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Terry began his gymnastics training at the age of seven in England, and went on to earn a scholarship for training in Moscow, Russia.

Later, he received a gymnastics scholarship from Pennsylvania State University, where he earned All-America honors six times, and went on to obtain a BS in Physical Education and Business. Bartlett still had time to perform his duties as captain of both the PSU team and the Great Britain Men's team.

Over the years he participated in five world championships as well as three Olympic Games: Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992.  He served as Great Britain's team captain on his final trip. The younger gymnast pushed for a second showing at the '96 games but a broken leg ended his dreams -- he thought for good.

Having established a contact with Cirque du Soleil, the three-time Olympian showed up to his Los Angeles audition wearing a pair of baggy shorts and tennis shoes. He didn't realize the other hopefuls had arrived and warmed up hours before. After the standard gymnastic tests, the director asked auditionees to be stupid, adventurous, funny and jumpy. "It took me about five minutes to say, 'Oh, I can do this.'  I always say that gymnastics for me was really a vehicle to join Cirque du Soleil," Terry said.