Before Mary Lou Retton, Nadia Comaneci and Olga Korbut came Cathy Rigby, the first American female gymnast to win a medal in the World Championships. A feisty and spirited performer, she was a popular role model who helped to boost the popularity of gymnastics in America and abroad. Rigby was a natural on the uneven bars and vaulting, but her greatest strength was on the balance beam. She won 12 major medals during her career and earned nicknames from around the world: Kuchen (Cookie) to the Germans, American whirlwind to the Swiss, and the best-known member of the US gymnastics team at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City when she finished sixteenth.
In the years after her competitive career ended, Rigby started a gymnastics camp and married an NFL player. Then, in 1974, someone got the crazy idea to have her act, dance and fly as the lead character in a touring version of Peter Pan. Rigby jumped at the chance and went on to enjoy a successful acting career that lasted into the next century.
As she has mellowed with age, Rigby has become a much-appreciated public speaker on health and fitness issues. She is also an advocate for those who have suffered from eating disorders, once openly discussing her own struggle with bulimia. She and her husband, actor Tom McCoy, have founded the McCoy Rigby Conservatory of the Arts in Yorba Linda, California, which offers classes in ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, aerial dance, musical theater, tumbling and voice.
Among the many things that make Rigby so appealing is her down-to-earth personality and willingness to speak about her past troubles. A grandmother who happily flips off cartwheels, teaches eight classes a week and swivels her body through the splits, she is a reminder that the lessons learned in youth are often the most difficult to put into practice.
Rigby’s struggles began with her diet, which she strove to control by starving herself and over-exercising. When she became pregnant with her first son, Bucky, she had lost so much weight that she was unable to nurse him because of an insufficient supply of milk fat. Rigby vowed to improve her health in time for the birth of her second son, Ryan, and succeeded this time. She also consulted with a doctor to help her conquer her bulimia.
Rigby credits her psychiatric help with her long-lasting success as a performing artist. She continues to play Peter Pan for audiences across the country and hopes her production will inspire other women to stand up for themselves and their families. In her spare time, she teaches a variety of classes at her conservatory and still occasionally appears in made-for-television movies. She is also a good-will ambassador for the Orange County Family Justice Center, whose mission includes providing support to victims of domestic violence and child abuse.
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