Parilla finishes third
The road to the 2004 Olympics continues for Jennifer Parilla.
Parilla, 22, a Newport Beach resident who competed in the
trampoline in the 2000 Olympics, nearly added another medal to her
large collection.
The 5-foot-1, 116-pound Parilla finished fourth at a Trampoline
World Cup competition, which concluded Sept. 7 in Prague, Czech
Republic. She just missed on earning a third-place medal by
four-tenths of a point, and she was the top finisher for the U.S.
national trampoline team.
Parilla won the gold medal in the senior elite trampoline
competition at the USA Gymnastics national championships in
Sacramento July 22.
She’s back from Prague and will now go to Pocatello, Idaho where
she trains.
Parilla will then leave for Hanover, Germany to compete in the
Trampoline World Championships Oct. 17-19. The world championships is
the Olympic selection event for the 2004 Olympic Games, which will be
held in Athens, Greece.
She hopes to qualify the U.S. as one of the countries to
participate in the 2004 Olympics, just as she did before when she was
the sole qualifier for the U.S. at the 2000 Olympic Games. Her goal
is to return to the Olympics, and place higher than she did in 2000,
when she finished ninth in the event that made its Olympic debut in
Australia.
Parilla has placed second, fourth, sixth and seventh at prior
World Cup competitions and is a three-time medalist at the Trampoline
World Championships. She was the U.S. national trampoline champion in
1999, 2000 and 2002.
She is also an 11-time senior elite national champion in the
trampoline, synchronized trampoline or double-mini trampoline events.
The trampoline is a gymnastic skill that is judged. Competitors
must continually land on a 3- by 5-foot painted area within the
trampoline so not to lose points. They must perform various skills to
gain points, while bouncing up to 30 feet in the air.
A typical routine lasts just 20 seconds.
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