Marcia Frederick

Marcia Frederick
Frederick at the 1978 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Country represented	United States of America
Born	January 4 1963 (1963-01-04) Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
Coach(es)	Muriel Grossfeld and Don Peter
Current status	Retired

Marcia Frederick (born January 4, 1963, in Springfield, MA) is a retired American gymnast. She made history by becoming the first American World Champion (1978 on uneven bars).

Frederick started gymnastics at an early age. In her words, “It started the day I walked into Pioneer (Gymnastic School) and told Leo Leger I wanted to be the best in the world.” By the late 70’s Marcia was making history at an age when her peers were making their first dates. She continues, “It never increased, it never decreased. It stayed the same. It was the exact same internal pressure at the Worlds as when I practiced routines at Pioneer. I never played with dolls. I never watched cartoons. I just wanted to be the best.” Her coach, Leo Leger stated that, “Marcia was like a sponge in the gym. Gymnastics was literally her life. You didn’t have to do much with Marcia. She was doing exactly what she wanted to do. She slept and ate gymnastics. If you told her to repeat a skill 10 times and walked away and came back, she’d still be doing it.” She was nine years old.

At 12 years of age, Marcia decided to transfer to Milford, Connecticut to work with Muriel Grossfeld, 1981 HOF Honoree, who, at the time, was the U.S. Olympic Head Coach. Marcia’s workout style has been compared to the training regimen of Ray Hadley and Doris Fuchs – hard, intense, almost angry. Under Muriel Grossfeld and Don Peter’s tutelage, Marcia progressed to her world title on the UB and made the 1980 Olympic Team. For all intents and purposes, Frederick’s gymnastics career that started at the age of nine ended at the age of 18 with the Moscow boycott.

Medal Count

Year	Event	TF	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
1978	Strasbourg World Championships				1st
1980	International Mixed Pairs		1st
1981	International Mixed Pairs		3rd