Gymnastics coach Mary Lee Tracy talks with Maria Scaffidi at Tracy Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy in Fairfield. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        Casual sports fans may have lost track of Mary Lee Tracy. When they bump into Tracy at the grocery store, she is usually asked only if she has any high-ranking gymnasts, and right now the answer is no.

        Those fans would be mistaken to presume Tracy and her gymnastics empire, 25 years in the making, are slowing. She has been every bit her usual blur, racing around Fairfield in preparation for the Monday opening of the Cincinnati Cheer Academy.

        She decided just a month ago to lease the building, expanding a program now too big to share time in her Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy headquarters a mile away. She'll begin a competitive dance-team program in June. She's writing a book.

        All the while, she continues to train a handful of hopefuls for the 2004 Olympic gymnastics team.

        “Right now, balancing this gym and coaching and now opening a cheer academy is challenging,” she said. “I just believe your character is seen when you're dealing with adversity.”

        Tracy, 42, dealt 19 months ago with the biggest adversity of her career. In Sydney as an assistant coach for the U.S. team, she ached when her CGA trainee, Morgan White, pulled out of the Games with a stress fracture in her left foot. Then CGA teammate Alyssa Beckerman, an alternate for the U.S. team, was bypassed for the open spot in favor of Tasha Schwikert.

        Tracy voluntarily gave up her Olympic credential so Schwikert's coach could go.

        “It was a tough time in my life, to watch two athletes give that much of themselves and be that close to crossing the finish line,” Tracy said. “It makes me feel emotional to talk about, because it was so sad.”

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

An update on Mary Lee Tracy's best-known gymnastics trainees:     * Alyssa Beckerman, 21: Competing for UCLA.     * Amanda Borden, 24: Retired from competition. Finishing school at Arizona State, tutoring and working as a nanny. Does occasional speaking engagements.     * Dominique Moceanu, 20: Retired from competition. Beginning college in Houston; planning move to Cleveland. (see www.dominique-moceanu.com)     * Jaycie Phelps, 22: Retired from competition. Coaching part-time in Colorado Springs, Colo. Engaged to elite male gymnast Brett McLure.     * Sierra Sapunar, 20: Competing for Georgia.     * Brittany Smith, 18: Just completed home-schooling high school degree. Will compete at Georgia next season.     * Jennie Thompson, 20: Retired from competition. Serving as beam coach for Oregon State.     * Morgan White, 18: In school at Cincinnati Christian. Rehabilitating after shoulder surgery, eyeing return to competition in 2003. (see www.morgan-white.com)     * Kim Zmeskal-Burdette, 26: Retired from competition. Coaching at Texas Dream Gymnastics, a club she and husband, Chris, opened in Coppell, Texas. (see www.kimzmeskal.org)

        It was a screeching halt to a stunning run for Tracy in the 1990s.

        Her first elite-level star, Amanda Borden, was an alternate for the 1992 Olympic team. Tracy landed both Borden and Jaycie Phelps on the '96 team, serving as an assistant coach as that duo helped the U.S. to a stunning gold medal in Atlanta.

        The talent pool deepened, as top gymnasts from around the country moved to Cincinnati to train with Tracy. Her gym was rated tops in the country for three years running by USA Gymnastics. (That group no longer does ratings.) A year before the 2000 Games, Tracy was training seven of the top 20 girls in the nation.

        And then there were none. Tracy went home from Sydney and sized up her stock: a beat-up White and an unknown supporting cast.

        Much of her energies would soon be redirected to grass-roots coaching at her academy's lowest levels.

        “It was hard for a while,” Tracy said of the post-Olympic letdown. “It was very humbling, when you've had so much success.

        “You have to reevaluate, what does success mean? I'm still every bit as successful because I still feel like I'm developing athletes to be the best they can be. It's just at a different stage of their career. And that helps get me off of that, "You have to have the gold medal around your neck,' because you can't win always.”

        White, 18, had shoulder surgery last fall and is planning to slowly resume training toward a return to competition in 2003. Tracy has three other 2004 hopefuls: Courtney Butler, 16; Sam Sheehan, 15; and Haiya Rodriguez, 13. None of the three have yet excelled on the national level.

        While she rebuilds her gymnastics arsenal, Tracy has also helped develop her competitive cheerleading program. It was six years ago she welcomed the Cougar All-Stars into her gym. Soon, instructional classes followed. There are now 125 cheerleaders in training.

        Tracy, who parlayed a stint as a Ben-Gal cheerleader into her first gymnastics coaching job, insists competitive cheerleading is a sport. She said there are 30 or 40 national competitions each year — “One had 9,000 participants” — and more than 250 colleges offer cheerleading scholarships.

        In December, when her former cheerleading director left, Tracy took over the program for a couple of months before hiring Jake Donelan as the new director.

        “She did a remarkable job keeping it afloat,” Donelan said.

        Tracy describes herself as “a cheerleader for the cheerleaders,” but that's deflecting too much credit. She has been hands-on in every aspect of her business.

        “She understands her boundaries,” Donelan said. “She knows how to run a gym and what needs to be done. She's the most organized women I've met in my entire life.”

        How organized? Check out the plan for her book, what she calls a monthly athlete's devotional: There are 30, one-a-day chapters with stories, quotes and exercises to teach how to deal with the trials and tribulations of sports.

        It's just another avenue of reaching out.

        “That's why I love coaching,” Tracy said. “I still like impacting lives.”

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