Sharon Shapiro is an American former gymnast. She won five

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 ...

s at the

1977 Maccabiah Games At the 10th Maccabiah Games in Israel, more than 2,800 athletes from 34 countries participated in 26 different sports, including chess and bridge. The opening ceremonies were held on July 12, 1977, in Ramat Gan Stadium before a crowd of 50,000 p ...

. In 1978, she was the U.S. National Champion in 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 ...

. She was a two-time National Collegiate All-Around Champion. In 1981, she won the Honda-Broderick Award as the nation's most outstanding collegiate women's gymnast.

Early life

Shapiro's hometowns were

Arleta Arleta () is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, with a high percentage of Latino residents and of people born outside the United States. Geography Arleta is bordered by the Los Angeles distr ...

and

Sepulveda, California North Hills, known previously as Sepulveda, is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. North Hills was originally part of an agricultural community known as Mission Acres. After WWII, the newly-developed ...

. She is Jewish. She attended Monroe High School, graduating in 1979.

Gymnastics career

Shapiro was a

United States women's national gymnastics team The United States women's national artistic gymnastics team represents the United States in FIG international competitions. Currently, the U.S. team is the reigning World team champion and the reigning Olympic team silver medalists, with the four ...

member from 1976–78 and 1979-81. She won five

s at the

in individual and team gymnastics, when she was 15 years of age. In 1978, she was won the U.S. National Championship in the

at the

U.S. Gymnastics Federation United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and train ...

Women's Championships in

Uniondale, New York Uniondale is a census-designated place (CDP), as well as a suburb in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, on Long Island, in the Town of Hempstead, New York, Town of Hempstead. The population was 32,473 at the 2020 ...

. That year she also became the first U.S. woman gymnast to score as 39.05 points out of a possible 40, which she did at an invitational meet in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, California. Shapiro competed in gymnastics 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). ...

. She won UCLA's first individual national title in women's gymnastics and made history at 17 years of age as a true freshman at the 1980 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Championships, when she became the first collegiate woman to sweep all four individual events (vault,

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

) as well as the all-around. At the 1981 AIAW Championships as a sophomore, Shapiro again won first-place individual national honors in the all-around and on vault, and was an All-American on the uneven bars. She also became the first Bruin gymnast to win the Honda-Broderick Award as the nation's most outstanding collegiate women's gymnast. Shapiro led the Bruins to first place in the

Western Collegiate Athletic Association The Western Collegiate Athletic Association (WCAA) was a women's-only athletic conference on the West Coast of the United States. Members competed in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) until the 1981–82 academic year ...

(WCAA) and at the AIAW Regionals, and a second-place team finish at the AIAW National Championships. As a junior in 1982, Shapiro was an All-American in the all-around, vault, and balance beam. Shapiro was an eight-time national title holder, and a 12-time All-American. She performed the flips as a

body double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

for actress

Jennifer Beals Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress and former teen model. She made her film debut in ''My Bodyguard'' (1980), before receiving critical acclaim for her role in ''Flashdance'' (1983), for which she won NAACP Image Awa ...

in the 1983 romantic drama movie ''

Flashdance ''Flashdance'' is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina (Alex), alongside Michael Nouri playing her boyfriend an ...

''.

Honors

In 1990, Shapiro 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 ...

. In 1999, Shapiro became the first Bruin women's gymnast 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 (MPS ...

. In 2013, she was inducted into the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a s ...

(CIF) Los Angeles City Section Sports Hall of Fame. In 2016, she was named to the

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 All-Century Team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Sharon People from the San Fernando Valley UCLA Bruins women's gymnasts Competitors at the 1977 Maccabiah Games Living people People from North Hills, Los Angeles Sportspeople from California Jewish American sportspeople U.S. women's national team gymnasts Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Maccabiah Games medalists in gymnastics Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women