Georgia recognizes Spivey’s impact
Published 7:54 pm Friday, February 20, 2015
Olympian and decorated collegiate gymnast Hope Spivey, a Suffolk native, will be inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame today.
“Hope has had success at every level of competition,” said Ben Sapp, executive director of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. “In fact, she kind of did it backwards.”
Suffolk native Hope Spivey shows focus and discipline on the balance beam in a photo taken during her illustrious gymnastics career that spanned from the 1980s into the 1990s. For her contribution to Georgia athletics, she is being inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame today. (University of Georgia photo)
Her international success preceded her collegiate success.
Spivey competed as a member of Team USA in the 1987 PanAm Games and the 1988 Olympic Games.
Afterward, she accepted a full gymnastics scholarship to the University of Georgia, becoming part of the school’s acclaimed team, which is known as the Gym Dogs.
“She distinguished herself on the best gymnastics team in the nation and has held some records there for a very long time,” Sapp said.
From 1998 to 2012, Spivey committed herself to teaching other gymnasts in Georgia through her business she opened there, Spivey’s Gymnastics. She continues that same business where she lives now in northern Virginia.
She was chosen for the hall of fame induction from a starting pool of 189 nominees. Through a three-round screening process administered by the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame’s state-appointed board of directors, it was decided she deserved to be one of eight individuals inducted today.
“Not a very tough decision,” Sapp said, given all that she has done.
Spivey said, “Obviously there are great athletes in Georgia, and for them to still recognize the impact that I’ve had on the state in athletics, it really means a great deal.”
In expressing what she considers to be her primary career accomplishments, she said, “Being a 1988 U.S. Olympian is obviously a huge highlight.”
But the achievements she is proudest of came between 1991 and 1994 when she was a Gym Dog.
“You can’t minimize the accomplishment of being on an Olympic team, but college gymnastics was an extension of that,” she said, noting the university was able to continue that Olympic high.
She and the Gym Dogs “got a lot of attention and a lot of people — over 10,000 people — would come and watch our meets,” Spivey said. “It was just such a joy to be able to perform for people that truly got behind us and were with us through thick and thin, and those are memories that last a lifetime.”
She gave fans plenty to cheer for. During her collegiate career, she racked up 12 First Team All-American awards, four individual NCAA national championships and 27 perfect 10.0 scores, and she was the 1994 Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Year.
She also helped the Gym Dogs bring home a team national title in 1993.
Enabling her to have the career she did “first and foremost would be the talent that God had given me and the desire to be the best that I could be,” Spivey said. “But running right behind that would be my family, my parents, being willing to sacrifice things in order to make those dreams happen, not getting caught up in things and allowing the coaches to do the coaching.”
