Shavahn Church

Shavahn Nikole Church (born May 3, 1989 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California[1]) is an American-British artistic gymnast who lives and trained in California. She formerly competed for the United States but decided in 2005 to represent Great Britain.

Shavahn Church
Full nameShavahn Nikole Church[1]
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Former countries represented United States
Born (1989-05-03) May 3, 1989
Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, U.S.[1]
HometownTarzana, California, U.S.[1]
Height1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)[1]
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
ClubHeathrow, Waller's GymJam Academy[1]
College teamUniversity of California, Los Angeles[1]
Head coach(es)Chris Waller, Valorie Kondos Field[1]
Former coach(es)Kristen Maloney, Don Peters, Yu Feng[2]
Eponymous skillsUneven Bars
Retired2008
Medal record
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place2006 MelbourneTeam
Silver medal – second place2006 MelbourneUneven Bars

Early life

Church was born and raised in the California to British parents Raymond and Mandy Church. She has two sisters, Carley and Jade, who were also born in the United Kingdom. Her grandparents live in England.[2][1]

She began training gymnastics at age 7.[2]

Career

Church was a member of the U.S. Junior National Team in 2003. In 2004, she competed at the American Classic, finishing third on floor exercise and fifth all-around. Her placements qualified her for the U.S. championships in June 2004, where she broke her hand on her first event, the uneven bars.[1][2]

Following an October 2004 ACL tear and faced with the likelihood of not making the U.S. Worlds team for 2005, Church decided to switch to competing for Great Britain while continuing to live and train in the U.S.[2] She made her major international debut at the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne. Not fully recovered from an injury and severely out of competition practice, she placed 20th in the all-around.

Church was a member of the English team for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.[3] Due to an injury to captain and world bronze medallist Beth Tweddle, the team had to compete with only four members, and were unable to challenge Australia for the gold medal. Instead, in the last rotation, they were in a dogfight with Canada for the silver. Church's bars routine secured second place for the team. In the all-around, Church was in medal contention until her beam routine, where a narrow save after a large wobble was not enough to prevent her from dropping behind, and she finished fifth. In apparatus finals, she bounced back, finishing second on bars to Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs of Canada.

Church was also a member of the British team for the 2006 European Championships in Greece. She had hopes of more success on bars (her highest Commonwealth Games score would have qualified her to the European finals), but injury struck in the qualifying rounds and she was unable to complete the competition. Later in 2006, she underwent surgery, and the recovery kept her out of further competition that year.

As a member of the University of California, Los Angeles women's gymnastics team, Church's competition debut was delayed after arthroscopic surgery on her right knee. In 2008, her only year of competition, she scored a season-best (9.875) at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, which was her final gymnastics meet.[1] She was named a UCLA letterwinner for the year.[4]

In July 2008, Church announced her retirement from gymnastics and began a coaching career in California.[5]

Eponymous skill

Church has an eponymous uneven bars release move listed in the Code of Points.[6]

ApparatusNameDescriptionDifficulty[lower-alpha 1]
Uneven barsChurchPike sole circle backward counter pike hecht over high bar to hangE
  1. Valid for the 2022-2024 Code of Points

Competitive History
Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Junior
2003 American Classic 4 4 1st place, gold medalist(s)
US National Championships 6 8
2004 American Classic 5
US Classic 5 8 6 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Senior
2005 World Championships 20
2006 Commonwealth Games 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Collegiate
2008 NCAA Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s)

References
  1. "Player Bio: Shavahn Church". UCLABruins.com. UCLA Athletics. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  2. "Biography". ShavahnChurch.com. ShavahnChurch.com. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  3. "Biography and Results - Shavahn Church - 2006 Commonwealth Games".
  4. "UCLA Gymnastics - Decades of NCAA Excellence" (PDF). SidearmSports.com. Sidearm Sports. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  5. "ShavahnChurch.com". ShavahnChurch.com. ShavahnChurch.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  6. "2022-2024 Code of Points Women's Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. pp. 98, 208. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
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