As an Olympic silver medallist and former national and world champion, Bridget Sloan can confidently claim to be one of America’s greatest artistic gymnasts. She has won gold medals at the Pan American Games and Pacific Rim Games and a host of medals for the Florida Gators at the NCAA National Championships. She remains one of only a handful of gymnasts to score a perfect 10 in all four events at the Nationals and one of only five American women to have won the world championship, placing her firmly in the elite of the elite.
Sloan was born in Cincinnatti, Ohio in 1992, but grew up in Indiana. It was here that she fell in love with gymnastics and began training aged just four. In 2007, she became a senior and competed at her first USA National Championships, achieving third place on the bars and finishing fifth overall, a fantastic achievement. Despite an injury early the following year, she recovered in time to compete at the Nationals and the Olympic Trials, making the cut and joining Team USA for the trip to Beijing. With several of the team’s leading gymnasts picking up injuries, a lot was resting on Sloan’s performance. She responded, doing enough to help win the team silver.
The following year, Sloan travelled to London to compete at the World Championships and won the all-around gold medal, beating her closest rival by 0.05 points. Injury prevented her from competing in the 2012 Olympics, but between 2013 and 2016, she went on an incredible run, winning nine gold and three silver medals from consecutive national championships.