On September 18, 1984 Willie Ito was born in Huntington Beach, California to parents Bill and Peggy Ito. He began gymnastics when he was six years old at South Coast Gymnastics. He's been there eversince.

Under coaches Xiaoping Li and Guonian Wu, Willie has worked his way to the top of the Junior National Team in the sport of Gymnastics. He qualifed for his first National Championships in 1999, where he went on to win the Parallel Bar competition and qualify for the National Team. For the next four years Willie was a member of the USA Junior National Team. In 2001, he won the Championships earning the title, Junior National Champion. He was an academic All American his four years on the national team. In 2001 he was invited to participate in a USA Training Camp in Beijing along with some of his Junior National Teammates.

In fall of 2002, Willie was ready to step his gymnastics career up to the next level and signed with The Ohio State University where he began to compete in the fall of 2003. Although his season started off great, Willie soon fell into an injury when he injured his thumb in practice. After missing a few meets, Willie made his debut back in competition just in time for the NCAA Championships, where he went on to help OSU place 3rd as a team.

Willie's sophomore year continued where he helped the OSU Team win the Big Ten Championship title; set a new team record for the NCAA; and place second at the NCAA Championships. Willie himself had a rewarding season as he was named to the All Big Ten Team for High Bar.

He looks to compete for a future World Championship or Olympic team... but for now, when Willie is not in the gym he enjoys sleeping, chatting online, and hanging out with his OSU Teammates.

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Willie Ito Online is (C)opyright 2004-2006 Kristin Page. Pictures in the banner are copyright Ohio State University and Kristin Page.