467 , events = 526 in 40 sports , opening ceremony = 12 May 2022 , closing ceremony ...

team and vault champion; all-around and balance beam silver medalist * LSU Gymnastics (2022–25)

Sarah Finnegan Sarah Finnegan (born November 14, 1996) is a retired American artistic gymnast and was an alternate for the 2012 Summer Olympics Gymnastics team. She competed for the Louisiana State Lady Tigers at the collegiate level, and was the 2017 and 20 ...

: * 2012 Olympic Games alternate * 2010 Pan American Championships team champion and balance beam bronze medalist * LSU Gymnastics (2016–19) – 2x NCAA champion Christy Henrich: * 1989 World Championships competitor

Ivana Hong Ivana Hong (born December 11, 1992 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal American team at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the all-around bronze medalist at t ...

: * 2007 World Championships team champion *

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic C ...

team champion and all-around bronze medalist * 2008 Olympic Games alternate * 2009 World Championships balance beam bronze medalist

Terin Humphrey Terin Marie Humphrey (born August 14, 1986, in St. Joseph, Missouri) is a retired American artistic gymnast. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she helped the United States team place second and won an individual silver ...

: * 2003 World Championships team champion *

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

team and uneven bars silver medalist * Alabama Gymnastics – 2x NCAA champion

Courtney McCool Courtney Lynn McCool-Griffeth (born April 1, 1988) is an American former artistic gymnast who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was coached by Al and Armine Fong of Great American Gymnastic Express. From 2007–2010, McCool competed ...

: *

team silver medalist *

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

team champion and vault silver medalist * Georgia Gymnastics – 4x NCAA Champion Leanne Wong: * 2022 World Championships team gold medalist * 2021 World Championships all-around silver medalist & floor exercise bronze medalist * 2020 Olympic team alternate * 2018 Junior National Champion * 2019

American Cup The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...

gold medalist *

team champion and uneven bars silver medalist * 2019 World Championships non-traveling alternate * Florida Gymnastics (2022–25)

Controversy

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, GAGE found controversy when two of their gymnasts met with tragic circumstances: Julissa Gomez broke her neck while warming up for vault at a competition in Japan in May 1988. Observers had noticed her struggle with the apparatus over the months leading up to the competition including her former coach Béla Károlyi, past and present teammates, and even her present coach Al Fong. Gomez's technique on the extremely difficult Yurchenko vault had been described as shaky at best, and Gomez was unable to perform the vault with any consistency during practices, sometimes missing her feet on the springboard. A teammate from Károlyi's, Chelle Stack, later stated, "You could tell it was not a safe vault for her to be doing. Someone along the way should have stopped her." However, Julissa's coaches insisted that she needed to continue training and competing the Yurchenko vault in order to achieve high scores. Gomez fell into a coma during treatment due to a hospital error and never awoke, passing away in 1991. Christy Henrich died from

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gr ...

in 1994. Her condition was allegedly spurred by comments from international judges and her coaches. Desperate to move up the ranks in the highly competitive world of Olympic-level gymnastics, Henrich took the criticisms to heart; her drive to lose a few pounds progressed to unhealthy eating habits and, eventually, became full-blown

."Dying to Win: The Christy Henrich story" ''Dateline,''1995 At the time of her passing she weighed 47 pounds. The impact of her illness and death led to changes in the way coaches across the nation implement nutrition in training, as well as how television and media discuss gymnasts' bodies."Striking the Balance"
, Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, ''Technique'' magazine, July 1997

References

{{reflist Companies established in 1979 Gymnastics clubs Gymnastics clubs in the United States Gymnastics in Missouri