Kara Eaker

Kara Eaker (born November 7, 2002) is a retired American artistic gymnast.

She was adopted by her family in 2003 and has since resided with them in Missouri.

Eaker competed at the 2017 U.S. Classic, where she placed third on balance beam and fifth in the all-around in the junior division.

She later competed at the 2017 National Championships, where she placed first on balance beam (ahead of Maile O'Keefe and Adeline Kenlin), third in the all-around, fourth on floor exercise, and fifth on uneven bars.

She was then named to the Junior National Team.

On the balance beam she is the 2018 Pan American and 2019 Pan American Games champion and a two-time United States national silver medalist (2018, 2019).

She was a member of the American teams that won gold at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships, the 2019 Pan American Games, and the 2018 Pan American Championships.

Eaker turned senior in 2018.

She competed at the American Classic, where she placed first on balance beam, second on floor exercise, and fourth in the all-around.

Later in the summer, she competed at the 2018 U.S. Classic, where she placed fifth on balance beam after falling off.

At the National Championships Eaker finished seventh in the all-around, second on balance beam behind Simone Biles, fifth on floor exercise, and ninth on uneven bars.

As a result of her performance, she was added to the senior national team.

The following day, Eaker was named to the team to compete at the Pan American Championships in Lima, Peru alongside Grace McCallum, Trinity Thomas, Jade Carey, and Shilese Jones.

On the first day of competition, Eaker won the gold medal on balance beam and the bronze on floor exercise.

In the team competition, Eaker contributed on these two events toward the United States' gold-medal-winning performance.

In October, Eaker participated in the Worlds Team Selection Camp.

During the competition, she placed first on the balance beam, sixth in the all-around, eighth on vault, ninth on uneven bars, and fifth on floor exercise.

The following day, she was named to the team to compete at the 2018 World Championships alongside Simone Biles, Morgan Hurd, Grace McCallum, Riley McCusker, and alternate Ragan Smith.

During qualifications Eaker qualified second to the balance beam final, behind Biles.

The US also qualified in first to the team final.

During the team final, Eaker competed on only balance beam.

She contributed 14.333, the highest beam score of the night from any competitor, towards the USA's team total.

The American team won gold with a score of 171.629, 8.766 points ahead of second place Russia.

Although she was favored for a medal in the balance beam final, she placed sixth after falling on her mount.

On floor exercise she is the 2019 Pan American Games silver medalist and the 2018 Pan American bronze medalist.

In February, Eaker was named to the team to compete at the 2019 International Gymnix in Montreal alongside Alyona Shchennikova, Sloane Blakely, and Aleah Finnegan.

While there, she won gold in the team final, individual all-around, and on balance beam and placed fifth in the uneven bar final.

In June, after the conclusion of the American Classic, Eaker was named as one of the eight athletes being considered for the team to compete at the 2019 Pan American Games along with Sloane Blakely, Aleah Finnegan, Morgan Hurd, Shilese Jones, Sunisa Lee, Riley McCusker, and Leanne Wong.

At the 2019 GK US Classic, Eaker placed fourth in the all-around behind Simone Biles, McCusker, and Grace McCallum.

She also placed first on balance beam and fourth on floor exercise behind Biles, McCallum, and Jade Carey.

After the competition, she was named to the team to compete at the Pan American Games alongside Finnegan, Hurd, McCusker, and Wong.

At the Pan American Games Eaker competed on all four events, contributing scores on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise towards the team's gold-medal-winning performance.

Individually, Eaker qualified for the balance beam final in first and for the all-around and floor exercise finals in second, both behind McCusker.

She placed sixth on uneven bars but did not advance to the final due to teammates McCusker and Wong scoring higher.

During the all-around final, Eaker placed fourth behind Ellie Black of Canada, McCusker, and Flávia Saraiva of Brazil due to falls on both the balance beam and floor exercise.

During event finals, Eaker won gold on balance beam with a score of 15.266, finishing 1.7 points ahead of Black, who won the silver, and won silver on floor exercise behind Brooklyn Moors of Canada and ahead of Saraiva.

At the 2019 U.S. National Championships, Eaker competed all four events on the first day of competition but fell off the balance beam and ended the night in eleventh place.

On the second night, she performed cleanly and ended up finishing in tenth place but won silver on the balance beam behind Simone Biles.

She was an alternate for the 2020 Olympic team.

Eaker was born in Jiangxi, China as Kara Ming.