Peszek's Plan

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Samantha Peszek weighs her options, as she tries to pick the best path toward Worlds

It’s been a long year for Samantha Peszek, from the high of winning an Olympic silver medal with her U.S. team, to the low of the ankle injury just prior to prelims (in the warm up gym!) that kept her from doing more than a single routine in Beijing. And then there was a gym and coaching change (she now trains alongside Bridget Sloan under Marvin Sharp at Sharp’s in Indianapolis), the choice of college (Peszek’s going to be a Bruin come this time next year) and a torn labrum in her shoulder. It’s been a busy year, to say the least.

Peszek, who performed on only three events here because of her shoulder injury, is determined to start school at UCLA on time, and while she’s not ruling out the continuation of her Elite career, she’s got a little bit more on the line than most of the women at these Championships—namely the fact that it could be her last one.

“I’ve always had dreams of getting an individual World medal,” Peszek told Inside last April, “so I’m hoping this year I can go to Worlds and, hopefully, get a gold somewhere.”

Since she doesn’t have a second vault and can’t do bars because of her shoulder, if Peszek wants to be picked for Worlds it will have to be as a floor and beam specialist. So far in Dallas, she’s sixth on the former and second on the latter, after ditching some planned skills—most notably the Arabian double beam dismount she’s been working on for, in her words, “years and years.” Instead, Peszek focused on performing routines she knew she could hit, even if they didn’t have the highest difficulty level.

“It wasn’t ready and for this meet,” Peszek said of the Arabian. “To build my confidence, since I haven’t had that many meets this year, I wanted to have a clean set, whether I had full difficulty or not.

“On floor I also did kind of had a watered down routine,” she added. “Just to get the feel of competing again. It wasn’t really about my hardest skills, it was just about going out there and hitting what I’ve been doing in training.”

Not that this is all we’ll see from Peszek this season, who says she’s still considering adding upgrades before World selection is finalized in October.

“I’ve actually been training the harder one,” Peszek said, citing her floor set. “I haven’t done a floor routine like that watered down. [Before tonight,] I’d only done it a couple times. I’m just going to go back and keep training it and there are a couple of passes that I might add, if it’s ready.

“This is the year that’s better to stay clean,” she added of her strategy, “with this new Code, and I might just go back and work on the clean landings.”

It’s clear from talking to Peszek that she’d prefer to go all out, if possible. “It’s something Marvin and I have to talk together about and weigh our differences on,” said Peszek cautiously when asked what her routines might look like come Worlds. “I would love to upgrade my beam, just for the fact that I really do enjoy doing beam and I love doing harder skills. I feel like I could take it on. Like, I competed a front pike, which isn’t a big deal, I just didn’t do it this meet. There are a couple of skills that I could just easily put in there. I’m really excited to go back and train and see what comes out of it.”

Regardless of whether she tosses any new tricks, what Peszek hopes comes out of all her hard work this year is a World spot. (She was also a part of the 2007 gold-medal-winning team.)

“Yeah, I would love to go to Worlds,” Peszek gushed, before adding with a laugh, “Pick me! Choose me! I’m available then, just give me a call. I’ll go.”

Still, despite that enthusiasm, she’s trying to keep this year low-key and avoid further injuries that could hinder her college career.

“My main goal, ever since I was little, was just to go to the Olympics, and I achieved that,” said Peszek proudly. “So this year I’m trying to make it less stressful and more enjoyable and more fun. I just love competing. I don’t know if you could see it out there, but I just love competing. I love performing for people and putting on a show.”

And as for that shoulder injury (which will require surgery later this year), Peszek swears it’s not an issue. Really.

“It’s funny because people never believe me, but it doesn’t hurt at all,” she insisted with a laugh. “I sometimes even forget I have it because the only time it hurts is when I’m doing release moves on bars.”

Photo by Lloyd Smith

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