Yoculan’s Athens farewell brings back memories

Athens - Saturday will be Suzanne Yoculan’s final home meet.

The University of Georgia gymnastics coach’s nine national championships, including four straight coming into this season, are an incredible legacy already. But she’s hoping she can finish with 10 — and five in a row.

There are dozens of big moments in Yoculan’s 24-year run. She says these are among 10 of her favorites.

1. First meet.

In January 1984, Georgia hosted Alabama in front of 200 people at Stegeman Coliseum.

“We have a lot of work to do to fill this arena,” Yoculan remembers thinking. She imagined how she’d build crowds and where each fan section would sit. “I had a vision.”

2. First championship.

In 1987, the fifth ranked Gym Dogs headed to Utah, where the No. 1 Utes were looking for their sixth consecutive championship.

“We were so new,” said 1987 team member Lucy Wener. “When we won, it was quite a surprise. It was amazing because we were such underdogs, but Suzanne always loves that.”

3. 1989 NCAA Championship.

Hosted at Stegeman, it all came down to a floor exercise by UCLA’s top gymnast, who’d scored 9.9s all year. A 9.9 would give UCLA the victory. “I can remember the routine, it’s burned into my brain,” Yoculan said. “She scored a 9.85, and we were all jumping out of our seats.”

4. Georgia’s first 10.

Wener, the team’s first Olympian, scored the first 10 in Georgia history and the first in NCAA championship history at the 1989 championships.

“You knew before she dismounted that it was going to be perfect,” Yoculan said. “Everyone around you was standing up as she’s getting ready to finish.”

5. 1993 NCAA Championship.

Georgia dominated the field, scoring a 198.00, winning by more than 1.175.

Heather Stepp, who had dislocated her elbow in 1992, chose not to have a cast put on her arm so she could continue to compete. At the hospital, Stepp told Yoculan, “‘I came to Georgia to win a national championship and I’m not leaving without one.’”

6. Gymnastics packs Stegeman.

On Jan. 28, 1994, 10,217 fans filled Stegeman for a meet with LSU. “I never thought I’d see the day that someone was scalping tickets for a gymnastics meet,” Yoculan said.

7. Karin Lichey’s perfect night.

Lichey was feeling sick the night of Feb. 23, 1996, but the freshman competed. She became the first and only gymnast to score a perfect 40.0 in an NCAA meet. “It was surreal,” she said. “Looking back, I can’t believe I did that.”

8. 1997 NCAA Championship loss.

Yoculan says the 1997 team was her best ever. But in the first rotation of the championship, the beam, three gymnasts fell.

“We just kind of fell apart,” said Lichey. “But we sure did come back strong.”

The team swept the next three events. Yoculan says the loss set a fire for 1998.

9. Two straight.

The 1998 team was so good Yoculan says “all I had to do was turn the lights on in the gym.”

They sailed to a championship. In 1999, even with four top gymnasts injured, they did it again. Yoculan printed T-shirts that read, “A wounded dog is a dangerous dog,” and on the back, “Defend what is ours.”

10. Opening the Suzanne Yoculan Gymnastics Center.

In 2007, the team moved from a small, shared, run-down building, into a pristine 16,000 square foot practice space.

“Knowing where we came from and where we are now, it was very symbolic to have this facility and very humbling to have it named after me,” Yoculan said.