Raj Bhavsar Featured on USA-Gymnastics.org – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
2008 U.S. Olympic medalist talks about his life post-Beijing
COLUMBUS, Ohio Raj Bhavsar, a member of the 2008 U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Olympic team, recently answered a Q&A with USA-Gymnastics.org, discussing life after winning a team bronze at the Beijing Summer Olympics in China last August.
Bhavsar, who captured two NCAA individual titles and 10 All-America honors while competing at Ohio State (2000-03), made his first U.S. Olympic team in 2008 after serving as an alternate at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.
The Houston, Texas, native is the fourth Buckeye gymnast to make an Olympic squad. Competing for Ohio State from 1987-89, Gil Pinto became the first Buckeye Olympian in gymnastics when he competed for Brazil at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Two Buckeyes were on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team with Kip Simons (1991-94) and Blaine Wilson (1994-97) earning the honor. Ohio State was well represented at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, in addition to having two athletes on the team, the Scarlet and Gray had two coaches on the staff as well. Former Ohio State head coach Peter Kormann and then-assistant coach Miles Avery served as head coach and assistant coach, respectively, for the U.S. squad in Atlanta.
Wilson went on to make two more U.S. Olympic teams, competing at both the 2000 Sydney Games and the 2004 Athens Games and Avery, now entering his 12th season at the helm of the Ohio State program, served as an assistant coach at both competitions. This past summer, Avery served on his fourth-consecutive Olympics, serving as the U.S.’s top assistant coach in Beijing.
