Published in Issue 22 May/June 2008
Grandmother Cathy Rigby knows a lot about the highs and lows of all-out dedication to the regimented life of an Olympic athlete. She burst on the scene as a blond, pigtailed 15-year-old at the Mexico City Summer Olympics in 1968. But the thrill of victory was paved with dangerous bouts of bulimia and anorexia as she navigated her way through the sometimes-dysfunctional, pressure-packed world of gymnastic competition. Years later, Cathy took the positive life lessons she learned about discipline and hard work and applied them to the pursuit of a career in the theater. She trained for the stage like an athlete, with years of voice and acting lessons and ballet.
Ironically, it was as Peter Pan, a role requiring athletic prowess as well as singing and acting chops, that she solidified her theater credentials and career. Completing this picture is a loving husband of 25 years who is her partner in life and business, plus sons and daughters and grandchildren who are part of the family business.
The very thing that makes you good at something is a sort of obsessive-compulsive need. It’s not good or bad; it’s just what’s instilled in you. On the other hand, you learn how to train, and you realize you’re capable of a lot more than you think. People say, “If I’m not born with a voice, how can I do this?” You can. Everybody has potential. There’s no reason you can’t learn something. You can get better at anything you do if you work at it hard enough.
But at what cost? Does Cathy think she was robbed of a “normal” childhood because of her Olympic training?
I don’t think I lost anything in my childhood because of my training. There was dysfunction in my life for other reasons. My dad was an alcoholic; that was not a great thing for our family. My coach was wonderful in many ways but also controlling. You take the good with the bad. Gymnastics was the most solid thing in my life. I loved it. Yes, I trained six to eight hours a day, but that’s what I wanted to do. So that wasn’t a problem. Sometimes, there’s a problem in being judged constantly, but the actual training was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was like going out on the playground and getting to do everything you wanted to do. When you love what you do and it’s an art, it’s wonderful. When the judging is added, it becomes more about success and failure than the learning and loving.