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Mesa gymnast looks ahead to 2012 Olympics
by Jeff Metcalfe - Jun. 4, 2008 - The Arizona Republic

Melissa Metcalf is busily preparing for the Olympics. In London, that is, in 2012.

Women's gymnastics works that way. Timing is everything. Metcalf of Mesa and Desert Devils Gymnastics is making her Visa Championships junior debut in Boston Thursday and Saturday when all the focus is on the seniors trying to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

Soon after the Olympic flame is extinguished Aug. 24 in China, USA Gymnastics will turn its attention to the top juniors in preparation for London. Metcalf, 12, already on the national radar after two trips to the Karolyi ranch/Women's National Team Training Center north of Houston in the last three months, is perfectly positioned for a run at becoming the next Shawn Johnson.

Johnson, 16, is the reigning World all-around champion going into Beijing. She didn't make her junior national debut until 2005. Four years ago, she was competing at the Junior Olympic Level 10 Championships.

Sheridan Metcalf, Melissa's 14-year-old sister, finished third all-around and was uneven parallel bars champion at this year's Level 10 Championships in May. By the fall, she might be deemed good enough to join her sister for training trips to the Karolyi camp in Texas.

For Melissa, already a junior international elite, the road to the Olympics lays out much smoother than for Scottsdale's Carly Janiga in 2004.

Janiga, also training at Desert Devils, was on the Junior National team in 2002 but couldn't build on that success in '03 due to a heel injury. When she returned in 2004, the race to make up for lost time carried her to the Olympic Trials but not to Athens.

"The timing is much better for Melissa," said Desert Devils head coach Geoff Eaton. "Because she's come up in our system so fast, she has the opportunity to spend another two years as a junior elite, then two more as a senior, hopefully on the national team with several international meets per year. She can get comfortable in that system and with world-wide travel and earn the respect and credibility to represent our country in a World (Championships) or Olympic Games."

Metcalf watched Janiga, then 15, train four years with the wide-eyed wonderment of an 8-year-old.

"It looked really hard," she remembers.

"I didn't know if I wanted to do that. It takes a lot of numbers (of routines). You can't just do one and be like 'OK, I'm done.' You have to do a lot. When he (Eaton) says one more, then another one, and another one, you have to do more with a good attitude."

Janiga, who helped Stanford finish third at the NCAA Championships in April, attended Scottsdale Saguaro High School while training for the Athens Olympics.

Metcalf, going into seventh grade, is leaning toward a switch from public school to online home schooling that will better fit with her training and travel schedules.

"If we really want to do this right, to train at 5 in the morning (for three hours) with her skill level is too dangerous," Eaton said. "With my experience the last time, home school is a must if you're really going to make this a realistic goal. You have to do everything right, otherwise it's too hard on these kids.

"Melissa is a lot like Carly. She has that incredible ability to flip and twist that you just have to be born with. The best thing about her is she's not just a floor and vault kid. She's as steady as any kid we've ever had on balance beam, and she's a phenomenal bar worker. She's got all the talent and all the spunk and a little bit of that arrogance that you have to have. And she's a really hard worker. Those are a rare breed. Now it's our job to make sure we pace her right."