Desiderio Eyeing Rio 2016

When Christina Desiderio began turning perfect cartwheels at home at the age of six, her mother knew gymnastics was her calling. She was immediately signed up for gymnastics classes and within 6 months, Christina was competing in her first competition. In the summer of 2010, Christina left her home in New Jersey and relocated in Pennsylvania in order to train at one of the most prestigious gyms in the country - Parkettes. "My parents choose Parkettes because if this was my dream, they wanted me to be with the best!" Christina said. "My coaches are awesome! They want me to be the best I can be, not only in the gym, but in life!" Training at Parkettes also gives Christina a chance to train along side her idol Elizabeth Price. "I am so very lucky to be able to practice with her everyday. She's always so focused and bubbly in the gym! I will always look up to her." she said. Along with Ebee, she also trains with a group of junior elites. "My teammates are a lot of fun! Like most teammates, we like to hangout outside of the gym and are always encouraging each other. I'm lucky to train with them!" she added.

Photo Credit: USA Gymnastics

Under the guidance of Bill and Donna Strauss, Christina began showing remarkable results such as winning the State Championships on vault, beam, and floor and winning the vault and beam titles at Regionals in 2012. Christina concluded her 2012 season at the JO National Championships where she placed 5th on beam- her best event. In 2013, Christina switched gears and began preparation to compete in the elite ranks. At a developmental camp in June she qualified to elite, which would give her the opportunity to compete at the Secret Classic and have a shot at qualifying to the U.S. National Championships. At the Secret Classic- her first major elite meet, Christina placed 10th all around and 4th on beam- solidifying her spot at the P&G Championships! At the P&G Championships she placed 8th on beam and finished off her first year as an elite satisfied. "I fulfilled all my goals for 2013 by making it to Championships and going to some national team camps!" Christina also loved getting to compete on a podium in front of the big crowd and signing autographs after the meet. "I felt like a celebrity!" Christina recalled.

Christina and her teammates signing autographs!

Outside of the gym, Christina doesn't have much free time. "I really don't have a normal life!" she joked. "I live an hour from the gym, so I'm in the car a lot!" She usually spends her weekends catching up on school work. "It's really hard to do school during the week because I come home so late, so I have to do a lot of it on the weekends. It doesn't leave much time for fun!" she admits.



Christina is currently working hard in the gym for when the elite season rolls around. She hopes to add a few new upgrades into her routines including a maloney on bars, a back handspring-back handspring- layout full on beam, a yurchenko double on vault, and a double layout on floor. Her goals for this year are to make the national team and represent the USA in international competitions. "I'm really very proud of how far I've come and I look forward to doing more in the future." she told us. Three years from now, Desiderio hopes to find herself in Rio representing herself and her country in the Olympic games!