The USA Gymnastics National Championships is the annual artistic gymnastics national competition held in the United States for elite-level competition. It is currently organized by USA Gymnastics, the governing body for gymnastics in the United States. The national championships have been held since 1963.
Before 1970, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) was the national governing body for gymnastics, so the national championships from 1963 to 1969 were run under the auspices of that organization. [1] [2]
The first USA Gymnastics national championships were held in Park Ridge, Illinois, in June 1963. Since then, the event has been held each year, usually over several days during the summer.
In 2012, the top three finishers in the women's all-around were Jordyn Wieber, Gabby Douglas, and Aly Raisman. It was Wieber's second consecutive all-around title. In the individual events, Douglas won on uneven bars, Raisman won on balance beam and floor, and Sacramone won on vault. [3] [4] In the men's all-around, the top three finishers were John Orozco, Danell Leyva, and Sam Mikulak. It was Orozco's first all-around title. Leyva won on parallel bars and high bar, Jacob Dalton won on floor, Alexander Naddour won on pommel horse, Jonathan Horton won on rings, and Sean Senters won on vault. [5]
In 2013, the top three finishers in the women's all-around were Simone Biles, Kyla Ross, and Brenna Dowell. In the individual events, Ross won on uneven bars and balance beam and her Olympic teammate McKayla Maroney won on vault and floor exercise; Biles swept the silver medals in each event. In the men's all-around, the top three finishers were Sam Mikulak, Alexander Naddour, and Jacob Dalton. [6] [7]
In 2014, the top three finishers in the women's all-around were Simone Biles, Kyla Ross, and Maggie Nichols. It was Biles's second consecutive all-around title. In the individual events, Biles won on both vault and floor exercise, Ross won on balance beam, and Ashton Locklear won on uneven bars. In the men's all-around, the top three finishers were Sam Mikulak, John Orozco, and Jacob Dalton. It was Mikulak's second consecutive all-around title. In the individual events, Dalton won on floor exercise, Mikulak won on pommel horse, Brandon Wynn won on still rings, Donnell Whittenburg won on vault, Danell Leyva won on parallel bars, and Orozco won on high bar.
In 2015, the top three finishers in the women's all-around were Simone Biles, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman. It was Biles's third consecutive all-around title, and she became the first female gymnast since Kim Zmeskal (1990, 1991, and 1992) to win the all-around 3 consecutive times. In the individual events, Biles won on both vault and balance beam, Madison Kocian won on uneven bars, and Raisman won on floor exercise. In the men's all-around, the top three finishers were Sam Mikulak, Donnell Whittenburg, and Chris Brooks. This was Mikulak's third consecutive all-around title, and he became the first male gymnast since Paul Hamm (2002, 2003, and 2004) to win the all-around 3 consecutive times. In the individual events, Steven Legendre won on floor exercise, Alex Naddour won on pommel horse, Whittenburg won on still rings, Mikulak won on both vault and parallel bars, and Brooks won on high bar.
In 2016, the top three finishers in the women's all-around were Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and Laurie Hernandez. It was Biles's fourth consecutive all-around title, and she became the first female gymnast since Joan Moore-Gnat (1971–1974) to win the all-around 4 times consecutively. In the individual events, Biles won on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, and Ashton Locklear won on uneven bars. In the men's all-around, the top three finishers were Sam Mikulak, Chris Brooks, and Jake Dalton. This was Mikulak's fourth consecutive all-around title, and he became the first male gymnast since Blaine Wilson (1996–1999) to win the all-around four times consecutively. In the individual events, Dalton won on floor exercise and vault, Eddie Penev won on pommel horse, Donnell Whittenburg won on rings, Brooks won on parallel bars, and Paul Ruggeri won on high bar.
The women's record, and overall record, of nine titles is held by Simone Biles, who won from 2013 to 2016, 2018 to 2019, 2021 and 2023 to 2024. [8] The record for most men's all-around titles is held by Sam Mikulak, who won six competitions from 2013 to 2016 and 2018 to 2019. Blaine Wilson won five consecutive times from 1996 to 2000. Joan Moore Gnat and John Roethlisberger have both won four times. Kurt Thomas, Kim Zmeskal, Paul Hamm and Brody Malone each won three times. The record for most individual titles across all events is Simone Biles, with twenty. [9] The record for most titles in one event is a tie between Alicia Sacramone, who won six women's vault competitions from 2005 to 2008, 2010, and 2012, and Simone Biles, who won six women's vault competitions from 2014 to 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021.
In recent years, the USA Gymnastics National Championships have been sponsored by various companies, and the event is typically named for the sponsoring company. [12]
Year | Sponsor | Event Name |
---|---|---|
1987–1988 | McDonald's | McDonald's U.S. Gymnastics Championships |
1992 | Phar-Mor | Phar-Mor U.S. Gymnastics Championships |
1993–1996 | Coca-Cola | Coca-Cola National Championships |
1997–2000 | John Hancock Financial | John Hancock U.S. Gymnastics Championships |
2004 | Visa | Visa U.S. Gymnastics Championships |
2005–2012 | Visa | Visa Championships |
2013–2017 | Procter & Gamble | P&G Gymnastics Championships |
2018–2021 | National Broadcasting Company | NBC Gymnastics Championships |
2022 | OOFOS | OOFOS U.S. Gymnastics Championships [13] |
2023–present | Xfinity | Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships [14] |
Jordyn Marie Wieber is an American former artistic gymnast and current gymnastics coach. Since April 2019, she has been the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team.
Kyla Briana Ross is a retired American artistic gymnast and current assistant coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team. She is the first female gymnast to win NCAA, World, and Olympic championship titles.
Alexandra Rose Raisman is an American retired artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was captain of both the 2012 "Fierce Five" and 2016 "Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective team competitions.
Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all-around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 2012 and the 2016 Summer Olympics, dubbed the "Fierce Five" and the "Final Five" by the media, respectively. She was a member of the gold-winning American teams at the 2011 and the 2015 World Championships. She was also the 2012 U.S. champion on uneven bars. Additionally, she was the 2016 American Cup all-around champion.
John Orozco is an artistic gymnast who competed in the 2012 Olympics and is the 2012 U.S national champion. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team selected for the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team for the 2016 Olympic Games but withdrew on July 15, 2016, due to an ACL injury. After graduating High School at 17, John trained for 7 years at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Samuel Anthony Mikulak is an American gymnastics coach. A retired artistic gymnast, he was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team. He is a six-time U.S. national all-around champion, the 2018 World bronze medalist on the horizontal bar, and a three-time Olympian. He is also an eight-time NCAA champion, winning the team, individual all-around, and several individual event titles at the 2011, 2013, and 2014 NCAA Men's Gymnastics championships. In 2023, he started serving as a gymnastics coach at EVO Gymnastics.
Elizabeth "Ebee" Nicole Price is a retired American artistic gymnast. Price was an alternate for the 2012 Summer Olympics Gymnastics team, the 2014 American Cup Champion, and the 2013-2014 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup All Around Series Winner. She was a member of the U.S. Junior National Gymnastics Team from 2010 to 2012 and the US Senior National Team from 2012 to 2014. She retired from international elite gymnastics in April 2014.
The Fierce Five was the artistic gymnastics team that won the second team gold medal for the United States, and the first gold medal on international soil, in the women's team competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Originally referred to as the Fab Five, the five members of the team were Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross, and Jordyn Wieber. Later in the Olympic Games, Douglas won a gold medal in the individual all-around event, becoming the first African-American to ever do so; Maroney won silver on vault; Raisman, the team captain, won bronze on balance beam and gold on floor exercise.
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Bailie Jaye Key is a retired American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 2014 Pacific Rim Championships and was the 2013 U.S. Junior National Champion.
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Jordan Lucella Elizabeth Chiles is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 2024 Summer Olympics, having previously been a member of the silver medal-winning team at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She was also a member of the team that won gold at the 2022 World Championships. Individually, she was the 2022 World vault silver medalist and floor silver medalist. She has been a member of the United States women's national gymnastics team since 2013. In NCAA Gymnastics, Chiles competes for the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team, where she has won two Pac-12 titles and two NCAA championships.
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The Final Five was the United States women's team in artistic gymnastics that won the team event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. It was the United States' third gold medal in the event after 2012 and 1996. The five members of the team were Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman, with MyKayla Skinner, Ragan Smith, and Ashton Locklear serving as the three alternates. After the team event, Biles won a gold medal in the individual all-around event, the vault, and on floor exercise and won a bronze on the balance beam, while Raisman won silver medals in the individual all-around, and on the floor exercise, where she was the defending champion, Hernandez won silver on the balance beam, and Kocian won a silver in the uneven bars. As of 2024, the Final Five is the most decorated American Olympic gymnastics team with nine medals total.
The 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team trials were held from June 29 through July 1, 2012, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
Yul Kyung-Tae Moldauer is an American artistic gymnast. He is the 2017 U.S. national all-around champion and the 2017 World bronze medalist on floor exercise. He has been a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team since 2017 and represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics and was a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2023 World Championships.
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