ANAHEIM, Calif. - Any time you can get Pamela Anderson, star of screen and darling of the Internet, into the lead of a gymnastics column, you pretty much have to do it.
With that out of the way, we can get on with the inspiring tale of Mohini Bhardwaj, who has very little in common with the oft-downloaded Ms. Anderson. The tiny Bhardwaj, born in Philadelphia a decade before some of her better-known competitors in the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, delivered a statement of a performance in the preliminary round Friday night.
"I'm kind of hard to ignore when the whole arena is pulling for me," said Bhardwaj, who led after two rotations and goes into today's final round in sixth place. "The crowd here was amazing."
The highlight of the preliminary round came after Bhardwaj's routine on the uneven bars, which featured a move of her own invention. The crowd at Arrowhead Pond roared its approval, and when the routine ended, there on the arena's giant video screen was...
No, not her. We'll get to her in a moment. Be patient.
It was Martha Karolyi, who ultimately will decide whether Bhardwaj gets to reach her goal and compete in Athens in August. Karolyi, the U.S. team coordinator and therefore the judge and jury in the selection process, was seen mouthing a single word as Bhardwaj awaited her score:
Wow.
"I saw that," Bhardwaj said. "That's why I'm here, to make the selection committee [read: Karolyi] think. I want to make it as hard on them as I can."
It won't be easy. Bhardwaj will have to deliver as strong a performance today, then make herself indispensable as a vault specialist at the selection camp next month. That's the challenge, but it's a challenge Bhardwaj gave herself some eight years after her Olympic dream was already supposed to be dead.
After missing the cut on the 1996 team that went to Atlanta and won the gold medal, Bhardwaj focused on her collegiate career at UCLA. That's what she was doing when the next Olympic cycle passed by.
"I live my life by the motto of having no regrets," Bhardwaj said. "I had a great time at UCLA."
But there was a hole. She realized that when it came time to decide whether to get on with her life and go to law school, or to take one last shot at the Olympics. You can guess which one she chose.
Why? The regret thing.
"I didn't want to regret for the rest of my life that I didn't go to the Olympics," she said. "I love the sport. I guess I'm just addicted to the pursuit of the Olympic dream."
Her personal quest has grown into something of a grassroots campaign, which is where Anderson comes in.
The way things work, the top gymnasts at any given time tend to be teenage girls, barely old enough to drive automobiles. (When they do, as in the case of Courtney McCool, they have to sit on pillows to see over the dash.) The girls who get funding from USA Gymnastics are the likes of McCool, 16; Courtney Kupets, 17; and Carly Patterson, 16.
Not surprisingly, those three are at the top of the standings after the preliminary round.
In this world of Courtneys and Carlys, it's not easy to be a 25-year-old Mohini. (She's named for a Hindi enchantress and mistress of illusion, so maybe she has more in common with Anderson than it seems.)
To train, she has worked three jobs and maxed out several credit cards.
"I was cocktail [waitressing]. I worked in a pizza place, and I did some coaching," Bhardwaj said. "I have so much credit-card debt, it's ridiculous. I maxed them out to pay for my training, for something that I think is kind of noble."
Her gym, the All Olympians Gymnastics Center in Los Angeles, held a 50/50 drawing to raise funds. Someone tried to sell a ticket to one of the gym's more famous parents. Next thing Bhardwaj knew, Anderson was asking to attend one of her workouts.
When it was over, Anderson committed a sum believed to be $20,000 to help Bhardwaj afford to compete. Friday night, Anderson was there as Bhardwaj wowed Karolyi and a very enthusiastic crowd.
If this is her final chance, she made the most of it. She came through, and that is, after all, what USA Gymnastics is looking for in its Olympic gymnasts.
"There's nothing for women in this sport who are my age," Bhardwaj said, "who aren't 14 to 18 and living with our parents. Even if I don't make the team, I hope I can have an impact on the sport. Maybe I can encourage older women to stay in this sport and to stay involved."
An older woman? At 25?
Don't tell Pamela.
