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Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams
William Morrow
May 2008
On Sale: April 8, 2008
304 pages
ISBN: 0061351466
EAN: 9780061351464
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Sports
The true story of the 1986 U.S. National Gymnastics champion whose lifelong dream was to compete in the Olympics, until anorexia, injuries, and coaching abuses nearly destroyed her Fanciful dreams of gold medals and Nadia Comaneci led Jennifer Sey to become a gymnast at the age of six. She was a natural at the sport, and her early success propelled her family to sacrifice everything to help her become, by age eleven, one of Americaโs elite, competing at prestigious events worldwide alongside such future gymnasticsโ luminaries as Mary Lou Retton. But as she set her sights higher and higherโthe senior national team, the World Championships, the 1988 Olympicsโ Sey began to change, putting her needs, her health, and her well-being aside in the name of winning. And the adults in her life refused to notice her downward spiral. In Chalked Up Sey reveals the tarnish behind her gold medals. A powerful portrait of intensity and drive, eating disorders and stage parents, abusive coaches and manipulative businessmen, denial and the seduction of success, it is the story of a young girl whose dreams would become eclipsed by the adults around her. As she recounts her experiences, Sey sheds light on the destructiveness of our winning-is-everything culture where underage and underweight girls are celebrated and on the need for balance in childrenโs lives.
 Media BuzzGood Morning America - May 3, 2008
Early Show - April 28, 2008
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