Jana Bieger
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Jana Bieger (born November 12, 1989 in Kiel, Germany) is an elite German-American gymnast. She currently lives in Coconut Creek, Florida, and competes for the United States.
Training at Bieger International Gymnastics under the tutelage of her mother, former West German Olympic gymnast Andrea Bieger, Jana competed in her first U.S. National Championships in 2003, placing third on the vault in the junior division. In 2004, she won a bronze medal in the all-around in the junior division and took the vault title at Nationals, earning her first national team berth. The same year, Bieger made her international debut, competing with the American junior team at the 2004 Pacific Alliance Championships and winning four medals: gold in the team event and vault final; silver on the balance beam and all-around, behind teammate Nastia Liukin.
Bieger made her senior debut in 2005, placing third in the all-around, vault and floor exercise at the U.S. Nationals. She was selected to compete at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. At Worlds, Bieger turned in a strong performances on the uneven bars (injury prevented her from competing on more than one piece) but was shut out of finals on this event because of the FIG "two-per-country" rule (only two gymnasts from each country may participate in each event final). She was also a member of the American squad at the 2005 Pan Am Championships, where she placed first with the team and earned individual silver and bronze medals on the vault and floor exercise.
At the 2006 Cottbus Cup, part of the prestigious World Cup circuit, Bieger competed well, winning the vault title, taking the silver on the beam and third on bars. Bieger was also a member of the American team at the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, where she won three gold medals in the team, vault and floor exercise finals.
In late August at the 2006 National Championships, Bieger finished third in the all-around, maintaining her previous year's ranking. She also placed in the top six on all four events, winning a silver medal on the vault and a bronze on beam.
[edit] 2006 World Championships
In October 2006, Bieger was a member of the silver medal-winning U.S. team at the World Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. Despite a fall on vault during team finals, she was a key contributor to the US squad, earning scores over 15.000 on her other three apparatus.
In the All-Around competition at Worlds, Bieger turned in solid performances on all four events to win the silver medal. This result was, however, controversial, due in part to the fact that the gold medalist, Vanessa Ferrari, managed to win her title despite a fall on the balance beam. Additionally, Ferrari and Bruno Grandi, the president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) are from the same country, Italy, raising questions of judging impariality. Both gymnastics fans and officials from other countries, including the head of the Romanian team, Nicolae Forminte, have publicly voiced objections to both the final results and the scoring. USA Gymnastics has yet to take an official stance on the issue.
After the All-Around, Bieger competed in the floor exercise event final, where she won her third silver medal of the World Championships behind Cheng Fei of China. She also participated in the uneven bars final, replacing her injured teammate Chellsie Memmel, and finishing in fifth place.
[edit] Late 2006 and Beyond
Jana sustained an ankle injury in early 2007, at the American Cup that took her out of competition for awhile. Jana competed at the 2007 U.S. Nationals despite being unprepared. She did not fare well there and was not chosen for the World Championship team.
Although slated to compete at the 2007 Cottbus Cup, U.S. National Team Coordinator, Marta Karoyli pulled Bieger from the meet as she was not prepared for international competition at the time.
Jana finally returned to international competition in 2008 at a small meet, competing on all events but floor. She went on to compete at the 2008 Pacific Rim Championships, where she won Silver in the All Around, and Gold on the Uneven Bars.
[edit] Sources and other links
- Jana Bieger at the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique profile page
- Profile at USA Gymnastics
- Fan website
- Jana's 2008 Olympic hopeful bio
- GymnStands - Jana Bieger
- "Romanian coach fumes at Ferrari victory" Reuters newswire, October 17 2006
