World Olympic Gymnastics Academy

The World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) is a two-facility gymnastics club located in Plano and Frisco. Since its inception, WOGA has garnered a strong reputation for consistently contributing top notch gymnasts to the U.S. Junior and Senior National Teams. WOGA trained gymnasts have a long and established history of competing in and winning at the highest level of competition, with several former National Champions, World Champions, and Olympic Champions amongst their past and present students.

WOGA
SportGymnastics
Founded1994
Based inPlano and Frisco, Texas
OwnerYevgeny Marchenko, Valeri Liukin

The head coaches at WOGA are former USA Gymnastics women's national team coordinator Valeri Liukin, who was a Soviet medalist at the 1988 Olympic Games, and Yevgeny Marchenko who coached gold medalist Carly Patterson.[1] Some of the notable past elites are Elizabeth "Lizzy" LeDuc, Katelyn Ohashi, Grace McLaughlin, Briley Casanova, Ivana Hong, Rebecca Bross, World Champions Hollie Vise and Alyssa Baumann, as well as Olympic Champions Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin and Madison Kocian. Edouard Iarov, former coach of Valeri Liukin, the USSR and Canadian national teams also trained gymnasts at the club.[2]

History

World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) opened in 1994 by co-founders Valeri Liukin, a 1988 Olympic Champion and Yevgeny Marchenko, a World Sports Acrobatic Champion.[3]

In 2003, WOGA gymnasts Carly Patterson and Hollie Vise won 2 individual medals and contributed to the first team gold for the US at the World Championships.[4][5] In 2004, Carly Patterson became the second American gymnast to become the Women's Olympic All-Around Gymnastics Champion, and the first American to do so in a non-boycotted Olympics.[6]

WOGA is home to three Olympic Champions – Patterson (Athens 2004),[7] Nastia Liukin (Beijing 2008),[8] and Madison Kocian (Rio 2016);[9] and home to six World Champions – Patterson (2003),[10] Hollie Vise (2003),[10] Liukin (2005, 2007),[11][12] Ivana Hong (2007),[12] Kocian (2014, 2015),[13][14][15] and Alyssa Baumann (2014).[13]

WOGA Classic

WOGA hosts an annual meet at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas, which has competitions from levels 1-10 as well as an International elite competition which has seen competitors such as Laurie Hernandez, Katelyn Ohashi, Madeline Gardiner, Marine Brevet, Mira Boumejmajen and Jordyn Wieber.

Notable Gymnasts and Alumni

Nastia Liukin:

Carly Patterson:

Madison Kocian:

Hollie Vise:

Ivana Hong:

Rebecca Bross:

  • 2009 World All-Around Silver and Uneven Bars Bronze Medalist
  • 2010 World Team and Balance Beam Silver and All-Around and Uneven Bars Bronze medalist
  • 2010 US National Gymnastics All-Around Champion; 8x National Championships medalist
  • 2007 Pan American Games Team and Floor Exercise gold medalist
  • 2010 American Cup Champion

Alyssa Baumann:

Irina Alexeeva:

Katelyn Ohashi:

Skye Blakely:

Dylan Inserra:

  • 2008-2010 All-Around National Champion (acrobatic gymnastics)
  • 2009 - 2011 Senior National Team Member
  • 2010 World Finalist - Acrobatic Gymnastics (partner Axel Osborne)

Axl Osborne

  • 2008-2010 All-Around National Champion (acrobatic gymnastics)
  • 2009 - 2011 Senior National Team Member
  • 2010 World Finalist - Acrobatic Gymnastics (partner Dylan Inserra)

Briley Casanova:

  • competed in the 2009 Visa championships and finished 8th all-around[16]

Glenn McCuen

Grace McLaughlin:

Lawsuit

In 2006 a WOGA coach was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 14 year old gymnast. The gymnast and her family filed a lawsuit against the owners of World Olympic Gymnastics Academy alleging that they had failed to properly screen and supervise the coach. The suit does not seek a specific amount of money from the academy owners and doesn't accuse them of abuse.

Bill Boyd, the gym's attorney, has said all instructors receive a criminal background check and the gym was not aware of any accusations until a police investigation in 2005, after Wagoner had left.[17]

[18] Wagoner was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida and received a 15 year prison sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting the gymnast.[19]

References
  1. "Meet the Staff". WOGA. Retrieved 21 Jan 2016.
  2. "Liukin". USAToday.
  3. "World Olympic Gymnastics Academy – About Us". WOGA.
  4. "37th World Championships Artistic Gymnastics". Gymnastics Results. August 24, 2003.
  5. "Postell, Hatch, Patterson Added To World Championships Team". USA Gymnastics. August 5, 2003.
  6. "SUMMER 2004 GAMES -- GYMNASTICS: WOMEN'S ALL-AROUND; 20 Years Later, the Next Mary Lou Takes Her Place". New York Times. August 20, 2004.
  7. "Patterson Wins GOLD In All-Around". USA Gymnastics. August 27, 2004.
  8. "Liukin wins gold, Johnson silver in women's all-around at 2008 Olympic Games". USA Gymnastics. August 15, 2008.
  9. "USA wins team gold in women's gymnastics at 2016 Olympic Games". USA Gymnastics. August 9, 2016.
  10. "USOC Honors Gymnasts Chellsie Memmel and Paul Hamm and USA Gymnastics World". USA Gymnastics. September 12, 2003.
  11. "Liukin wins world bars title; USA claims 3 more medals". USA Gymnastics. November 26, 2005.
  12. "U.S. women win team title at 2007 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. September 6, 2007.
  13. "U.S. women win second straight World team title at 2014 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. October 8, 2014.
  14. "USA wins third straight women's team title at 2015 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. October 27, 2015.
  15. "Kocian shares uneven bars gold medal at World Championships". USA Gymnastics. October 31, 2015.
  16. Anne From Gymnastike (August 11, 2009). "Briley Casanova Remakes Junior National Team". Gymnastike. Retrieved 2010-01-09. 2009 Visa Championships -- Briley Casanova came into this week's Visa Championships as a current member of the junior team and finished 8th all-around.
  17. "Coach pleads guilty to sexual assault of gymnast". ESPN.com. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  18. GLICK, JULIA (2006-09-08). "Gymnast Sues Over Alleged Sexual Abuse". ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  19. "Former Gymnastics Coach Gets 15 Years". AP Online. 2006-09-19. Archived from the original on 2018-01-25. Retrieved 2018-01-24 – via HighBeam.

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