Chris Brooks (gymnast)

Chris Brooks
Brooks at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Christopher Brooks
Country represented	United States
Born	(1986-12-19) December 19, 1986 (age 30) Emporia, Kansas
Hometown	Houston, Texas
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team	1999-2001, 2003-2005, 2010-2011
Gym	Cypress Academy of Gymnastics
College team	University of Oklahoma
Head coach(es)	Tom Meadows
Former coach(es)	Bill Foster, Mark Williams
Medal record Men's gymnastics Representing the  United States World Cup 2010 Tokyo Team 2010 Worcester All-around Pacific Rim Championships 2012 Everett Team 2012 Everett All-around 2012 Everett Still rings 2012 Everett Horizontal bar 2012 Everett Pommel horse U.S. National Championships 2006 St-Paul Horizontal bar 2010 Hartford Horizontal bar 2015 Indianapolis Horizontal bar 2010 Hartford Parallel bars 2011 St Paul Horizontal bar 2015 Indianapolis Parallel bars 2011 St Paul Parallel bars 2012 St Louis Parallel bars 2015 Indianapolis All-around

Christopher (Chris) Brooks (born December 19, 1986 in Emporia, Kansas) is an American gymnast. He won four gold medals at the 2012 Pacific Rim Championships. He has trained alongside Olympic and World Championships medalist Jonathan Horton as a junior, college and senior elite gymnast.

Brooks was a highly ranked junior gymnast in high school, where he trained at Houston North gymnastics club, under coach Bill Foster. He was a member of the U.S. junior national team 1999-2001, 2002-2005. In 2003, he was a gold medalist at the USA national championships. In 2004, he suffered a serious injury when his grip locked while training on high bar, resulting in shattering and splintering of the ulna and radius of his right arm.

He was a member of the Oklahoma Sooners gymnastics team in college from 2005-2009. The team were national champions in 2008. Brooks was a multi-year, multi-event All American, and in 2009, was captain of the Sooners men's gymnastics team.

He returned to elite gymnastics in 2008 when he competed in the US national championships in Houston, Texas. He made a huge comeback at the beginning of 2009 at the Winter Cup coming 5th all-around, 4th on high bar and winning a bronze medal on floor exercise. Due to injury, he was not able to compete fully at the 2009 USA nationals and did not make the national team that year.

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma he returned to Houston to train at Cypress Academy of Gymnastics under coach Tom Meadows, with American teammate Jonathan Horton.

In 2010, he won gold in the all-around and high bar as well as a bronze on the vault at the Winter Cup. He went on to compete at the American Cup where he won bronze in the all-around behind teammate Jonathan Horton and Russian Maxim Devyatovskiy beating the world silver medalist, Daniel Keatings. He went on to compete in the Japan Cup in July helping the USA men's team to a bronze medal finish. Later in the summer, he competed fully in the US national championships in Hartford, Connecticut where he won a gold medal on high bar and silver on parallel bars securing a place on the senior national team. He went on to represent the USA at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam where he helped the team to a 4th place finish, and 6th place finish in the high bar final. After the world championships, he had to have surgeries on his ankles and wrist.