Norah Flatley

Last updated

Norah Flatley
Norah Flatley 2014.JPG
Personal information
Full nameNorah Irene Flatley
Country representedFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Born (2000-03-10) March 10, 2000 (age 23)
San Diego, California, United States
Hometown Cumming, Iowa, United States
Height150 cm (4 ft 11 in)
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
LevelLevel 10 (2012, 2016–17)
Junior Elite (2013–15)
NCAA (2019–23)
Years on national team2013–15 (USA)
Club Chow's Gymnastics
College team UCLA Bruins (2019–22)
Arkansas Razorbacks (2023)
Head coach(es) Jordyn Wieber
Former coach(es) Liang Chow
Valorie Kondos Field
Randy Lane
Chris Waller
Choreographer Dominic Zito
BJ Das
RetiredJuly 21, 2017 (elite)
Medal record
Representing Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Pacific Rim Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2014 Richmond Team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2014 Richmond Balance Beam
Representing UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins script.svg
NCAA Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2019 Fort Worth Team

Norah Irene Flatley (born March 10, 2000, in San Diego, California) is an American artistic gymnast. [1] She is the 2014 Pacific Rim junior balance beam champion. She previously competed for the UCLA Bruins and also competed for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Contents

Early life

Norah Flatley was born on March 10, 2000, in San Diego to Terrence Flatley and Ann McKenzie. She is the youngest of four children.

One of Flatley's sisters, Anna, was a competitive gymnast, [2] and at the age of four Flatley wanted to join her. She enrolled in gymnastics classes at Salto Gymnastics in Wisconsin. Naturally gifted, Flatley made both the 2007 and 2009 National TOPs teams. [3] [4] In 2010, Flatley was both Level 8 State (WI) and Regional (4) champion for her age category. [5] [6] In the summer of 2010 her family relocated to Cumming, Iowa, in order for her to train under the tutelage of Liang Chow, the former coach of 2008 Olympic balance beam champion Shawn Johnson. [7] A year later, in 2011, she was crowned Level 9 Regional Champion. [8] At her first Level 9 Western Championships – at the age of eleven, Flatley was crowned the individual champion in the all-around, on beam and floor. [9]

Gymnastics career

Level 10: 2012

Flatley moved up to Level 10 for the 2012 competitive season. She was State champion, [10] and was second at Regionals. [11] In May, she participated in her first ever J.O. Nationals – held in Hampton, Virginia. [12] She tied for third in the all-around with Chow's club teammate Alexis Vasquez, and Southeastern gymnast Grace Glenn. [13] However, she won the balance beam title with a score of 9.725. [14]

Junior elite: 2013–2015

Flatley qualified to Junior International Elite status in 2013. She qualified to the 2013 U.S. Classic in Chicago and placed fourth in the all-around and won gold on balance beam. Flatley scored the highest balance beam score (15.2) of the meet within both senior and junior divisions. [15] At the 2013 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, Flatley accumulated a two-day all-around score of 112.400, placing fifth overall. She won silver on balance beam behind Bailie Key. [16] As a result she was named to the junior national team.

Flatley at the 2014 City of Jesolo Trophy Norah Flatley beam 2014.JPG
Flatley at the 2014 City of Jesolo Trophy

Flatley made her international debut at the 2014 City of Jesolo Trophy competition in Jesolo, Italy. She helped team USA win gold. Individually she placed third in the all-around behind Bailie Key and Nia Dennis and won gold on balance beam. She next competed at the Pacific Rim Championships in April in Richmond, Canada. While there she won team gold and gold on the balance beam. At the 2014 U.S. Classic Flatley placed third in the all-around, tied with Deanne Soza and behind Jordan Chiles and Dennis. [17] In August Flately competed at the National Championships. She finished third in the all-around behind Jazmyn Foberg and Dennis. Additionally she won silver on the uneven bars behind Foberg and placed fourth on balance beam. [18]

Flatley competed her last year as a Junior International Elite in the 2015 season. At the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy she helped the USA finish first as a team. Individually she won gold on balance beam and silver in the all-around and on the uneven bars, behind Laurie Hernandez on each. Due to a foot injury, Flatley missed the U.S. Classic and the U.S. National Championships. [19]

On October 7, 2015, Flately announced her verbal commitment to the UCLA Bruins gymnastics program, through her Instagram account.

Retirement from elite: 2016–2017

Flatley was set for her Senior International debut in 2016 but withdrew from all competitions for reason of injury. On July 21, 2017, she announced her retirement from elite gymnastics and announced plans to move down to Level 10 for the 2018 season. [20]

Collegiate gymnastics career

2018–2019 season

In the fall of 2018, Flatley began attending the University of California, Los Angeles, joining the gymnastics team.

Flatley competed on uneven bars and balance beam in every meet of her freshman season. She was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on February 26. [21] She helped her team to a third-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships, contributing scores on beam and bars of 9.8875 [22] and 9.9 respectively. [23]

2019–2020 season

Flatley regularly contributed to the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise lineups before the season got cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020–2021 season

While warming up for UCLA's season-opening meet against Arizona State, Flatley suffered an ankle injury that kept her out of competition until the postseason. [21] She returned to the uneven bars lineup at the Pac-12 Championship, scoring 9.875. She competed uneven bars and balance beam at the regional championships, but UCLA failed to qualify to nationals. [24]

2021–2022 season

Fully recovered from the previous season's ankle injury, Flatley competed in at least three events during every meet of the regular season, including six times in the all-around. [25]

At the regional finals, Flatley competed only on the vault and uneven bars, citing mental health reasons. [26] UCLA again failed to qualify to the national championships as a team, finishing just 0.025 points behind the second-place qualifying Missouri Tigers. However, Flatley's all-around score of 39.575 from the regional semifinals qualified her to nationals as an individual in the all-around. [27]

At the national championships, Flatley placed seventh in the all-around with a score of 39.6 and fourth on the balance beam with a score of 9.9375. [28]

2022–2023 season

Following the 2022 National Championships it was reported by gymnastics podcast GymCastic that Flatley, who has a fifth year of NCAA eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had entered the transfer portal. [29] On May 31, 2022 it was announced that Flately would be joining the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team, reuniting with former UCLA teammate Kyla Ross, as assistant coach for the team. [30]

Flatley made her debut for Arkansas on January 7, 2023 in a meet against Nebraska. Flatley competed on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam towards Arkansas' victory. Individually Flatley posted the highest score on uneven bars and co-highest score on vault. [31]

Following the 2023 SEC Championship, she was awarded All-SEC honours on vault, floor and all-around. [32]

Regular season ranking

SeasonAll-AroundVaultUneven BarsBalance BeamFloor Exercise
2019N/AN/A14th32ndN/A
2020N/AN/A80th36th245th
2021N/A
2022 [33] 33rd129th24th116th80th
2023N/A103rd35th33rdN/A

Personal life

Flatley has been in a relationship with Atlanta United FC soccer player Justin Garces since November 2018. [34]

Competitive history

YearEventTeamAA VT UB BB FX
Junior elite
2013 US Classic 4124Gold medal icon.svg20
P&G Gymnastics Championships 5156Silver medal icon.svg13
2014 City of Jesolo Trophy Gold medal icon.svgBronze medal icon.svgSilver medal icon.svg
Pacific Rim Championships Gold medal icon.svg4Gold medal icon.svg
US Classic Bronze medal icon.svg17Bronze medal icon.svgGold medal icon.svg15
P&G Gymnastics Championships Bronze medal icon.svg15Silver medal icon.svg410
2015 City of Jesolo Trophy Gold medal icon.svgSilver medal icon.svgSilver medal icon.svgGold medal icon.svg
NCAA
2019 PAC-12 Championships Gold medal icon.svg2310
NCAA Championships Bronze medal icon.svg
2020 PAC-12 Championships Canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the USA
[35] [36]
NCAA Championships
2021 PAC-12 Championships Bronze medal icon.svg
2022 PAC-12 Championships 45105
NCAA Championships 71419429
2023 SEC Championships 787223110

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References

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