Sabrina Vega

Last updated
Sabrina Vega
Nickname(s)Sabby
Country representedFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Born (1995-05-24) May 24, 1995 (age 27)
Carmel, New York, U.S.
Height5 ft 1 in (155 cm)
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior
Years on national team2008–12 (USA)
Club Great American Gymnastics Express
College team Georgia Gymdogs
Head coach(es)Al Fong and Armine Barutyan Fong
Former coach(es) Sorin Cepoi
Teodora Ungureanu
RetiredOctober 3, 2015 (elite), April 3, 2020 (NCAA)
Website www.sabrinavega.com

Sabrina Vega (born May 24, 1995) is a retired American gymnast from Carmel, New York. She was a five-time national team member and a member of the United States team that won gold at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She later competed for the University of Georgia from 2017 to 2020.

Contents

Personal life

Vega was born to David Vega, a former gymnast, and Jahaira Vega. Her younger brother, David Jr., plays baseball and football. She began gymnastics in 2000 [1] and trained at Dynamic Gymnastics in Mohegan Lake, New York, until 2013, when she switched gyms to train at Great American Gymnastics Express.

In 2018, Vega filed a lawsuit against Béla and Marta Károlyi, USA Gymnastics, and the United States Olympic Committee for the abuse she suffered at the hands of Larry Nassar, the former national team doctor. [2] She was one of more than 300 women and girls who were victims of Nassar's abuse. [3]

Elite career

In 2009, Vega competed at the United States Junior National Championships in Dallas, Texas. She won gold on the floor exercise and bronze on balance beam, and finished fourth in the all-around. [4] She then competed at the 2009 Junior Pan American Championships in Aracaju, Brazil, where she helped the United States team win the gold medal. Individually, she won silver medals in the all-around and on uneven bars behind teammate Kyla Ross.

In her first major meet as a senior, the 2011 CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Vega placed third in the all-around (scoring 56.85), second on floor (14.25), and fourth on vault (14.6). [5] That August, she placed fifth in the all-around at the 2011 U.S. National Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a two-night score of 112.05. [6] She earned fourth place on floor exercise (28.9) and fifth place on beam (28.85), [7] and was named to the Worlds team along with Alicia Sacramone, Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, and Jordyn Wieber. The United States went on to win gold in the team final, where Vega competed on bars and beam.

At the 2012 Olympic Trials, Vega finished 10th in the all-around and was not named to the Olympic team.

She did not train in 2013, but resumed training in mid-2014 and attended a U.S. training camp in November 2014. [8]

At the 2015 U.S. Classic, Vega returned to elite competition for the first time since 2012 after transferring to GAGE, where she trained under Al Fong and Armine Barutyan-Fong alongside new teammates Brenna Dowell and Madison Desch. She scored a 0 on bars, performing only an exhibition routine. She had a subpar beam routine with a 5.6 start value and scored 12.500 to finish 14th on the event. On floor, she had a fall and scored 13.200, finishing 11th.

On October 3, 2015, Vega announced that she had retired from elite gymnastics and accepted a scholarship to the University of Georgia to compete in NCAA gymnastics for the Georgia Gym Dogs. [9]

NCAA career

2017 (Freshman)

Vega competed beam and floor consistently throughout the season, with season highs of 9.9 and 9.95, respectively. [10] Georgia qualified for the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, where it placed 12th.

2018 (Sophomore)

Vega competed beam and floor at every meet and vault at all but one, earned first-team All-American honors on floor, earned SEC Specialist of the Week, and repeatedly led the team on floor. At the 2018 Tuscaloosa Regional, Georgia came in ranked 18th and was not favored to advance to the NCAA Championships. However, the higher-ranked Michigan team struggled and Vega hit the final routine of the day for Georgia, scoring 9.875 on beam. Georgia edged out Illinois by 0.075 to qualify to Nationals, [11] where it finished 7th, just missing a spot in the finals. [12]

2019 (Junior)

Entering her junior year as a team leader, [13] Vega was named SEC Specialist of the Year and earned regular season first-team All-American honors on beam and second-team honors on floor. She competed on vault, beam, and floor in every meet. Georgia again qualified for Nationals, where it placed 8th.

2020 (Senior)

In her final season, Vega added bars to her program and competed all four events for the first time since 2012. The season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she finished ranked in the top 20 nationally on beam and the top 10 nationally on floor, and "was Georgia’s leading scorer five times on beam, nine times on floor, and three times in the all-around," according to the UGA athletics department. [14] She earned regular season All-American honors and two SEC Specialist of the Week awards, while landing among the ESPN Top 10 "Should Go Viral" floor routines. [15] She was nominated for the AAI Award, "widely considered the Heisman Trophy of women’s gymnastics." [16]

Vega was also a strong student at Georgia, majoring in biology and minoring in public health, with the goal of attending medical school. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Béla Károlyi</span> Romanian-American gymnastics coach

Béla Károlyi is an ethnic Hungarian Romanian-American gymnastics coach. Early in his coaching career he developed the Romanian centralised training system for gymnastics. One of his earliest protégés was Nadia Comăneci, the first Olympic Games gymnast to be awarded a perfect score. Living under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Károlyi frequently clashed with Romanian officials. He and his wife defected to the United States in 1981.

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

Courtney Anne Kupets Carter is an American former artistic gymnast. She is a two-time Olympic medalist from the 2004 Olympics, the 2002 world champion on the uneven bars, the 2003 U.S. national all-around champion, and the 2004 U.S. national all-around co-champion. She is also a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the 2003 World Championships.

<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">Jamie Dantzscher</span> American artistic gymnast

Jamie Annette Dantzscher is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the bronze-medal-winning American team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Márta Károlyi</span> Hungarian-Romanian-American gymnastics coach

Márta Károlyi is a Hungarian-American gymnastics coach and the former national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics. She and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania, Romania, who trained athletes in Romania before defecting to the United States in 1981. Béla and Márta Károlyi have trained nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and many U.S. national champions, including Mary Lou Retton, Betty Okino, Kerri Strug, Teodora Ungureanu, Phoebe Mills, Nadia Comăneci, Kim Zmeskal, and Dominique Moceanu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USA Gymnastics</span> National gymnastics governing body

United States of America Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and training national teams for the Olympic Games and World Championships. The revised 2018 mission of USA Gymnastics is focused on "creating a culture that empowers and supports its athletes and focuses on its highest priority, the safety and well-being of the athletes." USAG sets the rules and policies that govern the sport of gymnastics, including "promoting and developing gymnastics on the grassroots and national levels, as well as a safe, empowered and positive training environment, and serving as a resource center for members, clubs, fans and gymnasts throughout the United States."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics</span> College womens gymnastics team representing the University of California, Los Angeles

The UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics team represents the University of California, Los Angeles and competes in the Pac-12 Conference. They currently compete in Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA. The team, coached by Janelle McDonald, has won 21 Regional titles and 7 NCAA National Championships, most recently in 2018.

Kayla Marie Hoffman is a former American artistic gymnast from Union, New Jersey. A former senior international elite, she competed for the University of Alabama gymnastics team from 2008 to 2011. In 2011, she won the Honda Sports Award as the top woman gymnast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyla Ross</span> American artistic gymnast

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aly Raisman</span> American olympic gymnast and gold medalist

Alexandra Rose Raisman is a retired American 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McKayla Maroney</span> American artistic gymnast

McKayla Rose Maroney is a retired American artistic gymnast and singer. She was a member of the American women's gymnastics team dubbed the Fierce Five at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the team and an individual silver medal in the vault event. Maroney was also a member of the gold-winning American team at the 2011 World Championships, where she won gold medals in the team and vault competitions. She defended her World title and won the gold medal on vault at the 2013 World Championships, becoming the first U.S. female gymnast to defend a World Championship vault title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabby Douglas</span> 2012 Olympic gymnastics all-around champion

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 also a member of the gold-winning American teams at the 2011 and the 2015 World Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bailie Key</span> American artistic gymnast

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madison Kocian</span> American artistic gymnast

Madison Taylor Kocian is a retired American artistic gymnast. On the uneven bars, she is one of four 2015 world champions and the 2016 Olympic silver medalist. She was part of the gold medal-winning team dubbed the "Final Five" at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and was a member of the first-place American teams at the 2014 and 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2020, where she was a member of its NCAA women's gymnastics team.

Kennedy Baker is a retired American collegiate and artistic gymnast. She competed as an elite gymnast from 2009 through 2013 and has since retired. She had competed in collegiate gymnastics for the Florida Gators.

McKenna Lane Kelley is a retired American artistic gymnast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norah Flatley</span> American artistic gymnast

Norah Irene Flatley is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2014 Pacific Rim junior balance beam champion. She previously competed for the UCLA Bruins and is currently competing for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Nichols (gymnast)</span> American artistic gymnast

Margaret Mary Nichols is an American former collegiate artistic gymnast. She was the ninth NCAA gymnast to complete a Gym Slam, the first to do so for Oklahoma, and the first NCAA gymnast to have achieved it twice.

Trinity Lemyra Thomas is an American artistic gymnast and a four-time National Team member (2016–20). She was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 2018 Pan American Gymnastics Championships, where she also won silver medals in the individual all-around and on the uneven bars, as well as the bronze medalist on balance beam and floor exercise at the 2017 national championships. She is also currently a member of the Florida Gators women's gymnastics team.

Maile O'Keefe is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the U.S. National Team and is the 2016 and 2017 U.S. Junior National Champion. She currently competes for the University of Utah's NCAA gymnastics team and is a 2x NCAA champion.

References

  1. "USA Gymnastics | Sabrina Vega". usagym.org. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  2. Connor, Tracy; Fitzpatrick, Sarah (May 1, 2018). "Elite gymnast Sabrina Vega files suit against the Karolyis". NBC News. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  3. Levenson, Michael (2020-01-31). "U.S.A. Gymnastics Offers $215 Million to Larry Nassar Victims". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  4. "The Official Website of Sabrina Vega |". Archived from the original on 2009-09-06. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  5. "2011 Cover Girl Classic Meet Results" (PDF) (Press release). USA Gymnastics. 23 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  6. "Women – 2011 Visa Championships - Women Day 2". Factsheet. USA Gymnastics. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  7. "2011 Visa Championships - Women Day 2 Beam Rankings" (PDF). Factsheet. USA Gymnastics. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  8. "Final national team camp for 2014 wraps up today".
  9. College Gym News (2015-10-03). "Sabrina Vega Verbally Commits to Georgia". College Gym News. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  10. "Sabrina Vega - 2020 - Gymnastics". University of Georgia Athletics. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  11. balancebeamsituation (2018-04-07). "Regionals Live Blog". The Balance Beam Situation. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  12. "Teams". roadtonationals.com. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  13. "Teams". roadtonationals.com. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  14. "Sabrina Vega - 2020 - Gymnastics". University of Georgia Athletics. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  15. "Gymdogs 2020 Season Recap". University of Georgia Athletics. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  16. "2020 AAI Award nominees announced -". 2020-02-14. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  17. Sudge, Brandon (5 April 2019). ""Equal passions: Sabrina Vega balances stellar GymDog performances with pre-med track"". The Telegraph.