McKayla Maroney Biography

McKayla Maroney was born on December 9, 1995 to Michael and Erin Maroney, a former quarterback and ice skater respectively. She has two younger siblings, Tarynn and Kav. The family resides in Long Beach, Calif., roughly 25 miles south of Los Angeles.

McKayla Maroney Gymnastics

Even for a child, Maroney took to being wild. She was high energy, and her mother—herself familiar with sports—placed her in gymnastics which Maroney took to immediately. By the time Maroney was nine years old, she had become an able and talented young gymnast and begun to dream about going to the Olympics. Maroney was inspired specifically by Carly Patterson’s routine that she saw in person at the Olympic Trials in 2004.

McKayla Maroney Is Not Impressed, Internet Meme

Maroney received two gold medals in the team and vault competitions at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships and successfully defended the title in 2013.

In 2012, she took part in the London Summer Olympics. During training she aggravated a previous big toe break. She and her team won the gold medal in gymnastics, though due to her injury she placed second in the vault competition. At the medal podium, she pursed her lips and slanted them in a look of disappointment that she was prone to do. She had done it for a brief moment, but this is the internet age, so it was captured and quickly went viral. Memes and blogs popped up, as well as photoshopped images depicting the title “McKayla Maroney is not impressed.”

McKayla Maroney is apparently not impressed by winning a silver medal, Usain Bolt, the Great Wall of China, classic horrors films They Live and Audition, Kanye West, Peter Jackson’s King Kong (who could blame her?), Pepsi, selfies, time travel, and the planet Mars.

McKayla Maroney Interview

Maroney spoke with uInterview just before the London Olympics which catapulted her career and fame instantly. She spoke exclusively about her goals, gymnastics, competition, her diet and her training, as well as her goals for the future.

“For some of my goals I know that I really want to get the gold medal for vault, because I’ve been working so hard for that, I definitely want to have that gold medal,” Maroney said fatefully. “And after gymnastics I know that I want to be an actress, that sort of thing seems really fun for me.”

McKayla Maroney Retirement and Recent News

In the fall of 2012 through 2014, Maroney suffered a leg break, as well as a long rehabilitation and surgery on her knee. In 2013, she made history by defending her world title at the WGC and won a gold medal in the vault competition.

Maroney announced her retirement from gymnastics in 2016, a year before coming forward on Twitter as a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar, ex-USA gymnastics doctor and now imprisoned sex offender.

Now, Maroney is rumored to be working on a book that will detail her experiences as an Olympic gymnast. She has also starred in a series of Geico commercials, in which she is wearing her old Team USA leotard.