Kristen Maloney

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.

Kristen Maloney
Full nameKristen Ann Maloney
Nickname(s)Kris, Maloney
Country represented United States
Born (1981-03-10) March 10, 1981
Hackettstown, New Jersey, U.S.
HometownPen Argyl, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior International Elite
ClubParkettes National Gymnastics Training Center
College teamUCLA 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 skillsMaloney
RetiredApril 24, 2005
Medal record
Women's artistic gymnastics
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Sydney Team
Goodwill Games
Gold medal – first place 1998 New YorkBalance Beam
Pacific Rim Championships
Gold medal – first place 1996 Kuala LumpurTeam
Gold medal – first place 1998 WinnipegAll Around
Gold medal – first place 1998 WinnipegTeam
Bronze medal – third place 1998 WinnipegBalance Beam
Representing UCLA Bruins
NCAA Championships
Gold medal – first place2001 AthensTeam
Gold medal – first place2004 Los AngelesTeam
Gold medal – first place2005 Los AngelesVault
Gold medal – first place2005 Los AngelesBalance Beam
Silver medal – second place2004 Los AngelesUneven Bars
Silver medal – second place2005 Los AngelesAll Around
Bronze medal – third place2001 AthensBalance Beam

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]

Apparatus Name Description Difficulty[lower-alpha 1]
Uneven barsMaloneyInner 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

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.
  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. p. 98, 208. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  6. "Gymnastics". CWSA. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
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