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Amy Chow

Amy Chow
— Gymnast —
Country represented  United States
Born (1978-05-15) May 15, 1978 (age 38)
Hometown San Jose, California
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Senior International
Years on national team 1990–1997, 1999–2001
Club West Valley Gymnastics School
Head coach(es) Mark Young, Diane Amos
Eponymous skills Chow/Khorkina, Chow II

Amy Yuen Yee Chow (Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhōu Wǎnyí; born May 15, 1978) is a retired American artistic gymnast who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. She is best known for being a member of the Magnificent Seven, which won the United States' first team gold medal in Olympic gymnastics. She is also the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics.

Chow was born to Nelson and Susan Chow, who had immigrated to the United States from Shanghai and Hong Kong, respectively.

Chow began gymnastics training in 1981 at the age of 3. Her mother wanted her to be a ballerina and tried enrolling her in ballet schools, none of which would take a child that young. She then signed Amy up for classes at West Valley Gymnastics School in Campbell, California, where she joined an accelerated program at the age of 5, training under Mark Young and Diane Amos. Her younger brother, Kevin, was also a gymnast.

At 11 years old, Chow became the first gymnast at her school to reach the elite level. She began competing nationally in 1990.

Chow's first international competition was the 1994 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany. After a poor showing in preliminaries (she fell twice on vault and three times in a single balance beam routine), she performed well in the team finals, helping the United States clinch a silver medal.

The following year, Chow was part of the gold-medal-winning American team at the 1995 Pan American Games, where she also won a gold medal on vault, silver on the uneven bars and bronze in the all-around. She made the United States team for the 1995 World Championships, but had to withdraw because of a sprained ankle sustained just days before the competition.


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