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.