Grace Taylor's Official Website

November 16, 2003: Many great photos from 2003 US Nationals have been added!

Short Fiction by Grace:

When Kathy Kelly called about the October training camp, we (my coaches and I) told her my wrist was not up to speed. That it would be better to wait until the January camp. But that was not the real reason. Secretly, I had been invited to attend a special screening of the future Olympic hopefuls. I can't tell you much about them now. This is all "Hush - Hush". And the pictures I smuggled out were a little blurry. (Maybe some of my sources will be able to send me some clearer ones.) But what I can tell you is this… These Olympic hopefuls gave ME hope. The joy of gymnastics definitely lives on.

October 23, 2003: Many photos from this year's Friendship Classic have been added, thanks to Lloyd Smith!

Life After Nationals?

I wonder if I should have titled this "Fall From Grace". I went from having filled out paperwork for the Pan Am games to a see you later alligator. (Actually, the National Staff was very nice to me.)

But what does one do when they don't make the National Team. I thought about changing careers. Maybe I could make some quick money as an usher. I mean I was already in Milwaukee. I already had a badge. And lets face it, I had the TIME.

Then I came up with my second brilliant moneymaking scheme. I could sell flowers. I had some back at my hotel room. Just a quick run across the street and I was in business. Look where Audrey Hepburn got by selling her sprigs.

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But, alas the meet ended, the people went home, I ran out of flowers and the professor never showed up to study my accent. What now? I needed something to do with my time. So, I set off on a soul-searching journey. I took a few of my friends along to keep me company. We traveled through the wilderness day and night until we reached the ocean. There we put together a raft from material we found on the beach. Using the sun and the stars as our guide we sailed for days and days.

Eventually, we ended up in the Czech Republic. Well, not really the Czech Republic itself. We actually bumped into gymnasts from there. They seemed to have time off too. (Even though they WERE on the National Team.)

I told them of my quest. They had an idea, which I thought might work. We quickly sailed back home and started our own Tee Shirt shop. We planned on making tie dyed shirts. But my Mom isn't into messes. We ended up making reverse tie dyed shirts. It was the same theme, with less of a mess. The shirts turned out great. But after tying marbles onto tee shirts for 30 minutes we lost interest in making anymore. Besides, the Czech girls wanted to visit Florida. They mentioned something about beaches and Sea World.

I guess I'll have to continue my quest next season. My tenth grade courses have arrived. Camp is in a few months. I finally have my braces off. (I have never worn braces. I just mentioned it to see if you were paying attention.)

I hope you enjoyed your summer. I had a great time. Congratulations to our Pan Am & Worlds Teams.

- Grace
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September 22, 2003: Grace has written a letter to update you on her gymnastics!

Nationals was both happy and sad for me. Thank you for all the encouraging letters. They meant a lot.

When I arrived home after Nationals, I began my new saga. I went to the Dr. to see about the pain I had been having in my wrist. Three casts later (2 white & 1 blue), I am finally back to 10% of my full strength.

On June 24th my x-ray showed a stress fracture in my wrist growth plate. The soft tissue was inflamed to the point where it was causing re-adsorption of the bone in my arm. It was scary seeing black splotches on the x-ray where there was supposed to be white bone. :(

Even though it was hard to work out without using my right arm, it paid off. On September 8th the x-ray came back with white bone and no black splotches. :)

Hopefully, all of the running and leg conditioning I did this summer will help my tumbling. I have my new floor routine ready. I gave you a hint last year about what music I have. It still "Must Be" mentioned on my web site.

- Grace
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· Modern Day Miracle: Today's removable casts can be washed in the dishwasher. After working out four hours each morning, my cast would get soaking wet. (Probably because it's so humid down here. I'm sure I don't sweat.) Anyway, I would go home, run it through the dishwasher, and dry it with my hair dryer. Then by evening practice I could start the process over again. And in case you think you caught me out - I was supposed to take my cast off three times a day to do my wrist exercises.

July 28, 2003: Emily of GymPaint.net has a new painting of Grace! Emily is very talented, so be sure to check it out!

June 23, 2003: Grace had one of her best meets of the year at Nationals! She started off on beam, scoring a 9.300 for a near perfect routine that was good enough for 6th on that event. Then she moved to floor where she scored an 8.875 despite stepping out of bounds on her 2 1/2 twist. She got the same score on vault, 8.875, where she hit her front pike. Going into the final rotation, bars, she was in third place! Unfortunately a fall on her Ricna left her with a score of 8.000 despite hitting the rest of her routine. Her total 35.050 was good enough for 11th place, just .125 shy of making the National Team. Congratulations on a great meet Grace :)

June 16, 2003: For Grace, Nationals begin in Milwaukee, WI, on Saturday night with the only day of junior competition. She starts the meet on beam! The top 10 juniors make the National Team and the top 2 juniors (if born in 1988) can go to the World Team Selection Camp and possibly make the Pan American Games team. Good luck Grace!!

There will not be any updates or results until after Nationals are over. For live coverage and scores, visit Inside Gymnastics, International Gymnast, and USA Gymnastics.

May 31, 2003: Grace competed yesterday in the U.S. Classic and finished 5th in the all-around! She scored an 8.925 on vault, 8.775 on bars (5th), 8.950 on beam (8th), and 8.925 (5th) on floor for a total of 35.275! Congratulations Grace :)

May 18, 2003: Many thanks to Scott Einuis for eight new photos from Friendship Classic!

April 7, 2003: Ten more Podium Meet photos have been added, thanks to Ruth Judson!

April 5, 2003: Support buttons have finally been added. Also, you can download a video of Grace's bar and beam routines from Friendship Classic at TP's Mpegs.

March 29, 2003: First of all, today Grace turned 15 years old! Happy Birthday Grace!!

Competing in her first international meet in the US, Grace placed an amazing second in the all-around, as well as second on bars and beam! She had a nice front pike on vault to start the meet. Then on bars she did her Ricna for the first time in an elite meet and nailed all her other connections. On beam she had a gorgeous routine, hitting everything! On floor she started out well but unfortunately lost her energy by the end and fell on her double pike dismount. Congratulations on an excellent meet Grace!

March 18, 2003: Grace will be participating in the 2003 Friendship Classic! The meet will be held in Pottsville, PA on March 29th, Grace's 15th birthday! The competition includes gymnasts from Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain and the United States. For more information, visit www.friendshipclassic.org.

March 15, 2003: Because she was one of the top 12 juniors, Grace was able to compete tonight in the Team Cup, along with the top 12 seniors. With the juniors and seniors combined, Grace finished 7th in the all-around, doing even better than yesterday!

On vault she scored an 8.925 for 10th place. On bars she improved from yesterday, scoring an 8.375. She was clean on beam for an 8.450 and was THIRD on floor with a 9.025! Her total was a 34.775 (which is higher than the qualifying score for Senior International Elite)! Congratulations again Grace, we're all so proud of you!

March 14, 2003: Grace had an awesome meet today! Not only did she qualify to her second National Championships (held in Milwaukee, WI, in June) but she finished 8th in the all-around!

She had a great vault for an 8.950 and 6th place. Grace scored an 8.100 on bars and an 8.550 on beam, 14th. On floor she was absolutely awesome for an 8.850 and 4th place! Her total was 34.450. Congratulations Grace!

March 1, 2003: Grace didn't have the best meet of her life but it was a good meet for her considering it's her first meet of the year! Starting on vault she did an excellent front pike and earned a 9.150 out of a possible 9.400!

On bars she fell on her Comaneci for an 8.000 and beam was steady for the most part for an 8.350. On floor she was doing one of her strongest routines yet but she fell at the very end on her double pike for an 8.400. Overall she was 12th with a 33.900! This score requalified her to International Elite and she's eligible to compete in the American Classic on March 14th. Good luck Grace!

February 27, 2003: Grace will be competing tomorrow in the 2003 National Podium Meet in Fairfax, Virginia! The meet begins at 3:40PM EST and she will be starting on vault. Good luck Grace!!

January 6, 2003: The next set of photos have been added to Grace's European Album.

January 5, 2003: The first set of photos from Grace's trip to Europe have been added!

December 20, 2002: Grace's schedule for next year has been updated, and there are new message board icons.

November 4, 2002: Videos from Nationals are up and there are new photos from US Classic and Nationals!

October 16, 2002: Nine more photos from Nationals have been added.

October 14, 2002: There are new photos from Nationals and Grace has answered another set of Ask Grace questions!

September 30, 2002: Numerous new Nationals photos are up! Also Grace is featured in the newest issue of International Gymnast magazine in an article called "South Carolina's Finest" by Dwight Normile. Congratulations Grace!!

August 17, 2002: Eight new photos from Nationals have been added!

August 10, 2002: Grace had another good day today but came up JUST short of requalifying to the National Team! Despite this, Grace said that "Nationals was one of the best experiences I have ever had. The fans couldn't have been nicer. They supported me even when I did not make the team. That meant a lot!"

She started out on floor, where she hit her first two passes but fell on her double pike for a 7.925. On vault she had a nice handspring piked front for an 8.875. She hit her bar routine again for an 8.400 and had a near-perfect beam routine for an 8.775! She finished with a 33.975 and a combined total of 68.100, putting her in 20th place.

Even though she is a little dissapointed about not making the National Team, Grace is already looking forward to next year. Her and her choreographer Lenka Benesova will begin working on a new floor routine and Grace's season will begin in November! She will be competing in Czech & Austria; we will have details and dates as soon as possible!

August 8, 2002: Grace had an amazing first day of Nationals today! She hit all of skills except her 2nd pass on floor! Grace's thoughts: "I really feel good about my meet today. I really had a great squad. Lots of encouragement everywhere."

She started out on beam and hit everything: Silivas mount, split leap to Gainer layout, back tuck; back handspring to 2-foot layout, front handspring; double tuck dismount for an 8.600. Next was floor, where she scored an 8.325 with a nice triple twist and double pike, but fell on her 2nd pass of 2 whips to a 2 1/2 twist.

Her next event was vault where she did a handspring front pike for an 8.875. Her last event was bars where she had an amazing routine for a 8.325! Her routine included an Endo 1/2 to stalder full on the low bar, a Comaneci, and a double pike dismount.

She is currently standing in 14th place with a 34.125! Awesome job Grace!

August 5, 2002: New photos have been added from the Classic and a new video of Grace's floor from that meet is up as well!

Grace will be competing in her very first U.S. National Championships in Cleveland, Ohio, this week. Grace is also the first gymnast from South Carolina to ever make it to Nationals!

Junior preliminaries are on Thursday, August 8th and finals are on August 10th. We will have updates as soon as possible after each part of the meet. Good luck Grace!

July 19, 2002: New photos have been added from the Classic. Animations and videos will be coming soon!

July 17, 2002: Grace didn't have her best meet at the U.S. Classic on Saturday. She has been working on several new skills so a few falls wasn't unexpected!

She had a great front handspring-front pike vault and finished 11th on that event. On bars she hit her major skills (Comaneci, overshoot, Endo, double layout dismount) but fell out of a handstand twice.

Her beam routine was almost completely new! She added new skills (including a back handspring stepout to 2-foot layout, a front aerial walkover, a switch side leap 1/2, and a new dismount of two back handsprings to a double tuck) but unfortunately she fell on a few of them!

All of her tumbling passes were new, including a triple twist, 2 whips through to 2 1/2 twist, and a double pike to end. Unfortunately she overrotated her triple twist and fell - other than that the routine was excellent!

Grace's meet didn't go well but she still has Nationals to look forward to in three weeks! :)

July 8, 2002: Grace will be competing at the U.S. Classic on Saturday, July 13th! On Saturday she competes in the Junior all-around and will be starting on vault; you can see the complete startlist here.

She will be doing some new skills at this meet in order to decide which ones to perform at Nationals! Good luck Grace!

July 3, 2002: Grace competed at the Region 8 Zone/Elite Qualifier meet this past weekend but did compete floor! We will try to get scores as soon as possible.

June 15, 2002: Three new Ask Grace responses have been added and the first of the wallpaper is up!

May 22, 2002: Grace had a great time at the National Team camp and even got her beam start value up to a 9.7! Three new miscellaneous pictures have been added from the camp, and also the first three Ask Grace responses have been added.

April 26, 2002: This website was released! Please be sure to come back to see the latest additions and news involving Grace. Also, sign her guestbook before you leave :)