To gymnastics fans and experts alike, Hollie Vise looks like she's got "it". With her stunning flexibility and near-perfect execution, combined with a calm presence during competitions and a positive attitude about the future, she's one gymnast who's bound for great things. Already a double Goodwill Games bronze medalist, Junior National Champion on bars and all around runner-up, Hollie has already achieved what so many only dream of. A National Team Member since the age of 11, she's steadily improved her National rankings from tenth in 1999, to seventh in 2000, to a stunning second in 2001. "I wanted to make the top three this year, so finishing second in the all-around was incredible for me," says Hollie. Hollie won't even be a senior until 2003.. and yet she's already competed in Russia, Australia, Belgium, China, & Italy.

Born in Dallas, Texas, on December 6, 1987, Hollie's not the only athlete in the family. All three of her brothers, Brandon, Brad, & Weston, are all involved in baseball and football. Her mom was even once a gymnast herself! Hollie's gymnastics career began at the age of three, at Metroplex Gymnastics in Dallas. Hollie was advancing so quickly, she couldn't even compete Level 5 because she didn't meet the age requirement of six. So when Hollie had out grown the program (the gym goes no higher than Level 8) at age seven, she left for World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano, Texas. She has been there ever since. There she trains twice a day, for a total of around 36 hours a week. Since moving to WOGA at age 7, Hollie's gymnastics has done nothing but soared to new heights. In 1996, after being the fourth best Level 6 in the state of Texas and winning the annual Parkette Invitational, Hollie moved to Level 8. Her Level 8 season was so successful, she only placed lower than first in one meet! That impressive showing continued through her Level 9 season - where she not only won all her meets, but was the best gymnast in Texas, Region 3, and the West of the U.S. Many people wonder why Hollie was never a successful Junior Olympic gymnast. Well, it was impossible for her to be - she skipped Level 10 (the J.O. year) and went straight to being an elite gymnast.

Most everyone read about Hollie Vise for the first time in International Gymnast magazine's report of the 1999 Moscow Stars in Russia. An 11 year old American contending with the top Russians, Ukrainians, and Romanians - how surprising! By mid-1999, the talk of the junior elite scene was WOGA. Hollie and her teammates were first seen in action at the American and U.S. Classics, and after those meets the interest only grew. They did not disappoint at Nationals. All of WOGA's gymnasts qualified to the National Team, which also included Senior Marie Fjordholm and Juniors Lindsay Vanden Eykel, Brittany Talbert, and Kaitlin White. Hollie was an impressive tenth in the all around and won a bronze medal on beam! Fans were not the only ones impressed with Hollie and her WOGA teammates. After U.S. Nationals, Hollie and Kaitlin were invited to the prestigious junior international meet, the Top Gym Tournament. In only her second international competition, Hollie placed fourth in the all around and won bronze medals on bars and beam.  The year 2000 started out a little rocky, with falls on beam at the Plano and American Classics - still, Hollie placed no lower than fifth at both meets! Her luck quickly turned, as she won the Pikes Peak Cup and was invited to compete in two meets in Europe with teammate Lindsay Vanden Eykel - the Monteforte and Como Cups. There Hollie placed first and third in the all around, respectively. She didn't even need to compete in the U.S. Classic because she had already qualified to Nationals, but did anyway - winning a silver on bars. Nationals once again proved to be a good meet for Hollie; in St. Louis she won another silver on bars, a bronze on beam, and was seventh all around! Just like in 1999, Hollie was invited to a big international meet - only this time it was a senior meet in the United States.. and Hollie was going to be on TV! The 2000 ITC ended up being one of Hollie's bests meets and she gained national exposure.

Just as the year before, 2001 didn't start off nearly as well as it ended. A fall on floor during the WOGA Classic put Hollie in a tie for second with new teammate Carly Patterson. During the American Team Cup in Hawaii, she fell twice on beam, yet was third on bars and placed sixth in the all around! At the U.S. Classic in Huntington Beach, California, Hollie placed fourth in the all around, won bars, and came within the tiniest margin of winning beam too! Hoping her good fortunes would continue into the 2001 U.S. Nationals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hollie ran into some trouble on the day of prelims. She had problems during warm-ups and jammed some fingers, and also fell off beam during the competition! Finals turned out to be much better for Hollie - she hit four-for-four and scored the highest bar score of the seniors or juniors, a 9.300! When the final scores had been tallied, Hollie finished in second place!  Based on her remarkable results, Hollie was invited to Brisbane, Australia, for the 2001 Goodwill Games. The rest of the U.S. team was Kaitlin White, Carly Patterson, and Tia Orlando. Hollie was going to be facing some of the best of the world on her best event, bars. She had to compete against Svetlana Khorkina, who has won Olympic, World, European, and the last Goodwill Games title on bars. Also in the final was Olympic bronze medalist Yang Yun and Jr. European silver medalist Natalia Zhiganshina. Hollie competed one of the best bar routines of her life, to score a 9.212 and grab the bronze medal - and more good luck was to come for her! Hollie was scheduled to only compete bars, and was the alternate for beam - but Andreea Ulmeanu was injured and Hollie was allowed to take her spot in beam finals! Hollie ran into some trouble on her front aerial, back handspring, back layout and fell - but her routine was good enough for another bronze medal! Hollie ended up bringing home the only medals for America in women's gymnastics.

Despite two falls on beam at the 2002 WOGA Classic, the 2002 Pikes Peak Cup was one of Hollie's best meets ever, winning bars, floor, and the all-around. She also took bronzes on vault and beam! Hollie then placed second on beam at the National Podium Meet in Orlando, Florida. In her first meet held outside of the country in 2002, Hollie was second all-around, first on beam, and third on bars at the Gymnix International. She even capped off her string of spring meets with all-around wins at the American Classic and Pacific Alliance Championships. In her last meet before U.S. Nationals, Hollie placed second all-around and first on bars and beam at the U.S. Classic in Virginia Beach. She repeated those exact results at the 2002 U.S. Nationals in Cleveland less than a month later - finishing second behind teammate Carly Patterson while nabbing National titles on bars and beam. She even outscored the seniors on beam!

Continuing the trend of getting off to a shaky start, Hollie began 2003 with injuries, injuries, and injuries. An injured ankle limited her to just bars at the WOGA Classic, an injured finger prevented her from competing at all at the Parkette Invitational, and back problems would linger all year. Despite all these problems, Hollie had an amazing year. She landed a brand new Lucconi vault at the National Podium Meet and nearly won the all-around, but a fluke fall on her beam dismount caused her to settle for bronze. After hitting one of her best floor sets ever at the American Classic, Hollie flew off bars on her Ono turn and landed awkwardly on her elbow. She was forced to withdraw from the meet and was also unable to compete in the Pacific Challenge (AUS-USA-CAN) meet. A fall on beam during the first day of the U.S. Classic pushed Hollie to 6th place but she competed much better during the "Team Cup". Her team placed first, she won beam, and was 2nd on bars. She also did her brand new floor routine to "Libertango"!

The top three all-around finishers at the U.S. Nationals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were guaranteed a spot on the World Team and Hollie was determined to be one of them - and she showed it. On night one she won the beam title (with a personal best of 9.725) and placed second on bars and during finals she set two more personal bests (9.150 on vault, 37.450 all around) on the way to tying two-time National Champion Tasha Schwikert for the silver medal in the all-around. Hollie was not only one of three athletes to go 8-for-8 but she won her THIRD straight silver all-around medal!   Hollie's first Worlds weren't exactly "smooth sailing" - before the meet even began, US athletes Annia Hatch and Ashley Postell had to withdraw due to a knee injury and the flu, respectively. During team prelims, Hollie fell off beam and the rest of the US team struggled to third place. Before finals began, Courtney Kupets severely injured her Achilles and the US was down to five athletes. The team rallied together for finals to become the first US women's team to win the team gold - but not without another setback! Before competing on bars, Hollie and the US coaches forgot to attach her competition number on her back. The head bars judge alerted them and they were able to grab a Sharpie and a piece of paper and make Hollie's number! Unfortunately Hollie was so rushed that she miss-timed her Ono turn and fell on her Jaeger. She was able to regroup and nail her beam routine and the US beat Romania by nearly 2 full points! Because defending World Champion Courtney Kupets was unable to compete in uneven bar finals, Hollie was able to take her place - and what a fitting replacement she was! Hollie went on to tie teammate Chellsie Memmel for the WORLD TITLE on bars! Hollie and Chellsie became the only US gymnasts to win two gold medals in their first Worlds and only the fourth US gymnast to win bars (Marcia Frederick - 1979, Shannon Miller - 1994, Courtney Kupets - 2002)!