View source for Amy Chow

{{Short description|American artistic gymnast}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox gymnast
| name            = Amy Chow
| image           =
| image_size      = 
| caption         = 
| full_name       = 
| nickname        = 
| country         = {{USA}}
| formercountry   = 
| birth_date      = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1978|05|15}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Olympedia - Amy Chow |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/29232 |date=December 28, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite Sports-Reference|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
| birth_place     = 
| death_date      = 
| death_place     = 
| height          = 
| discipline      = WAG
| natlteam        = 1990–1997, 1999–2001 ([[United States women's national gymnastics team|USA]])
| club            = West Valley Gymnastics School
| gym             = 
| collegeteam     = 
| headcoach       = Mark Young, Diane Amos
| assistcoach     = 
| formercoach     = 
| choreographer   = 
| music           = 
| eponymousskills = Chow/Khorkina, Chow II
| show-medals     = yes
| medaltemplates  = {{MedalSport|Women's [[artistic gymnastics]]}}
{{MedalCountry|the {{USA}}}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
[[File:Olympic rings.svg|center|60px]]
{{MedalGold|{{GamesName|SOG|1996|Gymnastics}}|[[Gymnastics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic team all-around|Team]]}}
{{MedalSilver|{{GamesName|SOG|1996|nolink=1}}|[[Gymnastics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's uneven bars|Uneven bars]]}}
{{MedalBronze|{{GamesName|SOG|2000|Gymnastics}}|[[Gymnastics at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic team all-around|Team]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1994 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (Team)|1994 Dortmund]]|Team}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Gymnastics at the Pan American Games|Pan American Games]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1995 Pan American Games|1995 Mar del Plata]]|Team}}
{{MedalGold|1995 Mar del Plata|Vault}}
{{MedalSilver|1995 Mar del Plata|Uneven Bars}}
{{MedalBronze|1995 Mar del Plata|All-Around}} 
}}

'''Amy Yuen Yee Chow''' ({{lang-zh|t=[[wikt:周|周]] [[wikt:婉|婉]] [[wikt:儀|儀]]|p=Zhōu Wǎnyí|j=Zau1 Jyun2 Ji4}}; born May 15, 1978<ref name="almanac">{{cite book |title=The Gymnastics Almanac |year=1999 |publisher=Lowell House |isbn=1-56565-966-X |page=97}}</ref>) is an  American former [[Artistic gymnastics|artistic gymnast]] who competed at the [[1996 Summer Olympics|1996]] and [[2000 Summer Olympics]]. She is best known for being a member of the [[Magnificent Seven (gymnastics)|Magnificent Seven]], which won the United States' first team gold medal in Olympic gymnastics. She is also the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vogue.com/13462257/1996-women-olympic-gymnastics-team-dominique-moceanu-kerri-strug/ |title=The 1996 USA Gymnastics Team: Where Are They Now? |publisher=Vogue |date=July 28, 2016}}</ref>

==Early life==
Chow was born to Nelson and Susan Chow, who had immigrated to the United States from [[Guangzhou]] and [[Hong Kong]], respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pdsoros.org/news-events/2016-08-03-amy-chow-olympian-physician-and-2003-paul-daisy-soros-fellow |title=Amy Chow: Olympian, Physician, and 2003 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow |publisher=P.D. Soros Fellowship |access-date=July 24, 2021}}</ref>

Chow began gymnastics training in 1981 at the age of 3. Her mother wanted her to be a ballerina and tried enrolling her in ballet schools, none of which would take a child that young.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://asianweek.com/071996/feature.html |title=Cover Story |publisher=AsianWeek |access-date=August 6, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716180950/http://www.asianweek.com/071996/feature.html |archive-date=July 16, 2012}}</ref> She then signed Amy up for classes at West Valley Gymnastics School in [[Campbell, California]], where she joined an accelerated program at the age of 5, training under Mark Young and Diane Amos. Her younger brother, Kevin, was also a gymnast.

== Gymnastics career ==
=== 1989–1993 ===
At 11 years old, Chow became the first gymnast at her school to reach the elite level. She began competing nationally in 1990.

=== 1994–1995 ===
Chow's first international competition was the [[1994 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1994 World Championships]] in [[Dortmund|Dortmund, Germany]]. After a poor showing in preliminaries (she fell twice on [[Vault (gymnastics)|vault]] and three times in a single [[balance beam]] routine), she performed well in the team finals, helping the United States clinch a silver medal.

The following year, Chow was part of the gold medal-winning American team at the 1995 Pan American Games, where she also won a gold medal on vault, silver on the [[uneven bars]] and bronze in the all-around.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gymnasticsonline.co.uk/html/amy_chow.html |title=Amy Chow |publisher=Gymnasticsonline.co.uk |access-date=August 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830072704/http://www.gymnasticsonline.co.uk/html/amy_chow.html |archive-date=August 30, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She made the United States team for the [[1995 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1995 World Championships]], but had to withdraw because of a sprained ankle sustained just days before the competition.

=== 1996 ===
Chow is primarily known for her performance at the [[1996 Summer Olympics]], where she won a gold medal with the team and a silver on the uneven bars. At the Olympic Trials, she fell off the beam, scraping her face on the side of the apparatus, but got up and completed her routine despite obvious pain,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ln7rRjvAA |title=Amy Chow 1996 Beam Olympic Trials FALL |publisher=YouTube |date=April 29, 2007 |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref> and was named to the Olympic team along with [[Amanda Borden]], [[Dominique Dawes]], [[Shannon Miller]], [[Dominique Moceanu]], [[Jaycie Phelps]] and [[Kerri Strug]]. The team would become known as the [[Magnificent Seven (gymnastics)|Magnificent Seven]].

In the team final at the Olympics, Chow competed on the uneven bars and vault. In the bars event final, she completed a very difficult routine with an almost flawless dismount and scored a 9.837. She edged out the more experienced Dawes to tie for silver with [[Bi Wenjing]] of China, although the commentators felt Chow should not have had to share the medal, as Bi made a visible mistake that the judges did not take into account.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib5sA6neopU |title=1996 Olympics - Event Finals - Part 5 |publisher=YouTube |date=November 2, 2009 |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref>

After the Olympics, Chow and her teammates performed in numerous exhibitions, including the John Hancock Tour.

=== 2000 ===
When Chow decided to return to gymnastics in hopes of competing at the [[2000 Summer Olympics|2000 Olympics]], she contacted Mark Young and asked him to train her for it. He agreed, despite the fact that he was retired by then. Chow juggled a rigorous training regimen with medical research at [[Stanford University]], where she was working toward her undergraduate degree in biology, but ultimately took time off school to train.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mytown.mercurynews.com/archives/campbellreporter/08.30.00/cover-0035.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920224525/http://mytown.mercurynews.com/archives/campbellreporter/08.30.00/cover-0035.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 20, 2010 |title=The Campbell Reporter &#124; West Valley Gymnastic School |publisher=Mytown.mercurynews.com |date=August 30, 2000 |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref>

Five of the seven members of the Magnificent Seven tried for a spot on the 2000 Olympic team: Chow, Dawes, Miller, Moceanu and Phelps. In the end, only Chow and Dawes made it, along with [[Jamie Dantzscher]], [[Kristen Maloney]], [[Elise Ray]] and [[Tasha Schwikert]]. Chow proved she was in top form by finishing second in the all-around at the Olympic Trials. She was also named by [[Béla Károlyi]] as one of three leaders of the 2000 team, the other two being Ray and Maloney. The team finished fourth at the Olympics, and individually, Chow finished fourteenth in the all-around final.

Ten years later, on April 28, 2010, Chow and her teammates were awarded the bronze medal when it was discovered that the original bronze medalists, the Chinese team, had falsified the age of team member [[Dong Fangxiao]]. Dong's results were nullified, and the Chinese team was stripped of the medal by the [[International Olympic Committee]].<ref name="cnn">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/04/28/olympics.china.stripped.bronze/index.html?hpt=T2 |work=CNN |title=China stripped of 2000 Olympic bronze |date=April 28, 2010}}</ref> Chow said that while the American team had been disappointed with its fourth-place finish in 2000, she nevertheless felt bad for the Chinese gymnasts because they had worked equally hard to medal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://spotlight.vitals.com/2010/04/dr-amy-chow-receives-olympic-medal-decade-later/ |title=Dr. Amy Chow Receives Olympic Medal A Decade Later - Vitals Spotlight |publisher=Spotlight.vitals.com |date=April 29, 2010 |access-date=August 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103075301/http://spotlight.vitals.com/2010/04/dr-amy-chow-receives-olympic-medal-decade-later/ |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Notable skills ===
Chow has two gymnastics skills named after her on the uneven bars: the "Chow/Khorkina" (stalder 1½ pirouette) and the "Chow II" (stalder to [[Shaposhnikova (gymnastics)|Shaposhnikova]]).<ref name="USGHOF">{{cite web |url=http://www.gymnasticshalloffame.org/files/bio/a_chow/a_chow.html |title=Biography: Chow, Amy |work=U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame |access-date=April 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726140554/http://www.gymnasticshalloffame.org/files/bio/a_chow/a_chow.html |archive-date=July 26, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She was nicknamed "the Trickster" within the gymnastics community for her extreme difficulty on each apparatus and her ability to perform complicated skills with apparent ease.<ref name="USGHOF" /> She was the first American woman to perform a double-twisting [[Yurchenko (vault)|Yurchenko vault]] and a tucked double-double bars dismount in international competition. She also competed one of the most difficult balance beam routines ever performed. It included a standing piked full; back handspring, layout, back handspring, layout series; full-twisting swing down; and round-off, back handspring, triple full dismount.

[[File:Amy Chow plaque, SJ Sports Hall of Fame.JPG|thumb|left|120px|Chow's plaque at the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame]]

== Other accomplishments ==
In 1994, Chow received an advanced level certificate of merit for [[piano]]. In high school, she was a competitive diver for [[Castilleja School]], and continued with the sport at Stanford. She also competed in [[pole vault]]ing<ref>{{cite news |title=Magnificent 7 today |author=Jeff Metcalfe |newspaper=Arizona Republic |date=May 3, 2004 |access-date=April 28, 2010 |url=http://www.mag7.com/AZ%20Rep%205-23-04.htm |archive-date=August 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100803001243/http://www.mag7.com/AZ%20Rep%205-23-04.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> as an unattached athlete at "open" track and field events. Because she received monetary compensation following the 1996 Olympics, she was ineligible to be a collegiate athlete.

== Post-Olympics ==
Chow attended [[Stanford University]] and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology in 2002. She graduated from [[Stanford Medical School]] in 2007<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/june13/med-gradprofile-061307.html?view=print |title=2007 Grads: Profiles in excellence |publisher=News.stanford.edu |date=June 13, 2007 |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref> and completed her residency in pediatrics at [[Lucile Packard Children's Hospital]].<ref>[http://med.stanford.edu/in-the-news/2008/aug/0804.html SUMC [Stanford University Medical Center&#93; in the News] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609194405/http://med.stanford.edu/in-the-news/2008/aug/0804.html |date=June 9, 2011 }}, August 4, 2008</ref> She is licensed as a physician and surgeon.<ref>[https://www.breeze.ca.gov/datamart/listCADCA.do?anchor=a26f642.0] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413201812/https://www.breeze.ca.gov/datamart/listCADCA.do?anchor=a26f642.0|date=April 13, 2016}}, Medical Board of California, Physician License Lookup, retrieved March 27, 2015</ref>

She married Jason Ho, an orthopedic surgeon, on July 10, 2010, in [[Saratoga, California]]. After finishing her residency at Lucile Packard in June 2010, she set up private practice as a general pediatrician in Northern California, where she lives with her husband and two sons, Timmy and Matty.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/pages/post.html?PostID=5328 |title=Catching up with Amy Chow :: |publisher=USA Gymnastics |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref>

== Awards and recognition ==
Chow was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame twice: in 1998 as a member of the 1996 Olympic team, and again in 2005 as an individual.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.usa-gymnastics.org/hof/inductees.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050509030835/http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/hof/inductees.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 9, 2005 |title=USAG Hall of Fame: Inductees |work=USA Gymnastics |access-date=April 28, 2010}}</ref> In 2004, she was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sjsa.org/hall_of_fame/inductees.asp#chow |title=Hall of Fame - Past Inductees: Amy Chow |work=San Jose Sports Authority |access-date=April 28, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100802053158/http://www.sjsa.org/hall_of_fame/inductees.asp#chow |archive-date=August 2, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-07-11 |title=Golf Channel's Kay Cockerill returns to competition at U.S. Senior Women's Open |url=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2018/07/11/golf-channels-kay-cockerill-returns-to-competition-at-u-s-senior-womens-open/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812003021/https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/profiles-strategies/2016/08/san-jose-former-olympic-gymnast-now-wears-a-doctor.html |archive-date=August 12, 2021 |access-date=September 16, 2024 |website=Golfweek |language=en-US}}</ref>

In spring 2003, Chow received the [[The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans|Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans]]. She was also a recipient of the Outstanding Overseas Chinese Award.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pdsoros.org/current_fellows/index.cfm/yr/2003#chow |title=The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships For New Americans |publisher=Pdsoros.org |date=October 7, 2010 |access-date=August 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120727202630/http://www.pdsoros.org/current_fellows/index.cfm/yr/2003#chow |archive-date=July 27, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2008, she was inducted into the [[United States Olympic Hall of Fame]] in the team category, alongside the rest of the Magnificent Seven. The team received their award in Chicago with other Olympic greats.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2008-04-15-463220745_x.htm |work=USA Today |title=Samuelson, "Magnificent Seven" chosen for US Olympic hall |date=April 15, 2008}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{FIG|lic=262|bio=24423|name=Amy Chow}}
* [https://members.usagym.org/pages/athletes/archivedbios/c/achow.html Amy Chow] at [[USA Gymnastics]]
* {{Olympics.com|amy-chow}}
* {{Olympedia}}

{{Olympic champions artistic gymnastics Women TC|1996}}
{{Footer USA Gymnastics 1996 Summer Olympics}}
{{Footer USA Gymnastics 2000 Summer Olympics}}
{{Gymnastics at the Pan American Games – Women's team competition|1995}}
{{Gymnastics at the Pan American Games – Women's vault}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chow, Amy}}
[[Category:1978 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American female artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:American pediatric surgeons]]
[[Category:American people of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:Sportspeople of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:American people of Hong Kong descent]]
[[Category:Sportspeople of Hong Kong descent]]
[[Category:Castilleja School alumni]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1995 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1996 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows]]
[[Category:Physicians from California]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from San Jose, California]]
[[Category:Stanford University School of Medicine alumni]]
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]
[[Category:U.S. women's national team gymnasts]]
[[Category:American women pediatricians]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportswomen]]
[[Category:21st-century American sportswomen]]
[[Category:21st-century American physicians]]
[[Category:21st-century American women physicians]]
[[Category:Women paediatric surgeons]]