U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS : Fierro Makes Her Beam Turn Into a Smile

She used crutches to get over to medalists row, her left foot wrapped in a star-covered bandage. Then she performed the crutchless hop to get over to the winner’s platform, upon which she did a full double-twist to wave to her hometown crowd.

Nothing was going to keep Denise Fierro of Covina from being presented with a gold medal for her beam routine. Not even Shelley Engel. Not even a bruised heel.

“I’ve won a gold medal before, but not in a big meet like this,� Fierro said as she hobbled out of Pauley Pavilion Sunday after the Olympic Festival women’s individual gymnastics finals.

The meet, which featured the top six finishers in each of the four events from the all-around competition, drew 6,225, the largest gymnastics crowd for the Festival. Fierro, a 15-year-old high school sophomore who trains at Charter Oaks Gymnastics in Covina, said it helped her to know so many supporters were in attendance.

“I wanted to show my family and friends that I could do well and take advantage of the meet that is here,� Fierro said after the meet. She also acknowledged that her foot was throbbing.

Engel, 15, of Huntington Beach, the Festival’s all-around winner, won the gold medal for the floor exercise with a score of 9.75 and tied for the silver in the beam.

Chelle Stack, 17, of Houston, won the gold on the uneven bars with a solid performance--scoring a 9.7--and also won a silver on the vault. Kristin Duff, a 14-year-old from Fairfax, Va., won the vault with a score of 9.637 and won a silver medal on the uneven bars.

But Fierro, who was edged by Engel in Friday’s all-around competition and finished with the silver, almost lost to Engel again--this time on the beam.

Fierro performed a difficult routine, not only hitting her moves, but also landing her dismount--albeit a little too hard--a roundoff, double handspring to the edge of the beam followed by two back flips to the mat.

She landed on her heel, hobbled off the mat and was helped off the floor. She scored a 9.775.

Engel also performed a difficult routine on the beam. She, too, seemingly hit all her moves. The only flaw was a slight wobble on the landing of her own specialty move, the “Engel�--a sideways cartwheel followed by a side flip. Her score was a surprisingly low 9.7.

“I thought the score was fair,� Engel said.

“Ask me about that,� said Don Peters, Engel’s coach.

The judges originally gave Engel a 9.8. Then the head judge called a conference, and all the blue jackets convened at the scoring table. Engel’s score was reduced to 9.7.

“Shelley omitted a required element out of her routine, and she got a .10 deduction,� said Peters, who coaches Engel at SCATS Gymnastics in Huntington Beach. “It was a legitimate deduction, but the four judges didn’t catch it. The head judge did and then told them about it.�

In a beam routine, a gymnast is required to touch the beam at some point with the upper half of her body, from her hip to her shoulder. Engel usually does the splits coming out of another move, but not this time. She thought it might throw her off a little.

“If she feels right, she does it,� Peters said.

Stack, who used to train with Peters at SCATS, said she loved being in California again and would like to move back someday. Stack is ranked 16th nationally and will compete in Cuba at the Pan American Games and then try for a spot on the World Championship team. She is the only remaining member of the 1988 Olympic team still competing, and her goal is be at the top again.

“I needed to win to prove to the judges on the international scene and to the public that I can fall and pull back up during a competition,� said Stack, who finished sixth in the all-around competition. “The public likes it too. They like someone who is able to come back and win.�