Janie Speaks

Janie Speaks had a very short gymnastics career, competing in only three major meets at the national or international level. She competed at the 1964 US Olympic Trials and even shocked herself by making the US team – she was only 15-years-old at the Trials. Speaks then competed at the Tokyo Olympics, and essentially retired. In 1967 she made a comeback and entered the 1967 US trials for the Pan American Games, but after making the team, she did not go to the Pan Ams and then retired for good. She was openly critical of the sport, because of its subjective scoring and what she felt were biased judges. Speaks later settled in her native Oklahoma where she and her husband raced and trained racehorses. Speaks, later Hunter, did the training at night after working in computer product sales for IBM during the day.