Athlete, family strike gold

Some parents can scarcely make it through a child's kindergarten play without suffering apoplexy or aneurysm, fearing the slightest misstep and the agony of failure.

One can only imagine, then, what the parents of an Olympic gymnast like Samantha Peszek feel, when after a decade of training, and perhaps 15,000 hours of practice, a misplaced toe here, or a moist hand there, can mean the difference between a gold medal and ignominy on the grandest stage known to the Olympiad.

All this, mind you, at the ripe old age of 16.

"I won't pretend that you ever relax, that it isn't stressful,'' said Ed Peszek, a graduate of Rolling Meadows High School ('80), and lifelong resident until moving to Indianapolis. "But the way I've always looked at it is, I hope Sam doesn't fall, has a good routine, and you let the chips fall.

"If nobody got hurt and everyone's still standing, it's a good day.''

In actual numbers it's about a million-to-one that Samantha Peszek, or any young gymnast, makes the Olympic squad. In reality, anyone associated with the sport will tell you the numbers - and the odds - are even more staggering.

In that sense, Sam has already climbed Mt. Everest, impressed her parents more than they can ever convey, and accomplished something only a few in a very small club will ever understand.

"It was her dream. She chased it. She wanted it. She did this,'' Ed says. "We didn't set the path for her.

"We have film of her when she was like four years old, dancing in front of TV when the '96 team won the gold, but we didn't set out to make this happen.

"We just said be your best and she did the rest, Her talent and coaching has gotten her here, but she's the one who wanted this, and she reached her goal.''

Samantha isn't always mentioned among the top talents on Team USA, but has long been considered the most consistent and perhaps the toughest.

Those are the types that shine under the most difficult circumstances, sometimes shocking the world, and you can't bring home the team gold without someone like her.

When she was 15 at the World Championships, Peszek competed on vault, floor and uneven bars in the prelims, and vaulted in the team finals as the Americans stole the gold.

Her father Ed played hockey at Illinois, where he met Sam's mom, Luan, a gymnast, but nothing Ed had seen prepared him for the Worlds.

"I am a huge fan of the Olympics and USA sports and amateur sports, but we were at the Worlds in Germany, and when the girls won the gold, being there felt like I was witnessing the 'Miracle on Ice','' Ed said. "We were huge underdogs to the Chinese, and we're far from home and we're chanting, 'USA, USA.'

"And when the USA won, I was like, 'Wait a minute, that's my kid down there.' You enjoy it as an American, but you're so proud your child was able to participate.

"I don't know how that feels, what she feels. You think about what she's been able to do at 16, most people in their whole lives won't ever have a chance to experience that.

"Now, she's an Olympian. It's so far out there. It's something you see on TV, not something you expect from your child. But as hard as she's worked for this, I'm really happy for her more than anything else.''

You'll forgive Samantha if she's had this dream since she was a toddler, when her mom brought home a video of Atlanta, the only U.S. women's Olympic gold.

Luan is publications manager for USA Gymnastics, and was press officer at the '96 Games when the Magnificent Seven won, so Sam had the benefit of following her mom around to events and meeting her idols, taking some of the mystery out of competition, until it became second nature.

"Honestly, I have no idea how she does it,'' says her mom, who competed at U of I in the early '80s. "She handles pressure so well that it makes her coach nervous. It makes us nervous because she's so calm.

"But it's always been that way. When she was little and competing, that was her strength. She might have trouble in the gym, but when the judge raises a hand, she's ready to go and she hits it. She gets in that zone.

"It's a little nerve wracking for us, but Ed and I try to take a deep breath and remember it's gymnastics. It's sports. We try to keep some perspective.''

It's never been more stressful than it was after the Olympic trials, when it appeared Peszek had made the team, only to find out it could all be lost at the selection camp a few days later.

"That was really the hardest event to watch, because Sam had done so well at the championships and the trials, and then we see Martha (Karolyi) quoted as saying the camp means more than anything else and that the girls still had to show her something,'' Luan said. "We were like, 'Oh, my God.' We thought it was over, and there was still work to do.

"After all that, you think one fall and everything she's done for 10 years is out the window.

"But Sam didn't even blink. She showed one more time that pressure is nothing for her.''

Lest you think the parents pushed for this, Ed Peszek says it's closer to the complete opposite.

"Our other daughter, Jessica (13), is pretty accomplished already and can do some tricks Sam can't do, but just like Sam, this is what she wanted,'' Ed says. "Both my kids are really good students and they have to be, because they're in the gym 25 to 35 hours a week, and they have to be very disciplined to put in all that work and get their school work done, but they enjoy it.

"We never forced them. They wanted this, and now Sam's getting her reward for all that hard work.''

Samantha left for China about two weeks ago, and the rest of the family took off Wednesday morning.

The work has all been done and the hay's in the barn, so there's nothing left now but for anxious parents to wait and watch.

"We talked about it with Sam many, many years ago, and my wife had the best attitude about it,'' Ed explained. "She said, 'Don't worry about scores and just do the best you can.'

"You can't control scores because so much of it is subjective, and I don't understand a lot of it anyway.

"I just hope she does well and she's happy with her performance. That's all I care about.

"I mean, the gold would be nice and they've got a great shot if they stay healthy, but there's so much out of your control that you can't get caught up in it.

"After what Sam's done to get here, as far as I'm concerned it's all gravy. She's got plenty to be proud of the rest of her life, and she's 16.

"How about that?''

brozner@dailyherald.com