Rigby, Cathy
Gymnastics
b. Dec. 12, 1952, Los Alamitos, CA
A premature baby, Rigby was born with collapsed lungs and she suffered a whole series of illness during her first five years. When she was eight, she began trampolining at a youth club and amazed her teacher by doing a back flip at her first class.
Rigby joined the Southern California Acrobatic Team in 1963 and dedicated the next ten years of her life to gymnastics. Only 4-foot-10 and 89 pounds, the pixie-like blonde helped attract public interest in gymnastics with her charm and skill, thanks to television. She was the high scorer on the 1968 Olympic team that finished sixth; she was sixteenth in the all-around competition that year.
In 1970, she won a silver medal in the balance beam at the world championships, the highest placing ever for an American woman. The event was televised on Wide World of Sports, giving Rigby and gymnastics exposure to a major television audience.
Rigby broke a toe during the 1972 Olympic trials, but she was given a place on the the team anyway. She was again the high scorer, finishing tenth in the all-around, and she led the team to fourth place, then the best showing ever by a U. S. women's team.
She retired after the Olympics and began a career in show business, starring in a production of Peter Pan staged by NBC Entertainment. Rigby has also directed gymnastic camps, appeared in television commercials, and worked as a television commentator.