The grind behind the glory

As they say in the world of balance beams and un- even bars, Terin Humphrey had outgrown the gym.

By age 9, she already was too good, in need of better gymnastics instruction and facilities. The Humphrey family made a tough decision. They left behind everyone they knew, departed the comfortable environs of Albany, Mo., and moved to suburban Kansas City.

“Everyone thought we were crazy,” says Terin’s mother, Lisa Humphrey, “and we have to admit, we probably were. But we knew we had to make the move. We sat down with everyone in our lives and told them we had to move to be near the coaches who could get her to where she wanted to go.”

Where Terin Humphrey wanted to go as a gymnast was a higher level. Just that. No one talked about the Olympics, not then. But things worked out.

Terin got better and better, and now, at 17, she is one of six members of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team that is favored to win the gold medal in Athens. The Olympics’ opening ceremony is Friday and the women’s gymnastics competition starts next Sunday.

Terin’s coach, Al Fong, let the family know early on that the journey would be long and arduous. And not just for Terin.

“It’s definitely been a struggle,” says her father, Steve Humphrey, speaking for the entire family.

The sacrifices made by young Olympic athletes —and would-be athletes — are well chronicled. So are the inordinate time and effort that border on cruel and unusual punishment, according to some.

That’s the system, more so in sports such as gymnastics and swimming. Critics argue that these youngsters give up too much — like their childhoods.

But the athletes’ families also sacrifice, in profound ways. They uproot and move, often many times. They change jobs, spend interminable hours driving back and forth to practice and waiting for their children. The financial hardships are often severe.

A banker by trade, a carpenter by hobby, Steve Humphrey took to building houses nights and weekends to help pay for Terin’s training and competition — the membership and other assorted fees, the travel, the equipment. Mr. Humphrey says he never calculated the exact total, but he estimates it at somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 annually over the five years in which Terin trained to become an elite gymnast.

“There were times I wondered how we were ever going to do it,” Mr. Humphrey says. “But it always seemed to work out for us.”

‘A lot of crying’

He is not alone. Terin and Olympic teammate Courtney McCool train at the same gym, the Great American Gymnastics Express in Blue Springs, Mo., under the same coach.

At one point, Courtney’s mother, Linda, held three jobs. She taught special education, worked at a clothing store and cleaned the gym at night.

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