Elise Ray

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexFemale
Full nameMary Elise•Ray
Used nameElise•Ray
Born6 February 1982 in Tallahassee, Florida (USA)
Measurements152 cm / 48 kg
NOC United States
Medals OG
Gold 0
Silver 0
Bronze 1
Total 1

Biography

Elise Ray was a gymnast who competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, eventually winning a bronze medal in the team event with TeamUSA. Her international début came at the 1996 Pan American Junior Championships. As a senior she first competed internationally at the 1998 Goodwill Games, winning a silver medal on the uneven bars. Ray was the highest ranked American at the 1999 World Championships, placing eighth in the all-around.

Ray won the US Championships and the Olympic Trials in 2000, and at Sydney qualified for the beam event final, placing eighth. She struggled in the all-around which she attributed to a problem with the height of the vault, which was set incorrectly. She fell on both her warm-up and competition vaults, nearly landing on her head on one vault. Officials noticed later that the vault was 5 cm too high, not having been re-set after the men’s event, and allowed competitors to re-do their vaults, which Ray did but she still ended up 13th in the vault and was affected throughout the competition.

Ray and the USA women’s team at Sydney initially placed fourth in the team competition. However, it was discovered in 2010 that a member of the Chinese team, Dong Fangxiao, had competed under a falsified age, and was too young for the competition. Her results were nullified and China was stripped of the bronze medal, advancing the United States to third place. The US women were given their bronze medals at a special ceremony prior to the men’s event at the 2010 US Championships.

After the tumultuous Sydney gymnastics competition Ray enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she competed on their gym team through 2005, winning three NCAA individual titles, in the 2001 all-around, the 2002 beam, and the 2004 uneven bars. She also performed for three years in Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.

Ray went into coaching, first at the Carroll Gymnastics Center in Hampstead, Maryland. In 2011 she became an assistant coach at the University of Washington, becoming the head coach in 2016. Ray resigned that position in 2020 when she and her family moved from the Seattle area.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
2000 Summer Olympics Artistic Gymnastics (Gymnastics) USA Elise Ray
Individual All-Around, Women (Olympic) 13
Team All-Around, Women (Olympic) United States 3 Bronze
Floor Exercise, Women (Olympic) =45 r1/1
Horse Vault, Women (Olympic) =14 r1/1
Uneven Bars, Women (Olympic) =11 r1/1
Balance Beam, Women (Olympic) 8