Kristen Maloney

Last updated
Kristen Maloney
Full nameKristen Ann Maloney
Nickname(s)Kris, Maloney
Country representedFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Born (1981-03-10) March 10, 1981 (age 42)
Hackettstown, New Jersey, U.S.
Hometown Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior International Elite
Club Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center
College team UCLA Bruins
Head coach(es)Bill Strauss
Assistant coach(es)Donna Strauss, Jack Carter
MusicGrease (1997), All That Jazz (1998), West Side Story (1999), Puttin' On The Ritz (2000)
Eponymous skills Maloney
RetiredApril 24, 2005
Medal record
Women's artistic gymnastics
Representing the Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Olympic Games
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2000 Sydney Team
Goodwill Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1998 New YorkBalance Beam
Pacific Rim Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1996 Kuala LumpurTeam
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1998 WinnipegAll Around
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1998 WinnipegTeam
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1998 WinnipegBalance Beam
Representing UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins script.svg
NCAA Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2001 Athens Team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2004 Los Angeles Team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2005 Los Angeles Vault
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2005 Los Angeles Balance Beam
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2004 Los Angeles Uneven Bars
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2005 Los Angeles All Around
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2001 Athens Balance Beam

Kristen Ann Maloney (born March 10, 1981) is a retired gymnast from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, in the United States. She won bronze in the team event at the 2000 Olympic Games. Maloney was also the U.S. senior all-around national champion in 1998 and 1999 and the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medalist on the balance beam.

Contents

Maloney also competed for the University of California, Los Angeles in the NCAA from 2001 until 2005.

Early life

Maloney was born on March 10, 1981, in Hackettstown, New Jersey [1] and attended Pen Argyl Area High School in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.

Gymnastics career

Maloney trained at Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania and was a consistent member of the U.S. national gymnastics team from 1993 to 2000. She competed in a variety of minor international events as a junior elite and, as a senior, qualified for the 1996 Olympic Trials.

Maloney finished fourteenth at the Trials in the shadow of the "Magnificent Seven," but she became one of the most prominent American gymnasts from 1997 to 2000. The national champion in the all-around in 1998 and 1999, she was a key member of the American team at several major international meets. She participated in the 1997 and 1999 World Championships, earned a gold medal on the balance beam at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, and won the all-around at the 1998 Pacific Alliance Championships. Maloney ended her elite career at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where the American team won the bronze medal after a 2010 investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation disqualified the original bronze medalist, China, for falsifying a gymnast's age. She also finished nineteenth in the individual all-around. [2]

After the Olympics, Maloney attended UCLA on a full athletic scholarship and competed in NCAA gymnastics with the Bruins. She earned All-American honors and scored perfect tens at several meets. In her final college competition, the NCAA Championships, Maloney placed second in the all-around behind teammate Tasha Schwikert, won gold on vault and floor, and successfully completed a double-twisting Yurchenko vault and a full-twisting double layout on floor exercise.

Maloney was plagued by persistent injuries throughout her elite and collegiate careers. A nagging stress fracture led to the placement of a titanium rod in her leg. After one wave of serious injury and illness, Maloney missed two full years of competition with the Bruins; her subsequent return to full form earned her UCLA's C.H.A.M.P.S. Inspirational Award. As a fifth year senior, she won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top female gymnast.

Maloney graduated from UCLA in 2005 and worked as a gymnastics coach in California. One of her gymnasts was Shavahn Church, a member of the British national team. For a time, she lived in Europe and worked with Cirque du Soleil. She also taught preschool in Queens, New York City. [3]

Maloney began working as an assistant gymnastics coach for the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire in the 2010-11 season. She has been an assistant gymnastics coach at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa since July 2011. [4]

Skills

Her routines included the following skills:

Vault: Double-twisting Yurchenko
Uneven bars: Maloney; Gienger; full-twisting double layout dismount
Balance beam: Front tuck mount; wolf jump half, wolf jump, Rulfova; back handspring, layout, layout; punch front; back handspring, two-foot back handspring, two-foot layout; back handspring, back handspring, double back dismount
Floor exercise: Full-twisting double layout; double layout; punch front through to triple twist; double back; whip to immediate double layout

Eponymous skill

Maloney has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points, a toe-on Shaposhnikova on the uneven bars. [5]

ApparatusNameDescriptionDifficulty [lower-alpha 1]
Uneven bars Maloney Inner front support on low bar - pike sole circle backward through handstand with flight to hang on high barD
  1. ↑ Valid for the 2022-2024 Code of Points

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yelena Shushunova</span> Soviet Russian gymnast

Yelena Lvovna Shushunova was a Soviet Russian gymnast. Shushunova was one of five women who have won all-around titles at all major competitions: Olympics, World Championships and European/Continental Championships and one of ten women who medaled on every event at World Championships. Shushunova was renowned for pioneering complex skills as well as for her explosive and dynamic tumbling and high consistency.

Tatiana Gutsu, rarely Tetiana Hutsu, is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast from the Soviet Union and the winner of the all-around title in the 1992 Summer Olympics. She was renowned for performing some of the most difficult routines in the sport. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2022.

Amy Yuen Yee Chow is an American former artistic gymnast who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. She is best known for being a member of the Magnificent Seven, which won the United States' first team gold medal in Olympic gymnastics. She is also the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominique Dawes</span> American artistic gymnast

Dominique Margaux Dawes is a retired American artistic gymnast. Known in the gymnastics community as 'Awesome Dawesome', she was a 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior National Champion, a three-time Olympian, a World Championship silver and bronze medalist, and a member of the gold-medal-winning "Magnificent Seven" team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She is also the Olympic bronze medalist on floor exercise from the Atlanta games.

Terin Marie Humphrey is a retired American artistic gymnast. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she helped the United States team place second and won an individual silver medal on the uneven bars. Humphrey was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2008 as a member of the 2003 World Championships team, and in 2015 as an individual gymnast.

Maria Olaru is a Romanian former Olympic artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic, World, and European gold medalist with the team. Individually, she was the 1999 all-around world champion and the 2000 Olympic all-around silver medalist. Her best event was the vault on which she medaled at world and continental competitions. Olaru was one of the tallest gymnasts competing in the late 1990s, standing 160 cm. After retirement she became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the West University of Timișoara.

Natalia Vitalyevna Shaposhnikova, married name Natalia Sout, is a former Soviet artistic gymnast, two-time Olympic champion, and Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. She was known for her risky, original skills and expressive choreography, especially on balance beam and floor exercise.

Vanessa Marie Atler is an American former elite gymnast. She is the 1997 U.S. national all-around champion, the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medalist on the floor exercise and vault, and a four-time national champion in the individual events of vault, balance beam, and floor exercise. She is also the 1996 junior national all-around and floor champion. At the 1999 American Cup, Atler became the first female gymnast to successfully perform a Rudi vault.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniela Silivaș</span> Romanian artistic gymnast (born 1972)

Daniela Viorica Silivaș-Harper, is a Romanian former artistic gymnast best known for medaling in every single event at one Olympics, winning six medals at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. In doing so, she was the fourth female gymnast to achieve this, after Maria Gorokhovskaya (1952), Larisa Latynina and Věra Čáslavská (1968). As of 2024, Silivaș is the last gymnast, male or female, having accomplished this astonishing feat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtney McCool</span> American artistic gymnast

Courtney Lynn McCool-Griffeth is an American former artistic gymnast who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was coached by Al and Armine Fong of Great American Gymnastic Express.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chellsie Memmel</span> American artistic gymnast

Chellsie Marie Memmel is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2005 world all-around champion and the 2003 world champion on the uneven bars. She was a member of the United States women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabina Cojocar</span> Romanian artistic gymnast

Sabina Carolina Cojocar is a Romanian retired international elite artistic gymnast and singer. She became a world gold medalist with the Romanian women's gymnastics team in 2001 and is also a five-time medalist at the 2000 Junior European Gymnastics Championships.

Mo Huilan is a retired Chinese gymnast who competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. She was one of China's most successful gymnasts in the 1990s. She was known for performing routines of exceptional difficulty and technique, but also for inconsistency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yurchenko vault family</span> Type of vault in artistic gymnastics

Yurchenko, also known as round-off entry vaults, are a family of vaults performed in artistic gymnastics in which the gymnast does a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the horse or vaulting table. The gymnast then performs a salto, which may range in difficulty from a simple single tuck to a triple twist layout. Different variations in the difficulty of the salto lead to higher D-scores. This family of vaults is the most common type of vault in gymnastics and it's named after Natalia Yurchenko, who first performed it in 1982.

Elyse Null is a Canadian former elite gymnast, UCLA gymnastics alumna, and YouTube personality. She was born in Mississauga, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samantha Peszek</span> American artistic gymnast

Samantha Nicole Peszek is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, which won silver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridget Sloan</span> American artistic gymnast (born 1992)

Bridget Elizabeth Sloan is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2009 world champion in the all-around, the 2009 United States national champion, and a silver medalist with the American team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawn Johnson East</span> American artistic gymnast

Shawn Johnson East is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Johnson is also the 2007 all-around World Champion, and a five-time Pan American Games gold medalist, winning the team titles in 2007 and 2011, as well as titles in the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yana Demyanchuk</span> Ukrainian artistic gymnast

Yana Vladimirovna Demyanchuk is a Ukrainian artistic gymnast who won gold on the balance beam at the 2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

References

  1. ↑ "USA Gymnastics Official Biography: Kristen Maloney". usagym.org.
  2. ↑ Macur, Juliet (28 April 2010). "China Stripped of Gymnastics Medal". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  3. ↑ "She's a medal-winner, after all - Morning Call". Mcall.com. 2010-04-29. Retrieved 2012-02-14.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. ↑ "Decorated Gymnasts Named Assistant Coaches". cyclones.com. 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  5. ↑ "2022-2024 Code of Points Women's Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation . pp. 98, 208. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  6. ↑ "Gymnastics". CWSA. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.