He was a highly decorated college gymnast, achieving the 2001 Nissen-Emery Award and a two-time individual all-around national champion.
The USOC's attempt to send a message was widely derided and became the subject of continuing scrutiny.
The "backroom" dealings and secretive process that resulted in what was widely considered punitive action, exposed the US Olympic coaches' biases to nationwide embarrassment and shame.
[8] In 1999, Natalie won gold on the horizontal bar at the U.S. National Championships; a knee injury hampered him from competing on all events.
After sticking his landing, Natalie stomped off the podium, slapping high fives and walking up and talking to the camera.
He showed a similar emotional reaction, walking up and down, getting congratulations from other gymnasts, and making the outburst "do the math now, baby" in the vicinity of the judges.
Only the first four all-rounders (based on a 60-40 average of Trials and U.S. Nationals) were assured spots on the Olympic Team.
Blaine Wilson, Paul Hamm, Sean Townsend, and Stephen McCain were the top four.
They chose Morgan Hamm and John Roethlisberger, who had finished sixth and seventh, respectively; Natalie was named as the alternate.
He said the committee had only considered the value of all gymnasts on different events to help the team, and not the all-around scores after the top four were chosen.
This is the team we believe can bring home a medal.Later after the athletes had met with coach Kormann, Natalie said:[15] I'm just chilling, No, I don't think the process was flawed.
I'm happy to be the alternate.Raj Bhavsar, an Ohio State teammate of Natalie's had also competed at the 2000 Trials and said:[15] I feel for him.
In addition, he said he did not want to sacrifice four years of his life for an uncertain chance and he mentioned the possibility of injury affecting a comeback.
When interviewed shortly before the 2004 Games, Natalie said:[20] What's the point of working very hard for another four years to potentially not make the team again because of a random decision?Natalie received a medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2005 and is now a sports medicine physician.