Guillermo Alvarez (gymnast)

Guillermo Carlos Alvarez^[1] (born October 24, 1982) is an American artistic gymnastics coach and former gymnast. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and won three medals while representing the United States at the 2007 Pan American Games.

Guillermo Alvarez
Full name	Guillermo Carlos Alvarez
Born	(1982-10-24) October 24, 1982 (age 42) Colorado, U.S.
Relatives	Bryan Alvarez (cousin)
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Country represented	United States (2005–2009)
College team	Minnesota Golden Gophers (2002–2005)
Gym	Gymnastika, Inc.
Head coach(es)	Mike Burns
Former coach(es)	Fred Roethlisberger Alexei Koudria
Eponymous skills	Alvarez (horizontal bar)
Retired	2009
Awards	Nissen-Emery Award (2005) Big Ten Medal of Honor (2005)
Medal record Men's artistic gymnastics Representing  United States Event 1st 2nd 3rd Pan American Games 0 1 2 Pan American Championships 1 1 0 Total 1 2 2 Pan American Games 2007 Rio de Janeiro Floor 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team 2007 Rio de Janeiro All-around Pan American Championships 2005 Rio de Janeiro Team 2005 Rio de Janeiro Floor

Early life and education

Alvarez was born October 24, 1982, in Colorado.^[2] His father emigrated from Rioverde, San Luis Potosí to Idaho and the family worked in potato fields.^[3] A native of Denver, Alvarez started gymnastics at 10 years old.^[3] He trained at Gymnastika, Inc. under coach Alexei Koudria in Wheatridge, Colorado.^[4] He attended Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, Colorado.^[5] He enrolled at the University of Minnesota to pursue gymnastics.

Gymnastics career

In college, Alvarez competed for the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnastics team from 2002 to 2005 and was the 2005 Nissen Award winner (the "Heisman" of men's gymnastics).^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

Domestically, he was the floor apparatus national champion at the 2005 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships.

Alvarez was a member of the 2005 Pan American Gymnastics Championships team^[11] and won a team all-around gold medal and silver medal on the floor. The following year, he won two individual medals and one team medal at the 2007 Pan American Games. He was a member of the 2006 and 2007 World Championship teams. In 2008, he just missed the Olympics, finishing 6th in the all-around and 3rd on pommel horse, but was not selected.

Alvarez retired from competition in 2009 at the age of 26.^[12]

Coaching career

Following his retirement, Alvarez began coaching. He began coaching in 2009 at TAGS Gymnastics in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, alongside a fellow Minnesota Golden Gophers gymnast.^[12] He later became a coach with the Icelandic National Team.^[12][13][14]

Personal life

Alvarez is the cousin of Bryan Alvarez.^[15]

Eponymous skills

Alvarez has one named element on the horizontal bar.^[16][17]

Gymnastics elements named after Guillermo Alvarez

Apparatus	Name	Description	Difficulty[a]	Added to Code of Points
Horizontal bar	Alvarez	"Double salto fwd. str. with 1/1 or 3/2 t."	E, 0.5	Performed at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, but added to CoP in 2021.[18]

1. Valid for the 2025–2028 Code of Points