Jamie Dantzscher is one of the most decorated gymnasts in the history of US athletics. The bronze medalist on the 2000 Olympic team is a UCLA alum and a member of the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She trained at the Charter Oak Gliders club in southern California and was a member of the US national team for eight years, starting in 1994. Dantzscher has since retired from the sport, but she says her years as a gymnast took a severe physical and psychological toll.
She suffered from an eating disorder and dealt with depression so severe that she feared for her life. She also resorted to bulimia and was hospitalized multiple times. During her career, she was also the subject of repeated sexual abuse by her then-team doctor, Larry Nassar. Nassar was accused of sexually abusing hundreds of young gymnasts over the course of his career, while USA Gymnastics leaders turned a blind eye to the accusations. The survivors’ stories have sparked a firestorm of controversy over how the sport handles its athletes’ welfare.
In the aftermath of the scandal, Dantzscher has become outspoken against the culture of elite Olympic gymnastics. She wrote a forward for the revised edition of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, a book that was originally published in 2002 and casts a critical eye on the sport’s culture. She has also spoken out against the policies of her former USA team coordinator, Bela Karolyi. For example, Karolyi sat Dantzscher out of two of her apparatus routines in the team competition at the 2000 Olympics.
Despite the pressures and the abuse, Dantzscher persevered in her sport. She went on to compete in the 1997 senior US nationals, where she finished sixth in the all-around. She would have qualified for the world championships that year, but at age fifteen she was too young to meet the FIG’s new minimum age requirement. She competed at the 1999 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships instead, finishing sixth again on the American team.
After retiring from competitive gymnastics, Dantzscher became a college coach. She helped the UCLA Bruins women’s gymnastics team to three NCAA titles in four years and set a school record with 28 perfect 10 scores during her career. She also earned All-American honors 15 times and three Pac-10 individual titles.
Now a mom and wife, Dantzscher is continuing her advocacy for gymnasts and has partnered with the National Organization for Women’s Health to promote awareness of the risks that come along with gymnastics. She hopes to work with more organizations in the future to provide better protections for children and adults involved in the sport.
She is also working on a documentary, which will be about the struggles that female gymnasts face in their careers and how to address those issues head-on. Dantzscher says she wants to bring these conversations into the mainstream and empower girls in gymnastics. “I want to see a generation of girls who are not afraid to speak up when they need to.” She adds, “This is the most important time in my entire life.” For more information, visit her website.
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