Great American Gymnastics Express
American artistic gymnastics academy
Great American Gymnastics Express, known also as GAGE Center or GAGE, is an American artistic gymnastics academy in Blue Springs, Missouri. GAGE was founded in 1979 by Al Fong.
In December 2025, Fong was suspended for five years by the U.S. Center for SafeSport; his wife, also a coach at the gym, received a one-year suspension. Two months later, USA Gymnastics terminated the gym's membership over allegations of abuse and non-compliance with safety codes and suspensions. Fong and his wife were permanently suspended by both organizations in September 2026.
Notable alumni
Among the gymnasts who trained at GAGE are:
Lynnzee Brown, 2024 Olympian (representing Haiti)
Madison Desch, a gold medalist with the U.S, team at the 2014 World Championships
Brenna Dowell, a 2015 World Championships team champion and four-time NCAA champion
Kara Eaker, a two-time World Championships team gold medalist
Aleah Finnegan, 2024 Olympian (representing the Philippines), 2019 Pan American Games team champion
Sarah Finnegan, a two-time NCAA champion
Christy Henrich, a 1989 World Championships competitor
Ivana Hong, a 2007 World Championships team champion
Terin Humphrey, a 2004 Olympic Games team and uneven bars silver medalist and two-time NCAA champion
Courtney McCool, a 2004 Olympic Games team silver medalist and four-time NCAA champion
Leanne Wong, a 2022 World Championships team gold medalist
Controversies
Death of Julissa Gomez
In May 1988, Julissa Gomez broke her neck while warming up for the vault at a competition in Japan. Observers had noticed her struggle with the apparatus over the months leading up to the competition, including her former coach Béla Károlyi, past and present teammates, and even her own coach, Al Fong. Gomez's technique on the extremely difficult Yurchenko vault had been described as shaky at best, and Gomez was unable to perform the vault with consistency during practices, sometimes missing her feet on the springboard. A teammate from Károlyi's, Chelle Stack, later said, "You could tell it was not a safe vault for her to be doing. Someone along the way should have stopped her." However, Gomez's coaches insisted that she needed to continue training and competing the Yurchenko vault to achieve high scores.
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