Pa. Native Gets Olympic Medal 10 Years Later

China's DQ means bronze for 2000 U.S. women's gymnastics team

Nearly 10 years after her big moment in Sydney, Kristen Maloney can finally call herself an Olympic medalist.

The Pennsylvania native will be awarded a bronze medal for her role on the United States women’s gymnastic team at the Sydney Olympics.

A graduate of Pen Argyl High School and a former member of the Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center in Allentown, Maloney was 19 during the 2000 Games.

Big things were expected of Maloney, a two-time national champ, going into the 2000 Games. But, the U.S. team faltered and at the time failed to medal for the only time in the past 30 years  -- besides the boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics.

The medal should erase some of the disappointing memories felt by Maloney and her teammates Dominique Dawes, Amy Chow, Jamie Dantzscher, Kristin Maloney, Elise Ray and Tasha Schwikert.

Maloney, 29, who now teaches preschool in New York, was surprised by the decision, according to the Morning Call.

“Ten years is a long time,” Maloney told the Morning Call. “So much has gone on between then and now. It seems like a different lifetime ago. It's not as though I sat around hemming and hawing about it. I never thought this would happen.”

But it did happen because the International Gymnastics Federation found that Chinese gymnast Dong Fangxiao was only 14 during the 2000 Games. The International Olympic Committee then ordered China to return their medals, which will now be awarded to the United States.

Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible.

Maloney can now call herself an Olympic champ but that doesn’t mean that the medal comes without baggage.

“I have mixed emotions,” she told the Morning Call. “Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and happy, but it's kind of anticlimactic... It was such a miserable time, such a hard time, but it was what it was.”

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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