Inside Interview: Bridget Sloan

This beam and bars beauty just missed a spot on the 2007 World Team, serving as alternate instead (she and fellow Indiana-based gymnast Samantha Peszek, battled for the sixth and final spot until just 24 hours before the meet began), but Bridget Sloan seemed headed for big things in ’08 … That is, until her left knee collapsed at an international meet in March. Surgery to repair her meniscus followed, and now Sloan is playing a game of beat-the-clock to get to Beijing.

But the knee injury, which can sideline some athletes for six months, hasn’t damaged Sloan’s Olympic ambitions. Playing it safe at the U.S. Nationals last week in Boston, she competed on only her two best events, though she trained on all four, finishing third on bars and seventh on beam—with her scores improving on day two for both apparatus.

Yep, Sloan is back and firmly in the mix for a Games spot. At next week’s Olympic Trials, she plans to compete on all four events, including throwing a Yurchenko double twist on vault, a skill she says she’s been doing in the gym “for a while,” with no problem.

“I am almost 100 percent. I’m about 99 percent right now,” Sloan said in Boston of her recovery. “… My knee is getting so strong. My left leg is almost stronger than my right leg, which is my ‘good’ leg.”

Inside Gymnastics gets to know this bright and bubbly charmer, who will turn 16 on the final day of Trials competition …

INSIDE: Was it difficult to be the alternate on last year’s World squad, especially after you had such a stellar performance at Championships, finishing higher than athletes who were eventually named to the team?

SLOAN: It was definitely a good experience for me, because I was so young. I didn’t have a lot of international experience yet, so, going into Worlds, I was a little bit nervous. Especially since we didn’t know who was going to be the alternate yet.

You know, I couldn’t take it in a bad way. You always have to look at the good side of things. And when they told me that [I was the alternate,] I was thinking, ‘Well, that’s OK.’

Being the alternate you have such a big role, because if anyone is to have a little injury you have to hop right in and do it. In a way, I was extremely nervous that someone would do that (get hurt).

Everybody on the team was so good, I was fine with it. But, yeah, in a way, it kind of hurts. You work so hard, but, you know, after Worlds, they let me go on another trip, to prove myself, to prove that I can be counted on.

INSIDE: What did you learn from your Worlds experience?

SLOAN: It was a great experience for me. Definitely a big learning experience, [just] watching everybody. You’d see girls you’d read about in magazines, and they were standing right next to you. I’d just be like, (makes shocked face) ‘Whoa.’

It was definitely [about] learning and it helped my self-confidence. You still had to stay strong. You still had to work on all your routines. I had to do everything everyone else was doing, I just didn’t get to go out on the floor and compete.

In a way, with me being so young—I still have three years even before I think about college—it was [OK].

INSIDE: You talked about being a bit overwhelmed to meet some of the other athletes. Who impressed you most?

SLOAN: Just all the girls from other countries. You’d go in there and you’d see girls from China that you’d read about and it was just, like, ‘Wow!’

Not anybody specific, but I’m so used to competing with girls from the U.S. At Worlds, it’s the world—everybody is there. For me, being my first year at Worlds, it was all new to me, but it helped me understand how hard we have to work, how many routines count, and just how everything goes.

It definitely helped me. You know, I had no idea what was going to go on. (laughs) I was looking up to Alicia (Sacramone) and Nastia (Liukin) to tell me what to do. I was like a little kid there. I was the one looking around, while they were all focused.

With me looking around, it helped me figure out what I was going to do in the later years, you know? How I’m gonna’ handle it.

INSIDE: What are the “later years” for you?

SLOAN: (laughing) Yeah, I know, I’m [young.]

I don’t know what is going to happen after this year. I’m just focusing on this year—that’s my main focus.

After that, I don’t know what I want to do. My mom keeps asking me, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I’m thinking: ‘I’m have no clue what I want to do.’ We’ll just see where the rocks fall and where the steps go.

INSIDE: Are you looking forward to turning 16?

SLOAN: (laughing) Yes. Yes! YES!

INSIDE: You’d been at Championships before, but 2007 was your first year as a senior and you’d never been a junior all-around star. Was your fifth place finish at last year’s USAs surprising to you, or did you expect that from yourself?

SLOAN: (laughing) I was definitely NOT a big star.

You know, actually, last year for Championships I didn’t really think about the all-around or my scores, which really helped me get through everything. I did have a couple of falls. You can’t really take those falls as, ‘Oh my gosh, I just fell. My whole meet is ruined.’ You know, you gotta’ think of it as, ‘You’ve got another day of competition. You gotta’ keep working, and you’ll be fine.’

[My finish] wasn’t necessarily a surprise but, in a way, it was. With me being so young—it was my first year as [a] senior and a whole new atmosphere for me, with such a big crowd, which was great. For me it was kind of different, but I loved it all.

INSIDE: Now that you’re a year older and more established, what’s the game plan for competition this year as we head farther into the Olympic selection process?

SLOAN: I’m just going to go into it like I did last year; just focus on my routines and not [worry] about anybody else, or the scores.

The scores—in my opinion, they’re just scores. You know how well you did. You just have to take that and run with it.

INSIDE: How are you approaching this lengthy selection process?

SLOAN: It’s an ongoing process and you can’t just leap right into the Olympics. You can’t just say, ‘I’m gonna’ do great at the Olympics.’ You gotta’ take it step by step.

INSIDE: How confident are you that you can be a part of that Olympic Team?

SLOAN: You know, that’s hard to say. We’re just coming back and I haven’t really thought about how good I’m gonna’ be or anything. Just clean and consistency is everything. That’s a big part of gymnastics, just being consistent with your routines.

You can’t really think of the later times. You just have to think about right then and there.

INSIDE: What do you think you have to do to be on that Olympic Team?

SLOAN: The U.S. our gymnastics program has so many good athletes, we have such a variety. We have bars workers, we have beam, we have vault. We have a little bit of everything, which is great, so you just want to make the best out of all four. I have to keep [my] consistency up on all four, not just one, specific event, or two.

Definitely, my focus is all-around. With all-around you get a greater performance on everything, so then you can come back. You might not have the greatest beam, but you can come back on floor, on rings on vault. You might have one weak event, but with three other strong ones you can still finish up top.

You know, when people say to you, ‘If you would have pointed your toes, you would have gotten a higher score.’ I kinda’ think, ‘Yeah, I would have,’ but, in a way, you’re thinking you can’t really change it. It’s already happened, so you have to keep it what it is. You gotta’ take it and run.

INSIDE: Do you feel like you have a weak event right now?

SLOAN: I don’t really think I have weak one, but everyone has that one event that they’re just not very good at. I don’t know which one would be my weakest [event,] but there are definitely skills that I can’t do perfect yet, which is frustrating.

You want to make everything perfect. To do it the best that you can. In your mind, you’re thinking, ‘How do I do it?’ You talk to your coach and they tell you, but it’s like, ‘I can’t get that.’

INSIDE: Are your routines pretty set at this point?

SLOAN: Yes. The focus for me now is just polishing them up, making them as a clean as possible. I might add a few things here and there, but it’s mostly about cleanness and consistency.

I’m doing a [Yurchenko] double on vault [now,] and a few things, here and there, on bars and beam, but everything is pretty much the same as [last year.] Just trying to get that “B” score higher.

INSIDE: How do the monthly National Team training camps help you?

SLOAN: It definitely helps your self-confidence because, you know, Martha (Karolyi) is the one judging you. That’s nerve-racking! You know that she has so much experience and she just knows everything. Her telling you a correction, it’s like you ARE going to do it, because she’s Martha.

It’s really good for everyone. Even the little juniors. She gives them a correction and they just smile.

INSIDE: As the National Team Coordinator, and one-third of the Selection Committee, Karolyi kind of holds your fate in her hands.

SLOAN: Yes. Yes. Yes, for everybody and everything.

She is kind of everything. She’ll coach you and tell you these little corrections, but you could probably talk to her. Most of the time we just talk to the older girls, but you could talk to [Martha]. (pause) I mean, no one really has lately (laughs). Uh, yeah, I don’t really know anyone who has gone up and talked to her.

But she wants to know about you. She’ll come up and ask you questions, what your aches and pains are, what you’re going to do. She likes to know beforehand and she’ll help you out with anything you need. Which is great.

INSIDE: What got you started in the sport?

SLOAN: My mom put me in it, because I was a very energetic child. And to challenge my energy she put me in gymnastics and I’d just come home and sleep. She thought that was wonderful (laughs).

I mean, I used to play soccer. I did a lot of sports. I was four when my mom put me into the “junior hotshots” program at my gym, but I really started gymnastics when I was about two or three. Like, you know, doing forward rolls.

INSIDE: What’s kept you going all these years?

SLOAN: USA Gymnastics treats us so well.

You know, I used to love watching gymnastics on TV, [during] the Olympics. I used to just love it so much. I definitely remember the 1996 Olympics. I would imitate the routines on our [living room] floor and, you know, you think, ‘I wish I could do that.’ As the years went by it was, like, ‘Wow, I could actually have a shot.’

Now, I’m thinking, ‘This is for real.’

INSIDE: What’s your ideal 2008 scenario?

SLOAN: Definitely just making that Olympic team. And I would love, if I do make it, to get an individual medal. I mean, that would just be amazing for me.

We’re actually very supportive for the team and we know when it’s team competition, you’re a team. But, for individual, you’re trying to win.

INSIDE: How hard is it going to be to make that dream come true?

SLOAN: You know, we have so many top, talented people on the National Team. It’s gonna’ be rough. You’re going to have some tears, and some speed bumps on your path, but you just gotta’ take it as what it is and get through it.

INSIDE: Not to sound like your mom, but have you thought at all about life after this year?

SLOAN: I don’t know. I would love to go to college, but, it means, it depends. This year is such a big year. Just about everything depends on this year, and how it’s going to go.

I would love to do college gymnastics. I’ve actually been looking at some colleges. I haven’t visited any, just because I’m too young, but I’ve been going online and looking at Georgia, Florida, Alabama and UCLA.

INSIDE: Good luck and it was nice getting to know you.

SLOAN: Thanks. It was fun.