McKayla Maroney

McKayla Rose Maroney (born December 9, 1995) is an American retired artistic gymnast.

McKayla Rose Maroney was born in Aliso Viejo, California, on December 9, 1995, the daughter of Erin and Mike Maroney (died 2019).

Her father was a quarterback at Purdue University, and her mother was involved in figure skating and high school sports.

McKayla is of Irish Catholic descent.

She has two siblings, Tarynn and Kav, and was homeschooled in order to train as an elite gymnast.

Maroney said, "When I was younger, 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.' I was technically in gymnastics at the age of two and always felt comfortable in the gym."

When she was nine years old, she started training at Gym-Max in Costa Mesa, California.

About her first Olympic memory, Maroney 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 [Ross]. 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."

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 and third in the vault final with a score of 29.900.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

In event finals, she placed first on vault with a score of 15.387 and first on floor with a score of 14.225.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Maroney was also a member of the gold-winning American team at the 2011 World Championships, where she won gold medals in the team and vault competitions.

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.

Maroney won the vault final with a score of 15.300.

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."

Maroney upgraded her second vault to a 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.

Her first vault remained an Amanar.

In March, Maroney competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy.

She was a member of the American women's gymnastics team dubbed the Fierce Five at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the team and an individual silver medal in the vault event.

A photograph of her with a "not impressed" expression, taken after winning silver in the 2012 Olympics, became an Internet meme.

In 2012, 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."

She defended her World title and won the gold medal on vault at the 2013 World Championships, becoming the first U.S. female gymnast to defend a World Championship vault title.

In 2016, she retired from competitive gymnastics.