Every day, the mailman delivers dozens of letters from all around the globe to the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in the Texas town of Plano. All of them are addressed to the 16-year-old Carly Patterson. The most decorated gymnast of all students at her Academy, Carly came home from Athens with three Olympic medals. In Athens, Carly Patterson got second place in the team competition and earned a silver medal on her specialty, the beam. The happiest event of her life happened August 19, 2004 when she won the most prestigious title in gymnastics, the title of 2004 Olympic All-Around Champion. Carly is the USA’s first Olympic all-around champion in twenty years, as well as the first American women to win an Olympic all-around in fully attended Olympic  Games.

Photographs of the happy Carly embracing her coach, tall and blue-eyed Evgeny Marchenko, circulated everywhere. Russian Coach Leads the Americans  to  the  Gold  - cried out all newspaper headlines.

- “I remember very well how Carly came to me,” said Evgeny Marchenko, one of the owners of the World Olympic Academy, 2004 Olympic Assistant Coach, 2002 “International Coach of the Year”, five-time World Champion in Sport Acrobatics. - “It happened on October 28, 2000. That day is still in my memory. Carly’s father had a job transfer form Louisiana to Dallas and their family moved to the town of Allen. She called our Academy and I told her that she could train here. If it were my friend Valeri Liukin, 1988 Seoul Olympic Champion, who picked up the telephone, Carly would have been his student.”

As Evgeny recalls, he realized that Carly was very talented from day one.

- “When Carly came to me, she had already a number of difficult elements in her repertoire, which she learned because of her natural talent. At the same time, she lacked some fundamental basics. The first two to three years of practice were dedicated to improving that. Our coach Natalya Boyarskaya also worked closely with Carly. She taught her the famous beam dismount routine, – an Arabian double front – which is now officially named the Patterson.”

Resolve and persistence, the ability to reach goals in spite of adversity are Carly’s central qualities. They convinced Evgeny of the girl’s future success from his very first practice with Carly. It must be said that Evgeny himself has exactly the same character. In December 1991, he came to the United States without good English, without big money, but with a firm vision of his dream to be successful in the new country.

- “We came to the US with my coach Pavel Kapuler and my friend Valeri Liukin to New Orleans on work visas. When the Soviet Union collapsed, in Latvia, where I used to live, the attitudes towards the Russians worsened and there were no opportunities to work and to train. When we worked in New Orleans, we made plans for opening our own school of gymnastics. In December 1993, we came to Plano, Texas, where in February 1994 we started our World Olympic Gymnastics Academy. During those times, we spent 24 hour a day at the gym. We had no money and had to do all the construction work ourselves. I still remember where I screwed which bolt and where what boards lie.”

 February 2005 will mark WOGA’s 11th anniversary. During these eleven years, Marchenko and Luikin, as well as the coaches they direct (most of the trainers at the Academy are from the former USSR), have produced over 150 State, Regional, National, and World Champions. Besides Carly, that group includes the 2003 World Champion Hollie Vise as well as  the Pan-American Games Champion and the Olympic hope of 2008 Nastya Liukina, the daughter of Valeri Liukin.

After the Olympic gold, Carly’s life has changed – there is an infinite number of shows, shootings, meetings, public appearances.

- “Of course, I am a little tiered from all that, but when I am home I’m OK,” said Carly, who flew to our interview right after a show in Los Angeles. She has not yet acquired celebrity habits - she is  a darling and somewhat bashful girl, whose famous smile conquered the city of Athens.

- “I do not consider myself a celebrity,” Carly spoke without a shadow of flattery. From her purse, she got three little socks and took out her Olympic medals – two silvers and one gold. “It’s a good way to store them; that way they don’t get scratched,” said Carly and started to pose for our photographer.  

- Carly, why did you decide to come to Evgeny Marchenko’s school  when your  family  moved  to  Dallas?

- When I lived in Louisiana, I saw how well the gymnasts from WOGA did in many competitions. When we moved to Texas, I found the number of the school and called Evgeny Marchenko. My first coach was also from Russia -  Alek-sander  Aleksandrov (coach of the famous gymnast Dmitriy Belozerchev).

- Did you expect to win the first place in Athens?

- I did not think about that – too much pressure. I concentrated on making my program as good as I could make it. I knew that doing that would help my team.

- What do you think about the Russian team?

- They got third at the Olympics. It is a good team. Svetlana Khorkina is a great gymnast. I would like to visit Russia some day and see how the Russian team trains, what kind of equipment they have.

- What about the Russian language?

- I know a little. My coach taught me some - “davai-davai (go, go), molodets (good job), idi domoi (go home), ustala (I’m tiered).”

- What qualities do you value in your coaches, Evgeny and Natalya?

- For me, they are the best coaches in the world. Most importantly, they know a lot about gymnastics and understand gymnasts. They were gymnasts themselves at one time.

- Carly, of late, you have taken part in many shows, meetings, and appearances. What event was the most memorable?

- The MTV awards. I got to meet many famous singers, musicians, actors.

- How are you doing in school?

- I’ll have to do some catching up after my travels, but now I have all A’s.

- What will you do after high school?

- I plan to go to college. I want to become a singer.

- What do you sing?

- Pop, pop-rock music.

- You write music yourself?

- Yes. My first CD comes out soon.

- This question excites many people. Will you stay in gymnastics after the 2004 Olympiad? Will you be in the 2005 World Championship?

- Maybe - Carly smiled.

Right now, Carly is at home. She plans to resume her regular training routine – 30 hours a week. Coach Evgeny Marchenko is ready to support any choice of  his  student.