BACK FROM THE BROKEN : EX-UCLA GYMNAST RESURRECTS CAREER.Byline: Thomas Stinson Thomas Stinson (15 July 1798 – 13 March 1864) was a Hamilton, Ontario merchant, banker, and landowner. Early life and marriage Stinson was born in 1798 near Drum, County Monaghan, Ireland. In 1822 the Stinson migrated to North America. Cox News Service Not so long ago, when he was still strapped into his plastic ``turtle shell'' body cast, the fused bone still healing in his spine, Scott Keswick had his first real chance to reconsider why he'd spent 18 years of his life pursuing gymnastics gymnastics, exercises for the balanced development of the body (see also aerobics), or the competitive sport derived from these exercises. Although the ancient Greeks (who invented the building called a gymnasium . Spinal surgery will do that to a guy, especially when he is a former Olympian and, somehow, wants to be one again. ``It's been an incredible growth experience for me,'' the UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX graduate said this week. ``For the first time in my life, I actually took the time to sit down and really examine why I was doing gymnastics and what it meant to me. And I think that made me a stronger person in the mental aspect. It made me re-establish my goals and what was important to me.'' And those goals are? ``Does anyone know what place I'm in? Seriously?'' Eleven months after a spinal fusion spinal fusion n. A surgical procedure in which vertebrae are joined. Also called spondylosyndesis. Spinal fusion , six months since he could barely hang from a bar unsupported, Keswick, 26, celebrated his formal return to competitive gymnastics by finishing 12th all-around Thursday at the U.S. National Gymnastics championships and thus qualified for the Olympic Trials. And perhaps as a medical miracle as well. ``When you're completely out of the gym and walk back in and you see how far you have to come, it's not always easy to want to do it,'' he said. ``For me, it was never a question, never a question.'' Keswick, a four-time national champion and anchor on the sixth-place U.S. team in Barcelona and an All-American at UCLA, was in training in February 1995 when he slipped from the horizontal bar horizontal bar Event in men's gymnastics competition in which a steel bar fixed about 8 ft (2.4 m) above the floor is used for swinging exercises. Competitors generally wear hand protectors and perform routines that last 15–30 seconds. just as he was to attempt a triple flip. He slammed into the mat in a backward C, herniating two vertebrae Vertebrae Bones in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions of the body that make up the vertebral column. Vertebrae have a central foramen (hole), and their superposition makes up the vertebral canal that encloses the spinal cord. in his lower back. After a futile attempt at rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. , he underwent surgery July 25 for the removal of the disks and to fuse the bone with a slice from his pelvis. Two titanium rods were implanted, held in place by four surgical screws, that braced the spine together while it healed. After 12 weeks of virtually no physical activity, he began training again in December. Wednesday, he performed with all the hardware still in place in his back. ``It gets tight,'' Keswick said. ``Late in the competition after a lot of hard landings, the muscles get tight but that's it. Structurally, I have no pain. I have about 95 percent of my range of motion. It's just a matter of taking care of it. I have to be a little bit nicer to it now.'' COUNTDOWN TO ATLANTA Days until opening ceremonies: 41 Olympic update: Connie Paraskevin-Young made her fifth Olympic team Friday by defeating Christine Witty in a cycling sprint at Trexlertown, Pa. Paraskevin-Young made the Winter Olympic team in 1980 and 1984 as a speedskater before going to the 1988 and 1992 games as a track cycler. March to the medals: Blaine Wilson Blaine Carew Wilson (born August 3, 1974) is an American gymnast from Columbus, Ohio. Wilson won his first World Championships medal at the 2003 Worlds when he helped the team to a silver-medal finish. finished with a strong performance on the rings to win the national gymnastics championship in Knoxville, Tenn. Wilson scored a 9.8 on the rings to beat defending champion defending champion n (SPORT) → defensor/a m/f del título defending champion n (Sport) → champion(ne) en titre John Roethlisberger for the overall title. Carrying the torch: The Olympic torch moved through Ohio en route to the Atlanta Games. Spectators lined both sides of U.S. 22 and traffic was backed up for several blocks in both directions as the torch passed through the village of Morrow, about 20 miles north of Cincinnati. A lone runner, high school track coach Kevin Skeen, brought several thousand people into the streets. ``This is what America is all about,'' Skeen said, his eyes welling up after handing off the flame as it continued toward Columbus. Skeen said many of his students held a bake sale “Bake Sale” redirects here. For the episode from the TV show 8 Simple Rules, see List of 8 Simple Rules episodes. A bake sale is a fundraising activity where baked goods such as doughnuts, cupcakes and cookies, sometimes along with ethnic foods, are sold. and car wash to help him buy the $275 torch as a memento me·men·to n. pl. me·men·tos or me·men·toes A reminder of the past; a keepsake. [Middle English, commemoration of the living or the dead in the Canon of the Mass, from Latin . CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO Eleven months after back surgery, former gymnast ics champ Scott Keswick has made the Olympic Trials. Rich Addicks / Atlanta Journal-Constitution Box: Countdown to Atlanta (see text) |
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