Off Balance: A Memoir

[RedBirdie]

Mostly. She was at the gym owned by Aurelia Dobre and her husband until level 7 or 8, iirc.

Hills started in a different part of Montgomery County before moving to the current building in Gaithersburg in 1990 (maybe 1989, my memory is fuzzy!). The Gaithersburg location was just down the street from Dobre's gym and there were a ton a people that switched as a result. The Hill's Gaithersburg location was absolutely state of the art at the time, and locals were certainly taking notice that Hills won a lot at the JO level and had a junior elite in Dawes. New beautiful gym with an enormous pit, easy parking, in Upcounty? Families were banging down the doors to get their daughters in there.

 

[flappergirl]

This is because Campi and Okino were injured for Trials and petitioned to the Olympic Training Squad.
That was misunderstanding on her part and Parkette's I thought.

In the end she had no business being on that team and the correct team was chosen, IMO.

I did not understand how that could be at the time. I was just a fan and I understood the selection process ahead of time, how could the Parkettes not understand? It did not make sense, but also I was relieved because kim always peaked for selection and never competed well internationally

 

[Hatsumomo]

Jumping the gun, maybe? Hope Spivey was the only other Parkette to make an Olympic team at the time (the next/last would be Kristen Maloney in 2000), IIRC. Remembering an interview with Shannon Miller from a long time ago, it seemed like the Parkette gym commanded a certain respect but didn't have that elite street cred of being an Olympic gym.