The T.J. Maxx Tour of Gymnastics Champions gives Olympic gold medalist Carly Patterson a chance to enjoy her new fame and think about her future.
By SHARON GINN
Published November 25, 2004
[Times photo: James Borchuck]
Carly Patterson flips on the balance beam during the women’s team final at the Athens Olympics in August.
[AP]
Patterson’s all-around gold medal has brought all-around fame, from hometown parades, above, to appearances on late-night TV talk shows.
Though she had wanted to win the Olympic all-around gold medal for as long as she could remember, Carly Patterson didn't understand the fuss people would make over it - until she returned home from the Athens Games in August.
"I didn't know that I was all over the news and in newspapers, and that everyone was talking about me," Patterson said at a press conference before embarking on the post-Olympics T.J. Maxx Tour of Gymnastics Champions. "It's really weird. Everyone knows who I am now."
After the Games, Patterson was on TV with Jay Leno, David Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres and Katie Couric and was a presenter at MTV's Video Music Awards. Her hometown of Allen, Texas, threw a parade in her honor and 10,000 people showed up.
Then, along with several of her U.S. Olympic teammates, Patterson, 16, embarked on a 42-city gymnastics tour that began in September and ends Sunday. The tour stops at the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday, a performance that was postponed in September by the uncertain track of Hurricane Ivan.
Patterson is the headliner, but several other members of the U.S. women's and men's Olympic silver-medal-winning teams and other performers will participate, including Courtney Kupets, Mohini Bhardwaj, Terin Humphrey, Brett McClure and Jason Gatson.
"You get to play with the crowd, and do all different kinds of choreography and different dance, and just have fun with it," Patterson said.
The tour has been lucrative for all the athletes. It needed to pull in about $4.5-million to break even, USA Gymnastics spokesman Brian Eaton said, and so far has made about $1.5-million beyond that. The performers' contracts guaranteed them a minimum salary, but they also get to divide 70 percent of the tour's profits, Eaton said.
Patterson told USA Today and the Los Angeles Times that she wants to be a pop singer. She plans to continue competing in gymnastics until next year at least, she told USA Today, but she is nurturing her dream of landing a recording contract.
While she plans her next move, Patterson - who appeared so shy during NBC's Olympics coverage - has been enjoying the attention. She has even modeled, doing handstands in street clothes in Central Park for Glamour magazine's upcoming Women of the Year feature.
Now that she is becoming accustomed to fame, Patterson wants to approach it the way Mary Lou Retton has. She especially enjoys being a role model for young athletes.
"I definitely want to stay in the public eye," Patterson said in September. "I want to travel around, do speeches, and do what Mary Lou did. It's a great thing what we both accomplished, and it's great she still gets recognized for it 20 years down the road. I definitely want to do that."
