Top five sports-persons of Indian descent

3. Mohini Bhardwaj, Gymnastics

Mohini Bhardwaj

Mohini Bhardwaj is a world renowned American gymnast of Indian descent who retired in 2005. In her brilliant career stretching from mid-1990s to 2005, she has been very successful winning a Olympic silver and a bronze at the World championships.

Born to a Russian mother and an Indian father in Pennsylvania, she converted to Hinduism at a young age. Bhardwaj used to attend the Seven Hills High school in Cincinnati, but later moved to Orlando to join the famous Brown’s Gymnastics.

But, soon everything changed when she moved to Houston with her coach Alexander Alexsandrov. Slowly, heavy partying, smoking and drinking started to overpower her and she started to loose her form. She ended up finishing 10th in 1996 US Trials and missed a spot in the Olympic team by a mere 0.075. However she managed to improve her performance in 1997, and qualified for the ’97 World Championships but her wild life continued.

However, she changed her ways in around 1999, when she was under constant observation and training by UCLA head coach Val Kondos.

At the 2001 U.S. National Championships, she won the vault title and was placed 3rd in all-around. She was included in the American team for the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, where she contributed to the U.S. squad’s bronze medal, and was placed 18th in all-round and 7th in the vault event final. But her constant injuries had a huge impact in her career. A dislocated elbow ruled her out of all competitions in 2003.

But, her return to mainstream gymnastics in 2004 was a grand one. He won the silver medal in Artistic Gymnastics team competition along with Annia Hatch, Terin Humphrey, Courtney Kupets, Courtney McCool and Carly Patterson in the Athens Olympics. They finished behind first-placed Romania. Her Grand total at the end of the competition was 28.225.

For her Olympic achievements, Bhardwaj was named the India Abroad Person of the Year for 2004.

After her retirement in 2005, she married fellow American Marine Jeff Barry and had a son in 2009. When she retired, she had a huge tally of medals. They included a bronze in 2004 Athens Olympics, silver in 2001 Ghent World Championships and a total tally 7 medals at the U.S. Senior Nationals.