Katelyn Michelle Ohashi (born April 12, 1997) is an American former
artistic gymnast
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...
who competed for the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. She is a six-time
All-America
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
n and was a four-time member of
USA Gymnastics
United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) 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 train ...
' Junior National Team, the 2011 junior national champion
[”Katelyn Ohashi,” USA Gymnastics, Bio](_blank)
accessed September 27, 2011. and the winner of the 2013
American Cup
The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...
. She trended globally on various social media networks in January 2019 for her
perfect 10 score at the 2019 Collegiate Challenge, the fourth perfect 10 floor routine of her career. Ohashi incorporated current, popular dance elements into her floor routines.
Early life and education
Ohashi was born in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
to Richard and Diana Ohashi, the latter a former high-school gymnast. She has three older brothers, Ryan, Kyle and Kalen, and is of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
descent.
Ohashi started gymnastics at age 3.
In 2006, Ohashi, her mother, and the youngest of her brothers, Kalen, moved to
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
. Three years later they moved to
Plano, Texas
Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Hist ...
, both to support her gymnastics training.
She attended
Spring Creek Academy
Spring Creek Academy is a Dallas-area private school. Located in Plano, Texas, Spring Creek Academy opened in 1996, and currently serves approximately 200 students in grades K-12. It offers all core and academic elective courses required to meet ...
before graduating from
Plano Senior High School
Plano Senior High School (commonly Plano, Plano Senior High, or PSHS) is a public secondary school in Plano, Texas, serving students in grades 11– 12. The school is part of the Plano Independent School District, with admission based primar ...
in 2015. She began attending the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
in the fall of 2015, where she majored in
gender studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
, graduating in 2019.
Ohashi had body-image problems and has been a recipient of body-shaming insults. She has received mental health counseling, which she reports as being "crucial in my growing as a person and my mental health."
Gymnastics career
Junior
2009
Early in her career, Ohashi trained with
Al Fong at
Great American Gymnastics Express
Great American Gymnastics Express, known also as GAGE Center or just GAGE, is an American artistic gymnastics academy, located in Blue Springs, Missouri.
History
GAGE was founded in 1979 by its present-day owner and head coach, Al Fong.
Nota ...
(GAGE) in
Blue Springs, Missouri
Blue Springs is a city located in the U.S. state of Missouri within Jackson County. Blue Springs is located east of downtown Kansas City and is the 9th largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population wa ...
. Ohashi was twelve years old when she made her debut on the national gymnastics scene at the 2009
Junior Olympic National Championships, where she placed first on
floor exercise
In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...
, tied for second on
uneven bars
The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...
, placed fourth in the all-around and tied for seventh on
vault
Vault may refer to:
* Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards
Architecture
* Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space
* Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored
* Burial vault (enclosure ...
.
She competed in her first elite meet at the 2009
U.S. Classic
The U.S. Classic is an annual summer gymnastics meet for elite artistic gymnasts of the United States. The meet occurs before Nationals and is a qualifier for it. In Olympic years, the aforementioned meets along with the U.S. Olympic Trials are u ...
in
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
, where she placed fourth on floor in the junior division, tied for fifth on
balance beam
The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...
and placed ninth in the all-around. This qualified her for the
National Championships
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, where she won the silver medal on floor, placed sixth on beam, finished tenth in the all-around and was named to the junior national team.
Soon after Nationals, Ohashi moved to
Plano, Texas
Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Hist ...
, to train at
WOGA.
2010
In the junior division of the 2010 U.S. Classic in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Ohashi won silver medals in the all-around and on bars, beam and floor.
At the National Championships in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
, in July, she won the bars title, placed third in the all-around and tied for fourth on floor. She placed fifth on beam and seventh on vault.
At the 2010 Bumbo Cup in
Pretoria, South Africa
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...
, Ohashi captured the junior-division gold medals in the all-around, floor and vault, along with silver medals on bars and beam.
2011
In the junior division at the 2011
City of Jesolo Trophy, Ohashi helped the U.S. win the team competition and won an individual gold medal on floor. She tied for second on uneven bars and placed third all-around, fourth on beam and fifth on vault.
At the U.S. Classic in Chicago, she won the silver medal on beam with a score of 14.95, and tied for fifth on vault with Kiana Winston (14.55). At the National Championships in August, she won the junior all-around title with a total score of 120.95 over two nights, beating defending champion
Kyla Ross
Kyla Briana Ross (born October 24, 1996) 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.
Ross w ...
.
["Ohashi cruises to victory at the 2011 Visa Championships,"](_blank)
Press release, USA Gymnastics, August 20, 2011, accessed September 29, 2011.
Ohashi captured the bars title at Nationals with skills that included an el-grip endo to straddled Jaeger,
a Gienger and a tucked double-double dismount.
Factsheet, USA Gymnastics, August 14, 2011, accessed September 29, 2011. Her winning beam routine, one of the most difficult in the world, featured a full-twisting back layout, a standing Arabian, an Onodi and a piked full-in dismount.
She also won floor with a routine that included a piked full-in and a two-and-a-half twist to front full.
On vault, she performed a double-twisting
Yurchenko Yurchenko is a Ukrainian patronymic surname that comes from the name Yuriy. It may refer to:
* David Yurchenko (born 1986), Russian-Armenian footballer
* Denys Yurchenko (born 1978), Ukrainian pole vaulter
* Ihor Yurchenko (born 1960), Soviet a ...
and finished fourth.
Senior
Ohashi won the 2013
American Cup
The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...
in March, defeating U.S. teammate
Simone Biles
Simone Arianne Biles (; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most de ...
. In April, however, she had shoulder surgery, which prevented her from competing for the rest of the year.
In an interview at the 2014 WOGA Classic, Ohashi said she was unsure of her ability to continue at the international elite level after her injury. Later in the year, she suffered from two torn shoulders and a spine injury that required surgery, and did not compete again until 2015.
Level 10
In 2015, Ohashi dropped from elite competition back to
Level 10. Her first competition since 2013 was the Texas Prime Meet, where she performed only on vault, beam and floor.
Ohashi competed at the 2015 Pikes Peak Cup in
Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
on February 6. She placed 17th in the all-around competing on three events instead of four, and finished second in the vault event final with a score of 9.850. She then competed at the
2015 WOGA Classic on February 14 and placed 14th overall, competing in only three events. On February 20, she competed at the Legends Invitational in Los Angeles, where she placed 13th in the all-around and second on vault.
Collegiate
Ohashi joined the
UCLA Bruins gymnastics team for the 2015–2016 season and was the
Pac-12 Freshman of the Week four times. However, in a meet against the
Arizona Wildcats, the cap of Ohashi's balance beam fell off, causing her to land on her neck upon dismount. Tests showed that she had sustained a
sternal fracture
A sternal fracture is a fracture of the sternum (the breastbone), located in the center of the chest. The injury, which occurs in 5–8% of people who experience significant blunt chest trauma, may occur in vehicle accidents, when the still-movi ...
, an injury that kept her out for four weeks. The following season, Ohashi finished the regular season at No. 1 on balance beam and received two perfect 10s. In the 2018 season she improved upon her performances from the previous season. She captured three perfect 10s on floor, the first of her career, and set career highs on the uneven bars, vault and the all-around. She finished the regular season ranked first on floor and third on beam, and was named the PAC-12 specialist of the year. Going into the national championships she competed on beam and floor, placing fourth on beam and winning the floor title, her first national championship win. She followed this up with another national championship win the next night with the UCLA team in the Super Six, where Ohashi scored a pair of 9.95s on beam and floor. At the 2019 Collegiate Challenge, she earned perfect 10s for a floor routine to an R&B and pop hits medley that she was performing for the second time and that has been shared widely on social media.
Career perfect 10.0
Regular season ranking
2021
In 2021, Katelyn Ohashi participated in Simone Biles' "
Gold Over America Tour".
Competitive history
References
External links
Katelyn Ohashi - 10.0 on Floor Exercise (1-12-19)Katelyn Ohashi interview on Good Morning America
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohashi, Katelyn
1997 births
American female artistic gymnasts
American people of German descent
American sportspeople of Japanese descent
Gymnasts from Texas
Living people
Sportspeople from Bellevue, Washington
Sportspeople from Seattle
U.S. women's national team gymnasts
UCLA Bruins women's gymnasts
NCAA gymnasts who have scored a perfect 10