Patterson was at a cousin's birthday party at a gymnastics club in 1994 when a coach at the gym saw her and asked her mother if she was taking lessons. When her mother said no the coach was amazed at her natural talent. Carly then began taking lessons. In 2000, Patterson participated in the Top Gym Tournament in Belgium; she won the silver medal in the all-around and the bronze medal for balance Read more...

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Patterson competed as an all-around athlete and delivered outstanding performances in the preliminary competition, finishing first overall, qualifying for the all-around and balance beam finals. In the team finals, Carly did not perform as well she did in the preliminaries. She under-rotated her vault, stubbed the low bar with her foot, and her beam routine was Read more...

Soon after the Olympic games ended, it was discovered that Carly had a couple of bulging disks in her lower back. The problem has apparently been festering for years, but had somehow gone without notice. Carly announced after the injury was made public that she would be taking some time off from gymnastics to nurse the injury. Even at full health, Carly would not have been able to train as intensely Read more...