| Jason Gatson | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jason Gatson | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1980-06-25) June 25, 1980 (age 44) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Men's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Level | Senior Elite | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Gatson competed in his first World Championship in 1997 at the age of 17, where he placed 5th with team USA and 22nd in the all-around. He was considered by many to be the next champion for the US team, but injuries and other struggles cost him a chance for the 2000 Olympic team.
Injuries would continue to be a problem for Gatson, but in 2003 he finished second in the US national championships and qualified to the World Championship team, where he and his fellow team members won a silver medal in the team competition. He also competed in the all-around final and still rings final, finishing 8th and 7th respectively.
Gatson would battle a back injury heading into the 2004 Olympic trials. Still, he was able to make the Olympic team despite not competing on all of the events. At the olympics, Gatson and his team won a silver medal behind Japan. In team finals, Gatson scored 9.825 on his parallel bars routine, the highest score of the day on that apparatus.
His knee injuries were featured on the season 2 8th episode on Impact: Stories of Survival, titled "Pentagon Survivor".
Jason's younger brother Brandon is a professional wrestler.[1][2]
Gatson has two named elements on the parallel bars.[3][4]
| Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty[a] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parallel Bars | Gatson | Swing backward with full turn hop to handstand. | E, 0.5 |
| Gatson 2 | Gatson 1 with ¼ turn to handstand on 1 rail and ¼ turn handstand on 2 rails. |
Gatson was a gymnast and dancer (Google him) and his brother was an Olympian, so he's far more agile than you'd think looking at him.
