Gymnast Mohini Bhardwaj found her way to Courtney McCool and put an arm around her U.S. teammate.
McCool was visibly upset after stepping out of bounds on a tumbling pass in her floor exercise routine in team preliminaries Sunday. The error was costly for the U.S. and all but eliminated McCool from advancing to the all-around finals.
Bhardwaj was the first teammate to console her, just as she had comforted Terin Humphrey a few minutes earlier for a similar mistake.
“She’s a great leader,” McCool said. “That’s why we voted her team captain.”
Six weeks shy of her 26th birthday, Bhardwaj is a stabilizing force for the reigning world champions, who will try to win the U.S.’s first Olympic gold medal abroad in Tuesday’s finals.
Bhardwaj, who will compete in floor exercise and vault, is quickly becoming one of the most popular U.S. gymnasts.
Perhaps that is because she, like teammate Annia Hatch, 26, is practically an old woman compared with the tiny teens who surround her but is also just as willing and able to perform some of the most difficult routines in the world.
Or maybe it’s her association with actress Pamela Anderson. Last spring, Anderson planned to buy a raffle ticket for a fundraiser held by coaches who train Bhardwaj at All Olympians Gymnastics Center in Los Angeles. But upon learning of the thousands of dollars of debt Bhardwaj had incurred in training and medical bills, Anderson kicked in $20,000.
Or it could be that people admire Bhardwaj’s turnaround since shedding a fast adolescent life.
“I’m probably more mature, not as crazy as I was when I was younger,” she said.
Bhardwaj has been careful in describing her past since opening up in 2001 about her days of breaking curfew and partying hard while in high school and at UCLA.
Bhardwaj gave coaches as many headaches as stellar performances. UCLA coach Valorie Kondos Field and Bhardwaj are close now, a big switch from Bhardwaj’s early years of college.
Back then, Bhardwaj stayed out late when she wasn’t supposed to, paid little attention to her classwork and was caught smoking more than once.
“She really enjoyed her collegiate career,” Kondos Field said. “She was a party girl.”
Her talent level was such that Bhardwaj could finish a workout in half the time her teammates needed. In her freshman season, the team set ground rules to prepare for the NCAA championships about six weeks before the meet. Parties and drinking were out of the question.
“Mohini said, `I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to adhere to that, but I will be ready,'” Kondos Field recalled.
Bhardwaj virtually came and went as she pleased, as she had done while living far from her parents’ Cincinnati home to train with clubs in Florida and Texas. The coach nearly kicked Bhardwaj off the team several times. UCLA officials almost threw her out of school because of her academic problems.
Finally, after Bhardwaj lied about her whereabouts after missing a practice, Kondos Field reached her limit. Bhardwaj was on her way out, but like so many times in her career, she got a second chance.
And finally, she made the most of it.
“She managed to start growing up without losing her spirit,” Kondos Field said.
As a junior, when UCLA set its rules in anticipation of the NCAA meet, Bhardwaj was the first to rule out late-night parties. She finished her collegiate career with school records for eight perfect 10s in her career and three in a meet.
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Still, she lacked the intensity a gymnast needs on the international level and did not try for the 2000 Olympic team. Not long after, she realized something was missing.
“I was having way too much fun in college, and I didn’t want the serious commitment of doing an Olympic Games,” she said. “After I was done, I realized that going to an Olympic Games was something I really wanted to accomplish in my life because I accomplished everything in the sport except for that.”
Injuries and jobs interfered with training until a year ago. About that time, Bhardwaj attended the world championships in Anaheim and watched the U.S. win its first world title. She was inspired and determined.
“She knew the girls at worlds weren’t better than her,” All Olympians club coach Galina Marinova said.
Once again, everything fell into place. Just as her bills seemed insurmountable, Anderson came to the rescue. The U.S. needed a strong vaulter, and that happens to be Bhardwaj’s specialty.
She and Hatch have shown that gymnasts older than 20 can compete at the highest level. And the dozens of college meets in which she competed for UCLA have steeled her nerves.
Now, Bhardwaj said, “I’m a little bit more settled–and I have to be for what I do.”