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Annia Hatch

Annia Hatch
— Gymnast —
Full name Annia Portuondo Hatch
Country represented  United States
Former countries represented  Cuba
Born (1978-06-14) June 14, 1978 (age 38)
Guantánamo, Cuba
Residence Ashburn, Virginia
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Senior International Elite
Years on national team 2002–2004
Club Stars Elite
Head coach(es) Alan Hatch
Retired 2004

Annia Portuondo Hatch (born June 14, 1978, in Guantánamo, Cuba) is a Cuban-American artistic gymnast who competed for the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Hatch began gymnastics in her native Cuba at the age of four. She won her first Cuban National Championships when she was ten; over the course of her career, she would win the title seven times.

Competing for Cuba, Hatch made her debut at the World Gymnastics Championships in 1993 and placed tenth in the all-around. In 1995, she won three medals at the Pan American Games, placing second on the balance beam and third on the vault and uneven bars, as well as fourth in the all-around. The following year, she became the first Cuban gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships, with a bronze on the vault.

Hatch qualified to the 1996 Olympics as an individual competitor, but a lack of funding prevented the Cuban Olympic Committee from sending her. She retired in 1997; married an American, Alan Hatch; and moved to the United States. With her husband, she became a part-owner and coach of the Stars Academy gym in West Haven, Connecticut. In 2001, she became an American citizen.

Hatch resumed training at the elite level in 2001, with her husband as her coach. In mid-2002, she won the U.S. Classic, a qualifier to the National Championships, defeating reigning national champion Tasha Schwikert. She went on to place fourth at Nationals, performing two strong vaults (a double-twisting Tsukahara and a double-twisting Yurchenko) and establishing herself as a contender for a medal at the 2002 World Championships: Muriel Grossfeld, a former national champion who worked with Hatch, called her "probably the best vaulter in the world".


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