Carly Patterson, gymnast, won the gold medal and the hearts of Americans in the Women's Individual All-Around at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. (This achievement had only been attained by one other American gymnast, Mary Lou Retton, in the 1984 Soviet Union-boycotted Summer Olympics.) Carly also took home silver medals in team competition and the balance beam event on August 23, where she received a score of 9.775.

In 1994, six year old Carly was at a relative's birthday party at a gymnastics club when a coach noticed her doing cartwheels and roundoffs. He told her mother that she should start taking lessons, which she did soon afterward.

By 2000, Patterson participated in the Top Gym Tournament in Belgium where she won the silver medal in all-around and the bronze medal for balance beam, which she has said is her favorite event. At the 200l American Team Cup, she first performed her signature beam dismount, an Arabian double front. After the 2003 World Championships in Gymnastics, this dismount was named the "Patterson" in her honor.

At the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, she was scored second in the all-around before the final rotation. Suffering from a stomach illness, however, she missed three landings on the floor excercise and finished seventh overall.

Patterson was named the U.S. Junior National All-Around champion in 2002. She had previously received fourth place in 2000 and third place in 2001. At the 2003 National Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim, California, she earned the all-around silver medal, the first time an American woman had won an all-around medal at that contest since 1994. She also helped her team to earn the team gold medal.

In 2004, she tied with Courtney Kupets to become a co-champion in the all-around event at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

After Athens:
Carly Patterson has made numerous guest appearences and has done the talk show circuit since winning gold. For the time being, she's returned to an almost normal life in Allen, TX. It's unclear if she'll go for the 2008 Olympic Games. As her coach said in a recent TV interview, "It's hard to top an All Around Gold." Gymnastics or not, Patterson has made serveral comments about trying a singing career. Fans and foes alike have both expressed interest in hearing Patterson sing.