Maile O'Keefe ( ) (born February 26, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the U.S. National Team and is the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

U.S. Junior National Champion. She currently competes for the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

gymnastics team and is a 2x NCAA champion.

Early life

O'Keefe was born on February 26, 2002 to Matthew and Tori Lynn O'Keefe in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. She has three siblings, Paige, Caitlin & Dylan. She completed high school through Odyssey Charter School, graduating a year early in 2019.

Gymnastics career

Junior

2013

In 2013, O'Keefe, then eleven, was a level 9 gymnast. She attended a developmental camp at the

Karolyi Ranch The USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center at Karolyi Ranch or simply Karolyi Ranch in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, southeast of Huntsville, was a gymnastics camp facility which was the site of the main training center for the United ...

where she earned the opportunity to compete at an elite qualifier. At the qualifier, she performed at a high enough level where she was qualified to Junior Elite status, bypassing level 10 completely.

2014–16

O'Keefe competed at various domestic meets. She finished 13th and 17th at the 2014 and 2015

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 ...

respectively. She encountered breakthrough during the 2016 season, where she won the all-around title in the Junior division at the 2016 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, in addition to the beam and floor titles too.

2017

In March, O'Keefe competed at International Gymnix in Canada where she placed first in the all-around and finished top three on every event. In April, she participated in the 2017

City of Jesolo Trophy The City of Jesolo Trophy is an annual women's gymnastics competition held in Jesolo, Italy. There are competitions for the senior division and junior division. The United States won the senior team competition every year from 2010 to 2017.

. In Jesolo she finished second in the all-around behind

Gabby Perea Gabrielle "Gabby" Perea (born January 1, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. An elite gymnast since 2013, she was named to the National Team in March 2016; she received her inaugural international assignment at that time also, at the 2016 L'In ...

. O'Keefe also won bronze medals in the uneven bars and balance beam finals, as well as a silver medal in the floor exercise final. In June O'Keefe announced that she had verbally committed to attend the

on a gymnastics scholarship. In August, she won the all-around at the

2017 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships The 2017 P&G U.S. National Gymnastics Championships is the 54th edition of the U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. The competition was held from August 17–20, 2017 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Competition schedule The com ...

. She along with silver medalist

Emma Malabuyo Emma Malabuyo (born November 5, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. She is a five-time member of the U.S. National Team (2016–19, 2021). She was an alternate for the 2020 Olympic team. She is currently competing for the UCLA Bruins gymn ...

were selected to represent the USA at the 2017 International Junior Gymnastics Competition the following month in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. There O'Keefe won gold in the all-around and on beam and silver on floor, vault, and uneven bars.

Senior

2018

In February 2018, O'Keefe was named as the wildcard athlete for the 2018

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 her senior international debut, O'Keefe finished third with a score of 54.365, behind fellow American

Morgan Hurd Morgan Elizabeth Hurd (born July 18, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast and a five-time member of the United States women's national team (2016–21). She is the 2017 World all-around champion and balance beam silver medalist and the 2018 ...

and Mai Murakami of Japan. In the spring O'Keefe underwent wrist surgery to fix a

ganglion cyst A ganglion cyst is a fluid-filled bump associated with a joint or tendon sheath. It most often occurs at the back of the wrist, followed by the front of the wrist. Onset is often over several months, typically with no further symptoms. Occasional ...

. She spent the remainder of the year recovering.

Level 10

2019

In early 2019, O'Keefe announced that she had dropped back down to level 10. Her first meet was at the Brestyan’s Las Vegas Invitational in February. After the meet she announced that she received

early admission Early decision is a college admission plan in which students apply earlier in the year than usual and receive their results early as well. (It is completely different from “early admission,” which is when a high school student applies to coll ...

to the

and would be competing with their gymnastics program in the 2019–2020 season.

NCAA

O'Keefe signed her

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

with the

in March 2019. She joined Abby Paulson, Jillian Hoffman, and Jaedyn Rucker as the freshmen class of the 2019–2020 season.

2019–2020 season

O'Keefe made her NCAA debut in a meet against the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

where she competed on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam to help Utah win 196.425 to 195.350. She made her all-around debut at the inaugural ''Best of Utah'' meet against

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

Southern Utah Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now graduates over 1,800 students each year with baccalaureate and graduate degrees from its six colleges. ...

, and

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, where she helped Utah win and individually she placed third in the all-around.

2020–2021 season

In a meet against defending national champions the Oklahoma Sooners, O'Keefe competed all four events. Although Utah lost, O'Keefe claimed the all-around and balance beam titles with scores of 39.550 and 9.95 respectively. She was subsequently named as the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

gymnast of the week. The following week in a meet against Arizona O'Keefe only competed on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. She received the highest score, a 9.90, on the latter two events. On January 30, in a meet against Washington, O'Keefe earned her first perfect 10, achieving this score on the balance beam. Additionally she won the all-around with a score of 39.525. As a result O'Keefe was named as the

gymnast of the week for the second time this season. After the regular season concluded, O'Keefe was announced as the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year. In March O'Keefe competed at the Pac-12 Conference Championships. She helped Utah finish first while individually winning the all-around title and co-winning the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise titles. In April O'Keefe competed at the

NCAA Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

. She competed all four events for Utah and finished 11th in the all-around after having minor issues on the balance beam. However she finished first on both the uneven bars (tied with Maya Bordas of California) and on floor exercise (tied with Lexi Graber of Alabama and Anastasia Webb of Oklahoma). Additionally she helped Utah advance to the team finals. During the team finals O'Keefe recorded the highest balance beam and uneven bars scores of the day and helped Utah place third.

2021–2022 season

O'Keefe competed at the Best of Utah meet where she competed on only the uneven bars and balance beam to help Utah win. She put up the highest uneven bars score of the night, a 9.875. On January 29, in a meet against Stanford, O'Keefe earned her second career perfect ten on the balance beam. As a result she was named

gymnast of the week. O'Keefe was named

specialist of the year. At the Pac-12 Championships O'Keefe helped Utah win their second consecutive team title. Individually she placed third in the all-around behind

Jade Carey Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Best known for her abilities on vault and floor exercise, she is the 2020 Olympic champion on floor e ...

and teammate

Grace McCallum Grace Ann McCallum (born October 30, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the team event. She is the 2018 Pan American and 2018 Pacific Rim individual a ...

Career perfect 10.0

Competitive history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OKeefe, Maile 2002 births American female artistic gymnasts Level 10 gymnasts Living people Sportspeople from Las Vegas U.S. women's national team gymnasts Utah Red Rocks gymnasts NCAA gymnasts who have scored a perfect 10