Amy was 5 when her parents signed her up for many sports: gymnastics (体操)， swimming, etc. She says, "I was always the youngest person in my class. " Gymnastics was no different. She started out in a class and she loved it. She was so talented in gymnastics that at 6 she joined the "Y Team", and started competing two years later. And when she competed, she won easily. Her father, who was a nurse, decided to move to Georgia, because he wanted Amy to enter the Atlanta School of Gymnastics. In the 8th grade, Amy spent 36 hours a week training to be an Olympic winner and trying to reach her father's standards. Under pressure, Amy soon began losing all the pleasure she once felt in practicing. "At 13 I was afraid of going to the gym. I hated having to do what everyone expected me to, but I was too afraid to tell my parents I wanted to give up. " After being the best junior gymnast in her country, it wasn't easy for Amy to throw it all away. However, one night, Amy finally found the courage to tell her father she wanted to give up. For seven years gymnastics had controlled her life, and suddenly she had all this free time. She threw away all her medals (奖牌)， "I just felt like those medals were my dad's, not mine. I hated gymnastics and I hated them. Now I feel free. " |