Valerie Zimring

Valerie Zimring
Full name	Valerie Le Zimring-Schneiderman
Country represented	United States
Born	(1965-03-28) March 28, 1965 (age 59) Los Angeles, California
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Discipline	Rhythmic gymnastics
Years on national team	1979–85

Valerie Le Zimring-Schneiderman (born March 28, 1965, in Los Angeles) is a former Olympic rhythmic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and finished 11th in the individual all-around.

Zimring was born in Los Angeles, and lived in Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles.^[1] She attended UCLA for college and graduate school, earning a B.A. as well as an M.A. in program-dance.^[2][3]

At 11 years of age, Zimring learned she had a stress fracture in her back.^[3] Having just reached the Class I level in artistic gymnastics, she had to leave it to pursue rhythmic gymnastics, which she was still able to do.^[3]

Zimring was a member of the United States National Team for seven years (1979–85) and the USA World Championship team from 1981 to 1983. In 1982, she won the All-Around title at the U.S. Junior National Championship. She also won at the Austrian Invitational in 1983, becoming the first American to win an international Rhythmic Gymnastics competition.^[4]

She competed at the 1981 World Championships and the 1983 World Championships, finishing 44th and 48th in the all-around respectively.^[5][6] She was the 1984 National All-around Champion, qualifying to compete in the Olympics.^[4][7]

She represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and finished 11th in the individual all-around. It was the best finish to date by an American in that event.^[4][8]

Zimring is Jewish, and won five gold medals at the 1985 Maccabiah Games in Israel.^[4][9]

Zimring coached the USA National Team in 1987–88.^[4]

She was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.^[10] She was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2007.^[11]

• List of Jewish gymnasts