A Real Gym Dandy

At 17, Jason Gatson was a gymnastics prodigy, the youngest male ever to represent the United States at the world championships.

A few years later he almost became a has-been -- or worse, a never-was, a gifted athlete whose potential was diminished by injuries and missteps.

Gatson was leading the all-around competition at the 1999 U.S. championships when he fell from the high bar and tore a ligament in his right knee. He underwent minimal surgery so he could try to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Games but wasn’t ready for the U.S. competition and finished 18th.

“It was probably the worst meet of my life,” he said.

His knee betrayed him again in 2001, this time while he was landing a vault, and it required extensive repairs. Frustrated by his slow rehabilitation -- and mortified when he and teammates Brett McClure and Sean Townsend tested positive for marijuana and were suspended for three months -- he left the U.S. Olympic Training Center in the summer of 2002 and drove home to Upland, telling his parents he needed time to ponder quitting the sport.

Within two weeks, he realized he missed gymnastics, which had been an outlet for his energy since he was a toddler leaping off the fireplace and doing flips around the living room. He returned to Colorado Springs with a new sense of where he was going and a staunch belief that he would get there, no matter the obstacles.

“I just learned that, no matter how bad things got, or how bad things hurt, I could overcome the hard things,” he said. “That was a very big thing for me at the time, to get to that point and come back to where I am, competing well and getting ready for the Olympics.”

His comeback has been remarkable. Gatson, 23, finished second in the all-around and first on the parallel bars at the U.S. championships last year and won a spot on the U.S. team for the world championships at Anaheim, his first appearance since his 1997 debut. The U.S. men won a team silver medal and Gatson finished eighth in the all-around and seventh on rings.

His success has carried over to this season. He won the all-around competition as well as the rings, parallel bars and high bar finals at the American Cup in February, and followed with a third-place finish in the all-around, first on floor exercise and second on parallel bars at the Winter Cup challenge at Las Vegas.

More recently, he helped the U.S. men finish first at the Pacific Alliance Championships in Hawaii and finished second on still rings, polishing the routines that make him a strong contender for a berth on the U.S. team for the Athens Olympics. He bought a house in Colorado Springs and now plans to stay in the sport indefinitely.

“I don’t feel in my heart that I need to stop yet,” he said. “I feel good, like I’m getting stronger.”

Ron Galimore, director of the U.S. men’s gymnastics program, called him “the epitome of determination ... an outstanding role model,” Gatson’s marijuana suspension notwithstanding.

“It was a mistake he made, and he surely learned from it,” Galimore said. “Just the embarrassment that comes from something like that extends beyond just yourself to your family. That was punishment enough.

“I think America’s a very forgiving country if you ‘fess up to it, and he did. I don’t know how to pick the right words to say enough positive things about him. He’s really developed into such a fine young man because of what he’s gone through.”

Gatson said the marijuana misadventure taught him to find something positive in any negative situation.

“It was a mistake, and I made all my apologies,” he said. “You never want to be in a position where you jeopardize your career. I feel fortunate to still be here, and I definitely know I’ll never jeopardize it again.”

Although he left home when he was 16 to live at the Olympic Training Center, he’s close to his parents and calls home at least once a day, sometimes three or four times. That bond made it easy for his mother, Debbie, to know something was wrong when her oldest son told her two summers ago he wasn’t sure he should continue in gymnastics.

Remembering the little boy who had cried on the way to his first gymnastics class but took to it so quickly that he had to be coaxed to leave, she urged him to think about all he had done and all he could still accomplish.

“I told him that, in my heart, I think this is what he’s supposed to do,” said Debbie, a former gymnast. “He has stuck at it, he’s very good and gifted. He’s worked hard and been very focused.

“I said, ‘If you quit, 10 years from now, will you be happy, knowing you gave up before you made the Olympics? You really need to think about this because once you give up, this is not something you can go back to.’ ”

He went back with renewed enthusiasm and purpose.

“He’s been to the top and gone through the rigors,” Galimore said. “He’s come back to where he is today a better gymnast and a better person.”

The knee injuries and four operations robbed him of the power and agility he had on floor exercise and vaulting, but because he worked diligently to increase his upper-body strength while his knee healed, he’s better on rings, parallel bars, high bar and pommel horse. He created two moves on the parallel bars that are named for him, the ultimate tribute in gymnastics.

In the Gatson, he releases both hands and swings to make a 360-degree turn to a handstand. He also developed the Gatson 2, adding a quarter-turn.

“Some people have just got the feel of gymnastics, a feel for the body on the equipment, more than others, and you can tell it in his gymnastics,” said his coach, Vitaly Marinitch.

“Initially [after the knee injuries], he was struggling with everything. He was one of the top guys in the world and it hit him hard. But he came back strong and he has been very determined. I think it has helped him to mature and made him think a bit more about life and appreciate things more.”

Debbie Gatson is glad her son stayed in the sport, even though she’s so afraid he’ll get hurt again that she averts her eyes when he competes.

“I peek through some of the floor routine. The rings don’t bother me,” she said. “But the high bar, that’s the one he was injured on the first time.... I get so stressed. And not just for my kid, for all the other kids.”

Jason can’t allow room for fear. If he did, he couldn’t capitalize on this unexpected second chance to pursue his Olympic dream.

“When you get to the senior level, it’s all about learning about yourself and your gymnastics and feeling confident,” he said. “All successful gymnasts figure that out about themselves, whether it be in their late teens or early 20s, and once they figure that out, they could be unstoppable.

“Luckily for men, peaking in gymnastics doesn’t usually happen until your mid-20s. You have all that time to build that strength. I don’t think I’ve peaked yet, but I think I’m getting there real soon.”