McKayla Rose Maroney, as her full birth name states, is a pretty young girl who already retired! She is a former artistic gymnast who won many medals and got a lot of recognition in her field of work. She was a member of the ever so famous team of American gymnasts called the Fierce Five.
She had one of the best performances in her life on the 2012 Summer Olympics which were in London and she won many medals for it. On 2013 World Championships she had proved why she got so many medals on the Olympics and therefore she was one of the few people to actually defended a World Championships vault title. She was the first female sportsperson to do that.
Besides her fantastic career, she became famous for her Internet meme career which she entered by accident. During 2012 Olympics, she was very close to winning the gold medal and she won the silver one. When she had gotten the silver one, she didn’t seem impressed at all and she made a facial expression that may people found very funny so she became the symbol of “not impressed” facial expression.
She retired in 2016 because she thought her full gymnastics potential had been used up and later on she could have great fun in making other business things in her life.
At the Olympics, she had won a gold and a silver medal, at the Wolrd Championships, she had won three gold medals! She won a gold medal at the City of Jesolo Trophy in 2011! At the National Championships
Early years
She was born on December 9th in 1995. California was her hometown and she lived in Aliso Viejo in California most of her childhood. She was born there.
Her parents, Mike and Erin, were also involved in sports and they have been great sports icons. Her mother used to to digure skating and her father was a quarterback. It wasn’t anything serious about their careers, but they still had a love for sports they had passed onto their small daughter.
She has two siblings and she was homeschooled because she wanted to be a gymnast for as long as she could remember. She said that her favorite cartoon was Tarzan. She loved to runn around on all fours and she admired Tarzan for his flexibility and strength. Her mother saw that she was extremely good as a gymnast and she said that she knew McKayla would do great in sports.
When she was 9, she started to train at Gym-Mac in California. She was one of the youngest people in the gym, yet it never intimidated her because she wanted to be strong so she could go to the Olympics.
She really liked Calry Patterson and her floor routine so she used her as inspiration, especially later on in life when she actually got to the famous Olympics.
Career development
In 2009, she was at the Visa Championships in Texas and she wasn’t all that successful. She came third and she said that she didn’t really know what was going on all of the time. She joked about how everything she thought about was the fact that it would be great if she landed on her feet, not her face.
In 2010, she got to the CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois and she was seventh. Then again, she went to the Visa Championships and was third! Besides the fact that she had gotten a lot better in her field, she got recognized by some famous people and this was very important.
She started out her senior career in 2011. She competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy and won the competition. It was very rewarding for her and it opened up some new paths.
She competed in Chicago at the CoverGirl Classic and gained fifth and sixt place. She was not happy with it and then again went to Visa Championships where she was second.
Her team was first in Tokyo 2011 and she said that it was one of the best moments of her life, not only because she gained more and more experience, but also because she gained confidence.
Confidence is very important, especially for gymnasts who relate on their strength only. If she had great confidence, she was much more secure when doing dangerous stunts and that’s why this is so impoertant.
In 2012, she went to the Secret U.S. Classic in Chicago, ended up first and went to Visa Championships next. She finished the whole thing although she was very injured during the warm-ups. She said that she got to know her limits which was also very important to her.
The next big event she was on were the London Olympics, the Summer Olmypics of 2012. She trained very hard for it and she had broken a bone in her big toe, but she wanted to continue anyway. McKayla said that sometimes hard things happen and you still have to do your best although it may hurt. She finished first place and became a true hero for all of the girls who now looked up to her because of her strength and her character.
Many people during this competition continuously asked her if it hurts and she recalls saying: of course it hurts, it is broken! I have to continue, I can ignore the pain, it doesn’t matter.
She and Jordyn Wieber made it to the Fierce Five and switched up its name which used to be Fab Five, but it was used at basketball and music too and the girls wanted something a bit more unique.
The image of Kayla not being impressed winning silver on the podium became pretty famous as an internet meme and she got the chance to meet president Obama. Her photo began to be photoshoped to many random and various locations like at the Great Wall of China and next to the famous Usain Bolt.
Obama even tried to imitate her famous “not impressed” facial expression. This ended up being a viral photo and McKayla said that she loved meeting the president who was very sweet.
After the Olympics, she was injured and she had a fractured tibia, the shinbone. She had to get metal screws in her left leg to help her supportit and she had to train her leg’s flexibility in order not to loose much sense in it. She knew that she could not pursue an intense career anymore and therefore she was starting to thing about retiring.
In 2013, she had a blast being one of the judges for the Miss America pageant she was on. She also fullfiled her dream of being in a music video by being a guest for Thirty Seconds to Mars. Adidas Gymnastics also gave her a great offer for a sponsorship and overall, 2013 was a good year for her because she got some attention outside of sports.
Later in the year, she got back to gymnastics and she was in the team for the 2013 World Gymnastics Championships and she, along with her colleagues that included the famous Simone Biles, had great results in the competition.
However, 2016 was no easy and she had to get a knee surgery.Her nude pictures leaked, although it is not sure are they really hers and she struggled with adrenal fatigue. It was about the time for her to retire, so she did.
Later she made a debut single called “Ghost” and after retirement, she became more active on social media. This lead to some controversy, such as the fact that she posted a video of herself in thongs.
Personal life
During the 2017 scandal with Larry Nassar, Maroney was one of the girls to accuse him of sexual assault and molestation. She said that it was going on since she was 13 and that it lasted all the way to her retirement in 2016.
She continued to work as an actress and was in the CW television series called Hart of Dixie.
Quick summary
Full name: McKayla Rose Maroney
Date of birth: December 9th, 1995
Birthplace: Aliso Viejo, California, the United States of America
Age: 23
Profession: gymnast
Height: 163 cm
Weight: 46 kg
Net Worth: $4 million
