Antolin Could Be a World Beater

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Don Peters, former U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach, considered himself retired.

Oh, sure, whenever he dropped by SCATS gymnastics headquarters, he would take a look at the young hopefuls and maybe offer a few encouraging words. But coach? No way, said the man who guided the U.S. women’s team to a silver medal at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

Then one day at the SCATS’ warehouse facility, his eye was caught by young, petite gymnast Jeanette Antolin.

“I basically came out of retirement just to coach her,” Peters said. “For four years I had not been actively coaching until I met her. She’s a great kid and fun to coach.”

Antolin, 15, is a bonafide world-class contender, according Peters and coaches at SCATS, which has produced 13 Olympians and 40 national team members. Antolin, who will be a sophomore at Marina High, recently won the balance beam competition at the U.S. Classic in Seattle, where she also finished third in uneven bars and fifth in vault.

Now she’s preparing to compete in the all-around at the USA Championships Aug. 13-17 in Denver. The top six finishers in each event advance to the U.S. World Championship Team--the top national group--and compete in the World Championships beginning Sept. 1 in Switzerland. Antolin turns 16 later this year, making her eligible to compete according to the new international age guidelines.

“My coach keeps telling me I have a very good chance of advancing,” Antolin said. “I’m going to try my hardest to do that. It will take a lot of hard work and concentration, but I like the challenge and the competition.”

Born in Paradise, Calif., Antolin moved with her family to Huntington Beach in 1991. She began competing for SCATS two years later, at age 12.

Antolin took after her sister, Katie, 17, who also competes for SCATS.

“I was the little one in the family.” Jeanette said. “We would go watch Katie and I wanted to be like her.”

Peters recognized right away that Jeanette was a daredevil, a trait coaches say they find in only one of about 100 gymnasts.

“One of Jeanette’s great qualities is that she has the courage of a lion and is willing to try anything,” Peters said. “She’s very gutsy and not afraid to try new things, even if they are risky. It’s one of the reasons she is so easy to work with.”

Antolin has been pushing the boundaries of her sport, Peters said, particularly in the vault, where one of her leaps is so sophisticated that it has only been performed a couple of times in the world.

In the vault, Antolin executed a roundoff with a full twist mount so well at the U.S. Classic it caught judges by surprise, Peters said.

“She should have finished higher in the results, but the judges didn’t know how to score it,” he said.

Antolin said she was approached by a judge after the event who more or less apologized.

“She said that now that they had seen it, I should get a better score the next time,” Antolin said.