NEW YORK (WABC) – Wendy Hilliard has long been a major force in women’s, Olympic and community sports. She was the first black artistic gymnast to represent the United States at the worlds and was on the national rhythmic gymnastics team a record nine times, twice captaining the national team.
Hilliard competed in three World Championships and the 1984 Olympic Trials. She was a four-time US National Team coach and coached 1996 Olympian Alian Baquero Wilson. In 2008, Hilliard was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Today, Hilliard is the leader of the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation, a nonprofit she founded in 1996. The goal of Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics is to empower young people from underserved communities by improving their physical and emotional health through gymnastics.
The foundation has provided free gymnastics to nearly 25,000 inner-city youth in New York City since 1996 and expanded to Detroit in 2016. Hilliard appeared on “Here & Now” with one of her up-and-coming students, Zaque Carter, to discuss the foundation.
Copyright © 2023 WABC-TV. All rights reserved.
