A Rhythmic Gymnastics Champion

Mary Sanders has always been involved in gymnastics, whether it was rhythmic or artistic.  Sanders started competing in artistic gymnastics as a little girl and was coached by her father.  She competed in artistic until she was 12 years old and her father passed away. 

No longer having an artistic coach, Sanders looked to rhythmic gymnastics, with many people telling her she “was too tall and too flexible for artistic,” but had the perfect body type for rhythmic,” Sanders said.  So she switched over and immediately started to excel.

In 1999 Sanders won the silver medal in the Junior Championships. Sanders went on to win the Canadian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in both 2001 and 2002.  She has dual citizenship with Canada and the US as her father was from the USA and her mother from Canada, so even though she had been competing for Canada all these years, Sanders decided to switch over and compete for the USA in late 2002.

Sanders went on to win the USA Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition in 2003 and in 2004 and finished 10th in the World Championships in 2003.

But her “all time life goal and [her] father’s goal for [her] was to go to the Olympics and compete,” Sanders said, and she did.

Sanders became only the 7th rhythmic gymnastics athlete to compete for the USA in the Summer Olympic Games.  She competed in 2004 at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, taking 15th place overall. 

“The Olympics were the hardest time in my life but the best,” Sanders said.  She had reached her dream.

Sanders is still very involved in rhythmic gymnastics, although at the age of 23 she no longer competes.  Recently she was a judge at the Chicago Cup and Junior Olympic Optional National Championships both in Chicago.

“Keeping younger people involved in the organization and keeping the role models going is important,” Sanders said.

Sanders also spent some time working for Cirque du Soleil, as it is a fairly easy transition for rhythmic gymnasts to make with many other rhythmic gymnasts following the same path.  Sanders was drawn back to the sport she loves though and let’s hope she continues to help it grow.