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At 25, Brenda Magana is still in her prime
MORE than a decade after competing in her first world championships, and midway through her 20s, Mexico's Brenda Magana is primed to finally make a name for herself as an Olympian.
In the process of evolving both the content and consistency of her routines, Magana says she has also corrected the very foundation on which her current gymnastics rests. Magana readily admits that, as a younger gymnast, her execution was clumsy. As a teenager, she struggled with what she recalls as "terrible swing" on uneven bars. Now, at age 25, Magana is just as eager to note that she is approaching peak form as the 2004 Athens Olympics approach.
"I still do gymnastics because I enjoy trying to learn new elements," says the Guadalajara native. "When I was a little, I couldn't do many things because I had a lot of coaching changes. When I was 17, my technique mm was terrible. So I returned to the basics. Now I feel very good and I can do many things."
Can she ever. In addition to training (and on occasion competing) a triple back dismount from the uneven bars, Magana performs one of the world's most difficult floor exercises. Indeed, she is in rare company with a routine that includes a double layout to punch front, Arabian double front and a piked full-in. Enhanced by pleasantly elegant presentation, Magana's routines reflect her quiet determination.
"Brenda is a calm gymnast, and she works hard," said 1980 Bulgarian Olympian Silvia Topalova, who coached Magana until taking another job in Puerto Rico in late September. "It's possible to say she is a bit nervous, but...