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I learned something today that made me even more impressed and inspired by "gymnast girl" from my health club.

Turns out, Talya's a cancer survivor. At the age of 23, she discovered a lump in her breast and had a double mastectomy and chemo to fight it, reconstructive surgery to help get her life back on track.

Your chin on the floor, too?

If you'd like to read more about her, click here.

A couple other bits of trivia about Talya:

She and fellow UI Women's Gymnastics Coach Jeff Richards were named 2008 North Central Region Assistant Coaches of the Year.

One of her brothers was Russell Crowe's stunt double in the 2007 film "American Gangster."

Another of her brothers is a senior gymnastics star at Temple University.

And she's a bit of a star on You Tube. That is, someone posted her performances on the various events during a meet 10 years ago when she was at Georgia. Apparently she's best known for her floor exercise. So here it is. I swear, if she were Olympic caliber, she'd be a damn fine Jim McKay vignette.

Comments

Cherie Moore said…
What a great story and how lucky to have such an inspirational person in your spin class.
1:58 PM
Amy said…
I think I take people for granted...those people I don't know yet walk by every day in the grocery store, at my kid's preschool, in other departments at work.

Look what happens when you actually take a closer look. You catch a glimpse of courage in action.
3:18 PM
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