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Claridge's International Gymnastics Center
Claridge's, CIGC
Full nameClaridge's International Gymnastics Center
Former namesClaridge's Gymnastics Academy (CGA; 1980–87)
LocationLos Angeles, California
OwnerClaridge Group, Inc.
(2005–present; 75%)
City of Los Angeles
(1980–1999)
USA Gymnastics
(1980–82)
OperatorCity of Los Angeles
(1980–1999)
Construction
Broke ground31 August 1979 (1979-08-31)
Built1 May 1980 (1980-05-01)
Opened24 May 1980 (1980-05-24)
Construction costUS$ 3.75 million (2015)

Claridge International Gymnastics Center is an American artistic gymnastics academy located in the Claridge Athletic Complex (CAC) in Beverly Glen, Los Angeles, California. Opened in May 1980 as Claridge's Gymnastics Academy, the club is widely regarded as one of the two leading gymnastics programs in the world (with the Wymondham International Gymnastics Academy) and has produced a multitude of successful elite gymnasts who have moved onto the World and Olympic level of competition.

Claridge's is also prevalent at the NCAA collegiate level, represented at several Division I institutions; the club has extremely close ties with the two local Los Angeles schools; the University of Southern California (Joan Claridge started the program) and the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition to these, gymnasts have attended schools such as University of Alabama, Stanford University, Louisiana State University, University of Utah and Oregon State University.

History

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1979–1982: Club beginnings

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1960 Olympic all-around champion Joan Claridge moved to Los Angeles in the August of 1978 in order to take the Head Coach position at the University of California, Los Angeles for the UCLA Bruins gymnastics program in replacement of two-year head coach, Lee Ann Lobdill (she'd had previous coaching experience at the club level at the Parkettes gym and Karolyi's Gymnastics facility). In June 1979, after first meeting California Angels manger Jim Fregosi at a Californian sports charity event, Claridge started drawing up plans for her own gymnastics facility in the Los Angeles metropolitan area; she searched for accessible land within the city limits to no avail, until she became aware of a possible location in West Hollywood on the renowned Sunset Boulevard. She and Fregosi became romantically involved soon after, and he helped her open the gymnastics facility (the pair had $100,000 to invest) – as well as a $150,000 grant from the City of Los Angeles and a $75,000 loan from USA Gymnastics, who were eager for Claridge to start a gym. After only two months of planning, the facility broke ground on August 31, 1979. Then, after eight months of construction, the gym was finished on May 1, 1980, and opened twenty-three days later.

Initially, Claridge worried that there would be no-one attending the opening of the gym. However, following an article in The Los Angeles Times and promotion from USA Gymnastics; within a week of construction breaking ground, there were around 150 applicants on the waiting list. Then, on the opening day; May 24, 1980, around 300 girls turned up to try the equipment and enroll in classes. Claridge resigned from her head coaching role at UCLA after second season in 1980 to focus her attentions to her gym. At first, teams were composed of recreational gymnasts who'd never tried gymnastics before, but did atttract elite gymnasts Roni Barrios, Trina Tinti and Donna Kemp; as well as Claridge's own daughters, Gemma and Lauren, who were rising talents.

In February 1981, junior elite gymnast Pam Bileck joined Claridge's after leaving Southern California Acro Teams, favouring the coaching techniques of Claridge over her then-current coaches Don Peters and Mary Wright. Shortly afterwards, a month later, Senior elite Kris Montera joined the program also. At the 1981 U.S. National Championships, Bileck finished fourth in the Junior competition; Trina Tinti was seventh in the Senior division, followed by Kris Montera in seventeenth. In the fall of 1981, following the 1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, notable elite gymnast Tracee Talavera; who was ranked number one in the country the previous summer, joined the program following her move from the National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics. When it was discovered Talavera had moved to the program, Claridge's began to receive more National exposure and gained new elite gymnasts in its program: Julianne McNamara, Tanya Service, Yumi Mordre, Kathy Budesky, Vikki Miller and Mary Houghton.

1983–88: Olympic successes through turmoil

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1983 saw Claridge's gain Kathy Johnson, Marie Roethlisberger, Dawna Wilson, Julie Whitman and Lucy Wener, as well as two international gymnasts Jayne Proctor of Great Britain and Romi Kessler of Switzerland who were training for the 1984 Olympics.

Julianne McNamara, Kathy Johnson, Tracee Talavera and Pam Bileck; two thirds of the delegation, were announced to the team that would represent the United States in women's gymnastics at the 1984 Olympics, in Los Angeles, California. Additionally, Proctor and Kessler also made Olympic teams for their respective nations.

1989–96: Becoming a household name

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1997–2004: A legacy

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2005–08: and new media attention

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2009–present: Recent success

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Claridge Academies

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In November 2007, Joan Claridge expressed desire to expand the program of Claridge's into a brand, making it a chain of gymnastics academies across the United States and in less developed nations for the sport of gymnastics. In January 2008, the Claridge Group, Inc. bought a plot of land in Brooklyn, New York, in a deal with [someone], to open the first Claridge Academy facility; the Claridge Academy of New York (CANY) – construction broke ground in early February. Later in 2008, in July, the company purchased a second plot in the Dallas metropolitan area that would serve as the location for the second academy, the Claridge Academy of Dallas (CAD).

Name Location Broke ground Date opened Cost (US$) Owners
Claridge Academy of Albania Tirana, Albania August 3, 2008 January 10, 2009 850k Claridge Group, Inc.
Claridge Academy of Cape Verde Praia, Cape Verde August 1, 2009 January 31, 2010 865k Claridge Group, Inc.
Claridge Academy of Liberia Monrovia, Liberia February 14, 2010 October 10, 2010 3.55 million Claridge Group, Inc.
Claridge Academy of Fiji Suva, Fiji March 15, 2011 November 1, 2011 2.1 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(40%)
Claridge Academy of Puerto Rico San Juan, P.R. October 15, 2011 June 3, 2012 2.55 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(45%)
Claridge Academy of Northern California Daly City, CA May 16, 2012 January 15, 2013 2.05 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(55%)
Claridge Academy of Serbia Belgrade, Serbia January 5, 2013 July 30, 2013 1.65 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(100%)
Claridge Academy of Guam Hagatna, Guam May 18, 2013 March 18, 2014 1.03 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(100%)
Claridge Academy of Oregon Portland, OR May 25, 2014 January 10, 2015 1.75 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(50%)
Claridge Academy of Belize Belmopan, Belize September 2, 2014 August 25, 2015 1.35 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(53%)
Claridge Academy of Maine Portland, ME January 12, 2016 August 14, 2016 1.25 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(60%)
Claridge National Academy of Nairobi Nairobi, Kenya May 20, 2016 February 2, 2017
(projected)		 1.50 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(70%)
Claridge Academy of Hawaii Honolulu, HI November 10, 2017
(projected)
 August 2018 2.03 million Claridge Group, Inc.
(65%)

Current gymnasts and former alumni

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Current gymnasts

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  • Evangelina Cano (2005–present) — Albanian National Team member (2010–present), 5-time World Team member (2011–15)
  • Rhianna Dodsworth (2016–present) — 2016 Olympic all-ariiund champion, 5-time World Team member (2011–15)
  • Gabby Douglas (2010–present; moved from Excalibur) — 2012 Olympic all-around champion, 2-time World Team member (2011, 2015)
  • Daisy Gilbert (2006–present) — U.S. National Team member (2012–present)
  • Melissa Greaves (2014; 2016–present; moved from Wymondham) — British National Team member, 5-time World Team member (2011–15)
  • Felicia Hano (2003–present) — Former U.S. National Team member (2014), committed to the UCLA Bruins
  • Madison Kocian (2015–present; moved from WOGA) — U.S. National Team member (2013, 2015–present)
  • Sophia Umansky (2004–present) — U.S. National Team member (2012–present)

Alumni

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World and Olympic appearances

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Olympics

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1984 Los Angeles

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1988 Seoul

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  • Monique Allen — representing Australia
  • Lauren Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Jayne Proctor — representing Great Britain
  • Janine Rankin — representing Canada

1992 Barcelona

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  • Gemma Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Lauren Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Luisa Portocarrero — representing Guatemala
  • Jayne Proctor — representing Great Britain
  • Kylie Shadbolt — representing Australia
  • Stella Umeh — representing Canada
  • Jennifer Wood — representing Canada

1996 Atlanta

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2000 Sydney

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  • Amy Chow — representing the United States
  • Gemma Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Lauren Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Jamie Dantzscher — representing the United States
  • Khloe Kardashian — representing Armenia
  • Kerry Masters — representing Great Britain
  • Ana Nikolic — representing Serbia
  • Jayne Proctor — representing Great Britain

2004 Athens

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  • Farrah Aldjufrie — United States alternate
  • Mohini Bhardwaj — representing the United States
  • Ana Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Gemma Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Lauren Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Brenda Magana — representing Mexico

2008 Beijing

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  • Farrah Aldjufrie — representing the United States
  • Ana Claridge — representing Serbia
  • Gemma Claridge — representing Great Britain
  • Whitney Davis — United States alternate
  • Mattie Larson — United States alternate

2012 London

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2016 Rio de Janeiro

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Worlds

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1980s

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1990s

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2000s

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2010s

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2015 Norwich

  • Ariana Biermann — United States alternate (Junior)
  • Evangelina Cano — representing Albania
  • Taylah Cano — representing Albania
  • Ana Claridge — representing Serbia
  • Gabby Douglas — representing the United States
  • Daisy Gilbert — representing the United States (Junior)
  • Gigi Hadid — representing Palestine
  • Kendall Jenner — representing Armenia
  • Alexia Umansky — United States alternate
  • Sophia Umansky — representing the United States (Junior)

NCAA representation

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Claridge's has been extremely well represented within the NCAA and collegiate gymnastics since its opening. Typically, its become a feeder club for the two local programs, the UCLA Bruins and the USC Trojans – both of which are within the city's limits. The gym, located in West Hollywood, is four miles from UCLA and 11 miles away from USC. In addition to the several USC and UCLA commits, gymnasts have earned scholarships all across the country.

School # of gymnasts
Alabama 1
Alaska-Anchorage 1
Arizona 1
California, Berkeley 3
California, Davis 1
California, Los Angeles 21
Cal State, Fullerton 1
Denver 1
Illinois, Champaign 1
Iowa 1
Louisiana State 1
Oregon State 1
San Jose State 1
Southern California 21
Stanford 3
Utah 2
Utah State 1
University of Washington 3
Yale University 3
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