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To honor the memory of her father, Canadian native Mary Sanders is making rhythmic history-for the U.S.
MARY Sanders was nervous when she stepped onto the mat at the 2002 Rhythmic Western Nationals in Portland, Ore. Though she had already competed all over the world, and met the likes of Alina Kabayeva and Irina Chaschina in world championship competition, this meet was different.
Competing in Portland as the reigning Canadian national champion, Sanders knew she would be judged for more than just her routines. She worried not about the judges' marks, but the whispers from the other competitors and onlookers. Would they understand her reason for wanting to represent the U.S.? Would she be accepted by the U.S. rhythmic community-or treated as an unwelcome outsider?
Somehow Sanders, born to an American father and Canadian mother, summoned the courage she needed. She found her inspiration in the memory of her father, Fred, who succumbed to cancer of the bone marrow when Mary was 7.
There has never been a time when Mary did not feel her father's presence in the gym. As soon as she could walk, Mary was doing splits, cartwheels and backbends. Fred first brought his only daughter to the gym near their Toronto home when she was 4. A former gymnast himself, Fred was Mary's first coach. He loved gymnastics, and Mary loved it with him.
Particularly talented on the trampoline, Fred bounced to the 1963 Big Ten title while at the University of Michigan. He moved to Canada in 1980 and met his future wife, Jaci, the sister of one of his students in the physical education class he taught at the University of Toronto. Fred and Jaci married and had two sons, Matt and Mike, and daughter Mary, who was born on Aug. 26, 1985.
Though the Sanders family was devastated after Fred's death, Mary stuck with gymnastics. How could she abandon the sport her father loved so much? "I could do back handsprings on the beam, and a full twist on floor," she recalls of her artistic gymnastics ability. "I could do giants on bars and was learning some difficult dismounts and release moves. But my coach told me I was going to be too tall for artistic and...