Kate Richardson (born June 27, 1984) is a former

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

who represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at the 2000 and

2004 Summer Olympics 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), ...

. From 2002 to 2006, she also competed for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

Elite gymnastics career

Richardson began gymnastics at the age of three and was a member of Canada's national team from 1996 to 2004. She was the national novice champion in 1996, junior national champion in 1998, and senior national champion in 2001. At the

1999 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 34th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held at Tianjin Arena in Tianjin, China in 1999. Results **The Ukrainian Women's Gymnastics Team was awarded the bronze in 2011 after China was disqualified due to Dong Fongxiao being underag ...

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

, Richardson finished 19th in the all-around. The following year, she competed at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, where she placed 15th in the all-around. She placed 16th at the 2001 World Championships in

Ghent, Belgium Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

. At the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Richardson won gold medals in the all-around and on balance beam, as well as a bronze medal with the Canadian team. At the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, she finished 18th in the all-around and 7th in the floor exercise final. She was the first Canadian woman ever to qualify for an Olympic final in women's gymnastics, and the first woman of any nationality since

Kelly Garrison-Steves Kelly Garrison-Funderburk, formerly known as Kelly Garrison-Steves (born July 5, 1967), is a retired American artistic gymnast. An elite gymnast for eight years, she represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea ...

in 1988 to make the Olympics while competing in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. (Her Bruin teammate Mohini Bhardwaj also competed in the 2004 Olympics, but after her NCAA career was over.)

NCAA career

Richardson enrolled at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, in 2002 on an athletic scholarship and competed with the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team, which won the NCAA Championships in 2003 and 2004. Her teammates included

Kristen Maloney Kristen Ann Maloney (born March 10, 1981) is a retired gymnast from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, in the United States. She won bronze in the team event at the 2000 Olympic Games. Maloney was also the U.S. senior all-around national champion in 1998 ...

Tasha Schwikert Tasha Schwikert Warren (born November 21, 1984) is a retired American gymnast who is a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, a World Gymnastics Championships team gold medalist, the 2001 and 2002 U.S. senior national all-around champion and the 2005 and 2 ...

, and Jamie Dantzscher, all of whom competed for the United States at the 2000 Olympics. During her college career, Richardson won individual NCAA titles on balance beam (2003),

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

(2003), and floor exercise (2006). In 2006, she was named Pac-10 Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Richardson graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a degree in psychobiology. In 2010, she earned a master's degree in

physical therapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. Richardson was inducted into the

UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

as a member of the 2022 class.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Kate 1984 births Living people Canadian female artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts of Canada UCLA Bruins women's gymnasts NCAA gymnasts who have scored a perfect 10 Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Vancouver Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in gymnastics Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Gymnasts at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games