McKayla Rose Maroney

McKayla Rose Maroney (born December 9, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal-winning US Women's Gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is also the 2011 world vault champion and 2012 Olympic vault silver medalist. [edit] Personal life McKayla Maroney was born on December 9, 1995 to Mike and Erin Maroney; her father was a quarterback at Purdue University, and her mother was involved in figure skating and high school sports. She is Irish-Catholic.[4] She has two siblings, Tarynn and Kav, and is home schooled in order to train as an elite gymnast.[5] "When I was younger," Maroney said. "I would be watching Tarzan and running around on all fours. My mom was like 'I need to put this child in gymnastics. She's crazy.'"[6] "I was technically in gymnastics at the age of 2 and always felt comfortable in the gym."[7] When Maroney was nine years old she moved clubs to train at Gym-Max in Costa Mesa, California. She said, "I realized that I had a dream that I wanted to go to the Olympics and I wanted to go as far as I could go. I thought I should probably move to a new gym and start thinking about the Olympics."[6] About her first Olympic memory, she said, "I remember watching Carly Patterson. She was one of my favorites. I loved her floor routine. I went to Olympic Trials that year (2004) with Kyla. I remember seeing the gymnasts on the floor and I loved all of their leotards. I thought they were so little and so amazing. I thought, how am I going to stay this little? I was worried that I was going to be really tall because my dad is 6'3" and my mom is 5'2", so I didn’t know which one I was going to be."[8] [edit] Junior career [edit] 2009 In August, Maroney competed at the Visa Championships in Dallas, Texas. She placed twenty-seventh in the all around with a two day combined score of 104.800[9] and third in the vault final with a score of 29.900[10] When asked about the first time she performed an Amanar in competition, Maroney said, "The first time I did it was at Visa Championships and I was just thirteen years old. I was just really little and I didn't really know what was going on. But I just did it, and I was just very happy that I landed on my feet."[11] [edit] 2010 In the spring, Maroney moved gyms to train at All Olympia Gymnastics Center in Los Angeles, California with Artur Akopyan and Galina Marinova.[citation needed] In July, Maroney competed at the CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois. She placed seventh in the all around competition with a score of 55.650.[12] In August, Maroney competed at the Visa Championships in Hartford, Connecticut. She placed third in the all around competition with a two day combined score of 113.250.[13] In event finals, she placed first on vault scoring 32.000, seventh on balance beam scoring 27.850, and fourth on floor scoring 28.400.[14] In September, Maroney competed at the Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico. She contributed a vault score of 15.933, a balance beam score of 13.866, and a floor score of 14.500 towards the American team's first place finish.[15] In event finals, she placed first on vault with a score of 15.387[16] and first on floor with a score of 14.225.[17] [edit] Senior career [edit] 2011 In March, Maroney competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy. She won the all-around competition with a score of 57.850.[18] In July, Maroney competed at the CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois. She placed sixth on balance beam scoring 14.550 and fifth on floor scoring 13.450.[19] In August, Maroney competed at the Visa Championships in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She placed second in the all-around competition with a two day combined score of 115.150[20] In event finals, she placed first on vault scoring 30.700, seventh on balance beam scoring 27.650, and fifth on floor scoring 28.150.[21] In October, Maroney competed at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. She contributed a vault score of 16.033 and a floor score of 14.566 towards the American team's first place finish.[22] Maroney won the vault final with a score of 15.300.[23] She told International Gymnast Magazine, "For every competition, I just went in there with confidence in myself and in my team, and each day it felt like I gained more and more experience."[24] [edit] 2012 Maroney at the 2012 Secret U.S. Classic. Maroney upgraded her second vault to a Mustafina (round-off, half-on, full-twisting front layout). "I've done it at two (U.S. team training) camps so far, and it's going pretty well," Maroney said.[25] Her first vault is still an Amanar. In March, Maroney competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy. She placed fourth in the all around competition with a score of 57.950.[26] In May, Maroney competed at the Secret U.S. Classic in Chicago, Illinois. She placed first on vault with a score of 16.100 and tenth on balance beam with a score of 13.800.[27] In June, Maroney competed at the Visa Championships in St. Louis, Missouri. After the first day of competition, she was placed seventh in the all around with a score of 58.700.[28] During warmups for the second day of competition, she fell on a tumbling pass on floor landing on her back. Maroney was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a minor concussion and nasal fracture. She took a week off from training[29] and successfully petitioned to compete at the Olympic Trials.[30] At the beginning of July, Maroney competed at the Olympic Trials in San Jose, California. After the first day of competition she said, "I'm thankful that I'm even here. I knew I had to hit vault because it's the most important event for me to make the Olympic team."[31] She placed seventh in the all around with a two day combined score of 117.650.[32] In event finals, she placed first on vault scoring 31.700 and fifth on floor scoring 29.700.[33] Afterwards, Maroney was chosen as a member of the team that was sent to the 2012 Summer Olympics. She said, "This is the best feeling – it's just so amazing. I'm in shock right now. I think this will be the happiest I'll ever be in my life. It's the absolute best feeling knowing that I trained so hard for this and all the hard things that I have accomplished and now to be on this team. These girls are my best friends. My team mate Kyla Ross, we have been best friends since we were six years old so it's just absolutely amazing to be going to the Olympics."[29] When asked about feeling pressure to win gold on vault at the Olympics, she replied, "If I do my job I know I can get the gold medal. That's what they picked me to be on the team for, so I need to be confident about that."[8] Maroney was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the rest of the USA Women's Olympic Gymnastics team on the July 18, 2012 issue of "Olympic Preview". This marked the first time an entire Olympic gymnastics team had been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.[34] [edit] London Olympics At the end of July, Maroney competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. During training she aggravated a previous bone break in the big toe of her right foot but she still competed on vault, though she did not take part in the floor routine as she had hoped. "Bad things happen, you just have to make the best of it," Maroney said. "It does hurt. It’s broken. How is it not going to hurt? I just try to ignore it and I have worked so hard to be here I can ignore the pain for a little bit." [35] She helped the American team qualify in first place,[36] and individually qualified in first place to the vault final with a score of 15.800.[37] Along with Jordyn Wieber, she is credited for changing the team's nickname from the "Fab Five" to the "Fierce Five". While on the bus to a training session, they decided to change the name because the "Fab Five" was already used for a basketball team associated with the University of Michigan basketball scandal as well as being associated with the musical group Duran Duran. They started searching on their phones for words that started with 'F' that described the team. The top choices were feisty and fierce. Maroney and Wieber opted for "fierce", as they said it described their floor routines, and the rest of the team concurred.[38] In the team final, she contributed a vault score of 16.233 toward the American team's first place finish,[39] which was the highest score in the competition. She also scored an execution average of 9.733, the highest execution score at an Olympics under the new scoring system for women's gymnastics.[40] About the rest of the team final, Maroney said, "I just wanted them to do so well and I'm just so proud of them. I was screaming and yelling. That last event on floor was really exhilarating, but amazing at the same time. I don't think I will ever, ever forget that."[41] In the vault final, Maroney won a silver medal with a score of 15.083. She performed an Amanar for her first vault but fell on her second, a Mustafina. This fall ended her thirty three vault hitting streak in competition.[42] Even with the fall, Maroney still came in second.[43] She said, "I didn't get my full block, my hands didn't really touch the vault. I still walked out with a silver medal and I'm happy about that. I'll have to watch the video and figure out what happened. It's really sad that I had to fall on that vault but I'm glad I won a silver medal. I know I can do better vaults but I also know I didn't deserve the gold medal because I fell on my second vault. It happens. It's gymnastics. You can't always be perfect. Sometimes things don't go as planned."[44] [edit] "McKayla is not impressed" During the medal ceremony, Maroney gave a brief look of disappointment with her lips pursed to the side, and the image quickly became associated with an Internet meme called "McKayla is not impressed".[45][46] Maroney has stated she finds it "really funny."[47] Maroney poked fun at the meme when she and the rest of the U.S. Gymnastics team met United States President Barack Obama at the White House in November 2012. She and Obama posed for a photo together, both making the same pursed-lips expression.[48] [edit] Post-Olympics In September, Maroney was injured during an uneven bars dismount while performing at the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions in Ontario, California. An MRI revealed that she had fractured the tibia in her left leg. It is unknown when and in what capacity she will return to the tour.[49] The injury occurred shortly before teammate Aly Raisman injured herself performing on the same bars.[50] On September 13, 2012, Maroney had two screws inserted to repair the fractured left tibia. She'll wear an immobilizer to keep the leg straight until doctors determine she's ready to resume limited walking and rebuilding range of motion.[51] Maroney returned to The Kellogg's Tour on October 4, 2012 in Oklahoma City on light duty. She was seen during the finale wearing her leg and foot splints and also at the VIP Meet and Greet session after the event.[citation needed] Maroney will make her acting debut in the CW television series Hart of Dixie this fall. She will play Tonya, a friend of Rose's.[52]