Samantha Shapiro
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Samantha "Sami" Shapiro (born May 18, 1993) is an American gymnast. She is a five-time member of the US Women's National Gymnastics Team. She was the 2007 U.S. junior
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 ...
champion, 2008 U.S. junior uneven bars and
balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...
champion, 2008 Pan American Champion in both women's uneven bars and balance beam, and 2014
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 ...
uneven bars
silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
ist.


Personal life

Shapiro was born in
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, to Brent (a former wrestler and marathon runner) and Abbe (a former national champion baton twirler) Shapiro, and is Jewish. Her younger sister, Nicki, is also a gymnast, and a 15-time State champion. Shapiro attended
Windward School Windward School is an independent school in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. It was founded by writer/teacher Shirley Windward in 1971. The school currently enr ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, and graduated in June 2011.


Gymnastics

She began gymnastics in 1996 through a preschool program when she was three years old. Though she was competing at an international level in 2008 and was a top-ranked junior national team member, she was 5 months too young to be eligible for the US Team competing in
gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics At the 2008 Summer Olympics, three gymnastics disciplines were contested: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium on August 9–19. The rhythmic gym ...
. She trains at the
All Olympia Gymnastics Center The All Olympia Gymnastics Center or AOGC is a one-facility gymnastics gym in Calabasas. The head coaches are 1983 World Vault Champion Artur Akopyan and 1980 Olympian Galina Marinova. Their notable elite gymnasts are 2012 Olympic Champion McKa ...
(AOGC) in Los Angeles with fellow National Team member
Mattie Larson Mattie Larson (born May 20, 1992) is an American former artistic gymnast. She competed at the senior elite level from 2008 to 2010. Larson was the 2010 U.S. national champion on floor exercise. At that year's World Championships, she won a silver ...
.


Junior career

Shapiro won 10 Junior Olympic state titles, and was a three-time U.S. junior national champion. She was a 2007 U.S. junior
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 ...
champion and all-around silver medalist, and 2008 U.S. junior uneven bars and
balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...
champion and all-around silver medalist. Shapiro first qualified for Junior International Elite in 2006 at age 13, when she finished 4th All-Around at the US Classic in
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, and competed in the US National Championships later that year, finishing 13th. In 2007, she returned and competed in the 2007 US National Championships and won the
gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
on the balance beam, and
silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
s in the all-around competition, uneven bars, and
floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...
. In 2008, she returned to the
VISA Championships The USA Gymnastics National Championships is the annual artistic gymnastics national competition held in the United States for elite-level competition. It is currently organized by USA Gymnastics, the governing body for gymnastics in the United Stat ...
to regain her title on the balance beam, and also took the gold on the uneven bars, coming 2nd in the all-around again. Shapiro was chosen to join some of the Senior Elite National team to go to the
2008 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships The 2008 Pacific Rim Championships were held in San Jose, California, from March 28–30. Four disciplines of gymnastics were contested: women's artistic, men's artistic, rhythmic, and trampolining. Medal winners Men Women Detail resul ...
in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
, where she performed well on all four events, helping the US Team win the gold, and winning gold on the uneven bars and silver in the all-around competition. Her performance on the floor exercise during the team competition was notable when the music cut out as she began her first pass. Seemingly unfazed, she continued her exhibition through to the end as the US team cheered her on and the arena began rhythmically clapping.


Senior career

Shapiro was a three-time U.S. senior elite national champion, a senior US Women's National Gymnastics Team member from 2006-11. In the fall of 2008, Shapiro competed in the
2008 Pan American Individual Event Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2008 Pan American Individual Event Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Rosario, Argentina Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west b ...
in
Rosario, Argentina Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most po ...
, where she won gold on the beam and uneven bars. She won the bars at the 2008
City of Jesolo Trophy The City of Jesolo Trophy is an annual women's gymnastics competition held in Jesolo, Italy. There are competitions for the senior division and junior division. The United States won the senior team competition every year from 2010 to 2017.
(Italy) Grand Prix. In March 2009, at 15 years of age she represented the US at the Montreal FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup, where Shapiro sustained a broken foot in training but persevered to win gold on the uneven bars. Injuries, including an ankle injury in 2009, kept Shapiro from competing for most of 2009 and 2010, but she resurfaced as a Senior Elite in 2010, qualifying at the US Classic 4th on the balance beam and floor exercise. She fell and injured herself on the
vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...
while attempting a 1.5
Yurchenko Yurchenko is a Ukrainian patronymic surname that comes from the name Yuriy. It may refer to: * David Yurchenko (born 1986), Russian-Armenian footballer * Denys Yurchenko (born 1978), Ukrainian pole vaulter * Ihor Yurchenko (born 1960), Soviet a ...
, and had to be assisted off the podium. Despite this, she returned to the VISA Championships competing as a senior, and finished 7th on the beam and the All-Around and 5th on the floor exercise. Shapiro earned a spot on the USA National Team for the fifth consecutive year. In 2010 Shapiro announced her intention to commit to joining the
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
Gymnastics Team."Olympic Hopeful, Windward's Sami Shapiro '11 Makes US Gymnastics Team, Commits to Stanford" In 2011, she appeared on the cover of ''Inside Gymnastics'' "50 Most Photogenic" issue as a tribute to the artistry and grace Shapiro presented in her years as an international elite gymnast.


NCAA career

Shapiro was the 2014
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 ...
uneven bars silver medalist. In 2011, Shapiro retired from elite level gymnastics to compete for the
Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...
women's gymnastics team, and attend Stanford ('15) where she majored in Engineering. In her freshman season in 2012, she earned the First-Team All-American honor on bars and finished as runner-up on the uneven bars with a score of 9.900 at the 2012 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship in
Duluth, Georgia Duluth is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Gwinnett County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Located north of Interstate 85, it is approximately northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, Duluth had a ...
. She was named a Scholastic All-American by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women, capping off a successful freshman year. As a sophomore in 2013, she earned academic honors including the NACGC Scholastic All-American honor for the second year along with receiving an Honorable Mention citation for the 2013
Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
All-Academic Team. In Shapiro's junior year in 2014, she capped off a successful season at the 2014 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
, again earning the First Team All-American honor and finishing as runner-up on the uneven bars. On the road to the nationals, in April she was co-winner of the regional title on the uneven bars with a 9.950 at the NCAA
Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...
Regionals. During the season, she also earned Pac-12 Conference honors, including being named to the Pac-12 All Academic Second Team and claiming Second Team honors on uneven bars for the 2014 All-
Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
Women's Gymnastics Team. In Shapiro's senior year in 2015 she was second team All-American on bars, second team All-Pac-12 on bars, and Pac-12 All-Academic second team.


Honors

In 2018 she was inducted into the
Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...
.


References


External links


Samantha Shapiro

USA Gymnastics bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Samantha 1993 births Living people Jewish American sportspeople Jewish gymnasts American female artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Santa Monica, California Gymnasts from Los Angeles All Olympia Gymnastics Center Stanford Cardinal women's gymnasts U.S. women's national team gymnasts 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women