Sarah Elizabeth Shire, known to her friends simply as “short stuff” or “buddy” was born on January 19, 1988 in Lake St. Louis, MO to parents David and Robyn. She began gymnastics at the age of 3 on a bus program with Jeff & Kathy Conner. Sarah’s original gym was Tiger Academy with coaches Dawn, Kim and Kellie. Afterward, Sarah transferred to Jefferson City Gymnastics.

While at Jefferson City Gymnastics, Sarah reached level 10, the highest level before elite. Since transferring to the successful Great American Gymnastics Express (GAGE) in Blue Springs, Missouri, Sarah qualified to the highest echelon of the sport, the elite level. This Senior International Elite gymnast trains under coaches Al Fong, Armine Barutyan, and Rodney Gust. Armine also choreographs Sarah’s lovely expressive floor routines. In pursuit of her dreams, Sarah puts in 34-36 hours per week at the gym living by the quotes “Go big or go home!!!” and “Attitude is everything!!

In her first year as a Junior International Elite gymnast in 2002, Sarah qualified to compete in the National championships by placing 20th all-around at the US Classic in Virginia Beach in July! At the National Championships, Sarah proved that she has what it takes to be at the top by finishing 10th in the All-Around and qualifying to be on the National team! This hard-earned national team status enables Sarah to be eligible to represent the United States internationally! Sarah considers this one of the biggest highlights of her career thus far. Sarah had been selected to go to DeHypotheekshop meet with Nicole Harris!

2003 was Sarah's first year as a Senior International Elite. In first meet of the year, Parkette Invitational, Sarah placed 3rd all-around and 2nd on vault in her age division! A few weeks later, Sarah competed at her home gym's invitational, the "Dragon Invitational," where she easily won the meet with all first places on vault, balance beam, and uneven bars. After a successful finish at the US Classic, Sarah qualified to the US National Championships and the Pacific Alliance Championships, where she competed against another USA team, Australia, and Canada. Her team won silver and Sarah placed 18th all-around with 4th place on vault - almost winning a medal! At the US National Championships, she placed 12th all-around in prelims and tied for 4th place on vault with Alicia Sacramone! In the Finals, she placed 16th all-around and made the National Team for the second time! At the end of year, she went to Karolyi's camp and was selected to go to DTB Cup in Stuttgart, Germany with Ashley Postell and Katie Heenan.

In 2004, Sarah began the year by going to Hawaii with her Dragon team. After returning she went to a training camp where she was chosen to go to the Cottbus Cup in Germany with Melanie Sinclair. While there she qualified to event finals in vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. On vault, she made it to the super finals with Oksana Chusovitina where she finished in second place. She was 4th on balance beam and 5th on uneven bars. At 2004 Nationals in Nashville, Sarah was a little disappointed with her 15th place finish, just missing the national team by .05 points. Because of injuries to other gymnasts, Sarah was allowed to go to the Olympic Trials as the first alternate. Of course she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, however she was hoping for a chance to compete. Training with the team was a great learning experience.

Sarah started off her 2005 season by winning Dragon Invitational on every event except for balance beam. After that, Sarah got selected to represent for USA at international meet against Mexico and Canada. She won a gold medal with her team plus two bronze medals on vault and uneven bars. Sarah ended her season as an elite at the VISA Championships where she placed 9th all-around and made the US National Team for fourth time.

Sarah verbally committed to the University of Utah in the beginning of 2005. She only competed two competitions in 2006 and won both meets. She wanted to retire from elite during that year and to get ready for college. Sarah graduated from Archbishop O’Hara High School in May of 2006 where she was a member of the National Honor Society and Student Council.

Sarah was struggling and rehabbing with an elbow injury when she arrived to the University of Utah. However, she did learn a few neat new routines with one-arm only. Sarah got to compete at her first college meet at Minnesota where she helped the team to defeat the Minnesota team and placed 4th on balance beam. Throughout the season, Sarah helped the Utah Utes to win eight competitions where she specialized on the balance beam and vault tallying career highs of 9.95 in both events. Sarah also helped the Utah Utes to finish second at the NCAA Championships. Soon after the season was over, Sarah transferred to University of Missouri so she could be closer to home.

After she left Utah in summer of 2007, Sarah debated if she wanted to continue gymnastics or not at Mizzou. She eventually joined the Mizzou gymnastics team. In 2008, Sarah helped the Tigers to win seven out of thirteen competitions. Sarah won three all-around titles as well as four balance beam and six floor exercise titles. Sarah also earned Big 12 Gymnast of the week, All-Big 12 Conference Team on vault, and Big-12 Newcomer of the Year.

During the 2009 season, she qualified for the NCAA Championships as an individual. She earned first-team All-American status on vault. She was named Regional Gymnast of the Year. At the Big 12 Championships, she won the all-around, vault and balance beam. She was named Big 12 Gymnast of the Year.

Fast Facts Name: Sarah Shire Birthday: January 19, 1988 Club: GAGE College: Missouri Missouri Official Website

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS Four-Time US National Team Member 2005: Sr. US Nationals - 9th AA 2004: Olympic Trials Alternate 2004: Sr. US Nationals - 15th AA 2004: Cottbus Cup VT Silver Medalist 2003: Sr. US Nationals - 16th AA 2003: Pacific Challenge Team Member 2002: Dehypotheekshop FX Bronze Medalist 2002: Jr. US Nationals - 10th AA 2002: American Challenge Champion 2002: Elite National Podium VT Bronze Medalist

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Photos © Lloyd Smith & Sam Davies