Mohini Bhardwaj (2013) - Hall of Fame

Mohini Bhardwaj

Induction:
2013

Mohini Bhardwaj led the UCLA gymnastics team to two NCAA team titles in 2000 and 2001 and captured two individual titles of her own, winning the uneven bars in 2000 and floor exercise in 2001. Her balance beam routines in the final rotation in both 2000 and 2001 clinched the NCAA titles for the Bruins. She received both the Honda Award and AAI Award in 2001 and still remains the only UCLA gymnast ever to win both awards. Mohini was also the 2001 Pac-10 and West Region Gymnast of the Year. She won a total of five Pac-10 individual titles, capturing the all-around, vault and floor in 2000 and the all-around and vault in 2001, and led UCLA to a pair of Pac-10 team titles. In 2001, she recorded the second-highest all-around total in NCAA history, scoring 39.975 (three perfect 10s and a 9.975). In her career, she totaled 11 All-America honors and eight perfect 10s (three on uneven bars, one on balance beam and four on floor exercise).

Bhardwaj continued her gymnastics career after graduation, winning the 2001 U.S. National Championship on vault and helping the U.S. win a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships. In 2004, she became the first female gymnast ever to make an Olympic team after her collegiate career, serving as the team captain for the silver medal-winning U.S. team in Athens. She also qualified for event finals on floor exercise, where she placed sixth. She is the first Indian American gymnast and the second Indian-American athlete in any sport to ever medal in the Olympic Games. Additionally, she was the first gymnast to perform a full-twisting Pak Salto on the uneven bars, and the move is now named after her in the International Code of Points. Bhardwaj was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2015.