Centralight

mom: gym Parents of Olympians this year propelled themselves into their own kind of spotlight – crying, screaming and doing "chair routines" along with their sons and daughters at the London games. One of those moms, Rita Wieber, '85, mother of Team USA gymnast Jordyn Wieber, has enjoyed witnessing the antics and journeys of her fellow Olympian moms and dads. She chronicles some of the lessons she has learned along the way in a new book, "Gym Mom." "Everyone knows what happened with Jordyn," says Rita Wieber. "After going through that and seeing how Jordyn reacted, she showed so much class. I was proud of that. It was another moment I'll look back on, seeing how Jordyn handled that and picked herself up and helped the team win gold. It was an amazing moment." For her book, Wieber interviewed experts in nutrition, sports psychology and sports medicine to help give other parents some down-to-earth, practical advice on what it's like to raise an Olympian – starting with her own mistakes. Biggest lesson learned? "What I wish I would've known was probably to not become so overly involved," she says, remembering that for about a year she spent hours obsessing about gymnastics and even having a hard time falling asleep at night due to the stress. "It got to the point that I was spending most of my time doing something gymnastics related, and I still had three other kids at home," says Wieber. "I became absorbed in that, and I wish someone would've told me just to let her do her thing." "I entered into the gymnastics world when my daughter was about 4," says Wieber. "It obviously changed our entire lives." Jordyn Wieber, considered an Olympic favorite, did not qualify for the all- around fi nal for women's gymnastics in the Summer 2012 games. She did assist her team, dubbed the "Fierce Five," in winning a gold in the team fi nal – which her mother considers the best moment of the Olympics. It's an easy trap to fall into – and one that Wieber says she luckily learned from. "I've seen moms that are way more overboard than I ever was, and that's probably what made me take a step back," she says. The intense focus on the gymnasts in the Summer 2012 games occasionally made its way to the families, too. Wieber's teammate Aly Raisman's parents were made famous for a video that chronicled their intense reaction to their daughter's routine. BY CYNTHIA J. DRAKE, MA '08 Alumna, mother of Olympian, gets real about pressures in gymnastics world Wieber said the spotlight is hard for everyone in an athlete's family. "There's your kid on a four-inch beam with a TV camera in her face and the whole world watching," she says. "When she was 7 years old I didn't want her to fall – so it's very stressful. From a mother's standpoint there just that no-control feeling. There's nothing you can do at that moment to aff ect how your child's going to perform." One of the more light-hearted aspects of the TV coverage was the subtle CMU shout-out, courtesy of Wieber's 18-year- old son, Ryan, a freshman at CMU. Ryan wore a Central T-shirt and received some airtime during the Olympic trials. Wieber says she has fond memories of her time at CMU, which prepared her in a roundabout way for her success as a "gym mom." "My husband and I met at CMU. I have some of the best memories of my life from that time period," she says. "The experience I had right out of college really started me out with a feeling of success and accomplishment, and those are attributes that I have carried with me throughout my life." • centralight winter '12 9

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