27 Facts About Justin Spring

Justin Edward Spring was born on March 11,1984 and is a retired American gymnast and current gymnastics coach.

Justin Spring was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and won an Olympic bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Justin Spring was a top gymnast in NCAA competition, where he represented the University of Illinois.

Justin Spring's father, Sherwood C Spring, was a United States Army colonel and former NASA astronaut.

Justin Spring's sister, Sarah, was a highly decorated collegiate gymnast at Ohio State University from 2000 to 2004.

Justin Spring graduated from Lake Braddock Secondary School in 2002 and went on to attend the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Justin Spring finished his illustrious career being named to the All-Big Ten first team three times, grabbed Big Ten Gymnast of the Week laurels six times, and earned Inside Gymnastics' NCAA Gymnast of the Week honors three times.

Justin Spring is a two-time recipient of the Dike Eddleman Athlete of the Year award, which goes to Illinois' top male and female athlete.

In 2006, Justin Spring strung together one of the best seasons in Illinois gymnastics' history, earning the 2006 Nissen-Emery Award, an honor that goes to the top senior male gymnast in the nation.

Justin Spring represented the US at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Melbourne, Australia on floor exercise, parallel bars, and horizontal bar as a member of the 2005 US National Team.

At the 2005 World Championships, Justin Spring finished 10th to qualify as a reserve on horizontal bar and finished 12th on parallel bars.

In 2005, Justin Spring became the first Illini to ever win a US National title with his two-day combined horizontal bar score of 18.750, while scoring a 9.500 on the horizontal bar at the 2005 American Cup to take home the silver medal behind Olympic champion Paul Hamm.

In 2006, Justin Spring garnered a selection to the 2006 Men's World Championships team, but had to withdraw due to injury.

Justin Spring graduated from the University of Illinois in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication.

Justin Spring is a three-time US Senior National Team Member, a 2005 US World Championships Team Member, the 2005 Visa US Championships Horizontal Bar Champion, the 2005 Winter Cup Horizontal Bar Champion, the 2005 American Cup Horizontal Bar Silver Medalist, the 2003 World University Games Team Member.

Justin Spring tore his anterior cruciate ligament at the 2007 Visa Championships.

Justin Spring was named to the US Olympic Gymnastics team on June 22,2008.

Justin Spring performed very well at the Olympics, and was a key part of the United States Team's bronze medal victory, posting high scores on the vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar, and the floor exercise.

In 2010 Justin Spring was named Head Coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini men's gymnastics.

Justin Spring indicated that the new position required him to retire from the sport.

Justin Spring began his coaching career in 2010 with the University of Illinois men's gymnastics program.

In one season as associate head coach, Justin Spring led Illinois to its second-straight Big Ten team title and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Justin Spring was promoted to associate head coach following the 2009 season after three years as an assistant under the legendary Yoshi Hayasaki.

In 2009, Justin Spring was named Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year along with Ivankov after helping Illinois to the Big Ten Championship, a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, and three individual NCAA titles.

In 2012, Justin Spring helped the University of Illinois Fighting Illini win the NCAA national championship in Gymnastics.

On May 29,2010, Justin Spring married fellow Illinois alumna Tori Tanney.

Justin Spring has been a spokesperson for the skincare line Proactiv.