Marie Roethlisberger

Marie Roethlisberger [born (1966-05-12) 12 May 1966] is a former gymnast who was a 1984 United States Olympic gymnastics alternate. She is almost completely deaf.[1] She is the daughter of United States 1968 Olympic Gymnast Fred Roethlisberger and the sister of 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympic gymnast John Roethlisberger.[2] She was selected as a 1991 NCAA Top VI Award (now Top VIII) winner as one of the six top NCAA student-athletes and the 1991 female Walter Byers Scholarship winner as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's top scholar-athlete.[3][4]

Career

Roethlisberger competed nationally and internationally from 1982 until 1986. In national and international competition she placed as high as third in five consecutive appearances at the all-around at the United States National Gymnastics Championships, as fifth place in the team competition at the 1986 Goodwill Games, and sixth place in the team competition (seventeenth in all-around) at the 1985 World Gymnastic Championships.[2] She then matriculated at the University of Minnesota. In 1984, Roethlisberger placed seventh at the U.S. Olympic trials making her the alternate on the six-woman team despite being 100% deaf in one ear and approximately 85% deaf in the other. Her floor routines were choreographed to music with heavy bass so that she could feel the reverberations.[5][6] Her hearing loss was attributable to a childhood bout of meningitis.[2] In 1988, Roethlisberger was awarded the Honda Inspiration Award which is given to a collegiate athlete "who has overcome hardship and was able to return to play at the collegiate level". She overcame hearing issues to become a highly decorated gymnast.[7][8][9]

She was the 1990 NCAA gymnastics champion on uneven bars; four-time All-American; seven-time Big Ten Conference champion.[10] She was also an Academic All-American.[11] She was the 1982 and 1986 AAU uneven bars champion.[12] She was part of the 1991 Top VI class with Suzy Favor, Ed McCaffrey, Meredith Rainey, Pat Tyrance and fellow gymnast Patrick Kirksey.

After obtaining her BS degree in 1991, she went on to obtain her MD in 1996 both from the University of Minnesota. As of 2008, she is a physician in Madison, Wisconsin.[10] She completed her medical residency in family medicine in Appleton, Wisconsin.[2]

Notes
  1. "Olympic Team Rosters". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  2. "Whatever Happened to Marie Roethlisberger?". January 14, 2002. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved January 26, 2008.
  3. "NCAA Honors Awards Sorted by Institution". The National Collegiate Athletic Association. Archived from the original on June 24, 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2008.
  4. "Previous Walter Byers Scholars". The National Collegiate Athletic Association. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2008.
  5. "Weatherspoon named woman athlete of '88" (PDF). NCAA News. National Collegiate Athletic Association. January 18, 1989. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  6. "Marie Roethlisberger". Amanita.net. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  7. "M Club". University of Minnesota Athletics. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  8. "Awards Overview". CWSA. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  9. "Past Inspiration Award Winners". CWSA. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  10. "Great Alumni: Sports". University of Minnesota Alumni Association. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  11. "National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W)". Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  12. "U. S. Gymnastics Championships". December 17, 2007. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
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