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Justin Spring: full speed ahead
Burke native and Olympic gymnast Justin Spring never could sit still. He's also never been one to keep quiet during those tense minutes prior to competition.And though Spring has sprung from his Fairfax County roots to the world's biggest stage, the Lake Braddock graduate hasn't yet shifted his attention to Beijing, preferring instead to live in the moment and enjoy the ride.
“I think the biggest thing is to just stay relaxed,” said Spring, who'll be one of six gymnasts to represent the United States in the Olympic Games, which will run Aug. 8-24. “I'm usually the one who's the most talkative and joking around the most. That helps me to stay calm.”
In the past few months, a wave of knee, back and ankle injuries had forced Spring to tone it down a notch, but at the Olympic Trials inside Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, Spring's rambunctiousness and desire to compete got the best of him.
Spring was nursing a soft-tissue ankle sprain at the time, but knowing that a successful floor exercise would bolster his chances of making the team, the 24-year-old gymnast consulted with coach Jon Valdez and the two of them cobbled together a routine.
Ignoring yet another injury and the fact that he's had four surgeries in an 11-month span, Spring pressed on and finished a modest 10th -- second when looking at his two-day total -- with his score on floor. He also finished first on the parallel bars, second in the vault and third on the high bar, rounding out the four events he'll focus on in Beijing. (Spring is scheduled to participate in still rings on the first day of competition, but he doesn't profess it to be one of his strengths.)
“He's had a couple issues with his lower body,” said men's team coordinator Ron Brant, “and to do a routine where he hadn't trained as much speaks to his level of talent.”
Added head coach Kevin Mazeika, “He brings a tremendous spark to the team. He does some absolutely amazing gymnastics, and he makes some of the most difficult skills look effortless.”
Spring started his gymnastics career as a “little kid that couldn't settle down” at Capital Gymnastics in Burke. Studying under Carlos Vasquez, Spring perfected the skills that would eventually enable him to become a 12-time All-American at the University of Illinois, as well as the 2006 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year.
His reign over Illinois and the Big Ten put him in constant consideration for numerous school awards, and according to Spring, his primary competition was then-Illinois basketball star Deron Williams, who's now a point guard for the Utah Jazz and a member of the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team.
“He's moved on to bigger and better things, but at the time we were competing for the same varsity awards,” Spring said. “I'll ask him if he remembers me.”
Surely Williams does -- probably as that talented gymnast that just couldn't sit still. Or shut up.
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