Legend Spotlight with Mohini Bhardwaj Barry

Legend Spotlight with Mohini Bhardwaj Barry

Mar 20, 2015 by Helena Lambert
Legend Spotlight with Mohini Bhardwaj Barry
Anticipation builds for both athletes and spectators for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Let us give tribute to the gymnastic legends that spent countless hours of training for that one Olympic moment. This week’s spotlight is Olympic silver medalist, Mohini Bhardwaj Barry. The UCLA alumna was inducted into UCLA Athletics’ Hall of Fame in 2013. Her college highlights include back-to-back NCAA championships in 2000 and 2001 and won a pair of NCAA individual titles on the uneven bars in 2000 and floor exercise in 2001. Later this year, Mohini is set to be inducted into USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame class of 2015. Having had a stellar pre and post college success story is quite the rarity in the sport.

So, where is she now? What is her motivational mantra for gymnasts training for Rio 2016? We caught up with Mohini to reflect on her Olympic journey, and how fans fell in love with her after the monumental task of stepping in last minute on balance beam.

Mohini along with her husband and five-year-old son reside in the picturesque and urban town of Bend, Oregon. Its rich cultural life matches those with an entrepreneurial spirit. Mohini is the owner and head coach of Oregon Olympic Athletics. She can often be seen on the floor coaching both the boys and girls competition team. Being an owner with long training hours, plus traveling to meets and having a young child takes a lot of work and can be rough. With the support of family nearby they all work together to keep the balance in life.


She attributes her current stage in life from the life lessons she learned as an athlete. At the ‘96 Olympic Trials held at the FleetCenter in Boston, Mass. Mohini missed the Olympic team by .075. Later that year, the Magnificent Seven made history by winning U.S. gold at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

In 1998, Mohini left the elite world and was awarded a full gymnastics scholarship to UCLA. Joining the roster of many notable Olympians including Jamie Dantzscher and Kristen Maloney. She attributes her college gymnastics experience as the fire that fueled her journey to shoot for the 2004 Olympic team.

Her teammates often asked why she didn’t try for the 2000 Olympics. “I just wanted to enjoy my college experience and was nearly done with my eligibility,” said Mohini. But even still her teammates where supportive and believed in her ability to try for another Olympics.

“This motivated me and I knew I was going to be done with college gymnastics in 2001. So my senior year I made the National team and became vault National champion and then made it onto the Word team in 2001 winning a bronze medal for team USA,” explained Mohini. “That was a great, fun experience and the fact that I was able to jump right in with international competition after being in college for four year was a great motivating factor.”

During her journey she faced some real and defining challenges in her life which shaped who she is today. At the 2002 National championships, she missed a release move and dislocated her elbow. After that, she hung up her grips and retired. For a year she lived a “normal” life of a 24 year old, serving as a waitress at a Los Angeles restaurant. However, she came to the realization that in her heart this wasn’t what she wanted and wasn’t ready to give up the Olympic dream. Mohini made a very humbling comeback in 2003. Now as an adult, her parents were no longer paying for her rent, food, bills or her training.

The dream nearly ended, when a very unique sponsor came into her life, Pamela Anderson. Her financial advisor’s daughter trained at the same gym as Mohini and Pamela bought a raffle ticket for a fundraiser to help for Mohini attend Nationals. Pamela decided after watching her in training that she would help sponsor her training and coaching staff to pursue her Olympic dream.

After a 12-year journey, her dream finally became a reality when she made the 2004 Olympic team where she served as team captain. A moment which stands out most for her was when she stepped in last minute for teammate Courtney Kupets and competed on the balance beam.

“I didn’t know I was going to compete on beam, I hadn’t warmed up on the podium,” said Mohini. “That was a very stressful five minutes.” The dynamo hit her routine and led the U.S. to a silver medal.

Just three years prior, she was put in a similar situation during NCAA championships and was last up on beam, the first athlete fell and she had to hit. “Being in college helped a lot, and being put in that position and knowing how important it is to hit,” said Mohini. UCLA ended up winning the title.

Mohini’s motivational mantra to those who aspire to make the next Olympic team is to focus on deliberate training-working hard when nobody else is watching.

“Not making the team in ‘96 I thought I was working hard. But realized after not making it, I could have done better with my diet, focus on making every single routine perfect instead of just getting the numbers in. When I went to college and began training for the 2004 Olympics I couldn’t do as many numbers because I was older so there had to be even more focused. Hard work will always persevere. Maybe not at the beginning, it may take longer, but I knew if I pushed and did everything I could do in my training I wouldn’t have any regrets,” said Mohini.

Mohini’s advice can easily translate to life in general, don’t leave the door open to what if’s, set goals, go out and give it your all!