Kristen Ann Maloney (born March 10, 1981) is a retired

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

from

Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania Pen Argyl (; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Kleiberg'') is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The borough's population was 3,510 as of the 2020 census. Pen Argyl is located north of Allentown. It is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan are ...

, 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 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 ...

. Maloney also 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 S ...

in the NCAA from 2001 until 2005.

Early life

Maloney was born on March 10, 1981, in

Hackettstown, New Jersey Hackettstown is a town in Warren County, New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 10,248. Hackettstown was incorporated as a town by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 9, 1853, from portions of Inde ...

and attended

Pen Argyl Area High School Pen Argyl Area High School is a four-year public high school located in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the only high school in the Pen Argyl Area School District. As of the 2021-22 school year, ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Gymnastics career

Maloney trained at

Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center, or Parkettes for short, is a gymnastics club located in Allentown, Pennsylvania that had its beginnings in the early 1960s with a middle school gymnastics program in Allentown that gradually grew into ...

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: *Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California *Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County *Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Taze ...

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

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 The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney, where the American team won the bronze medal after a 2010 investigation by the

International Gymnastics Federation The International Gymnastics Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, FIG) is the body governing all disciplines of competitive gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on July 23, 1881, in ...

disqualified the original bronze medalist, China, for falsifying a gymnast's age. She also finished nineteenth in the individual all-around. After the Olympics, Maloney attended

UCLA 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 ...

on a full athletic scholarship and competed in

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 with the Bruins. She earned All-American honors and scored perfect tens at several meets. In her final college competition, 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 ...

, Maloney placed second in the all-around behind teammate

Tasha Schwikert Tasha Schwikert Warren (born November 21, 1984) is a retired American gymnast who is a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, a World Gymnastics Championships team gold medalist, the 2001 and 2002 U.S. senior national all-around champion and the 2005 and 2 ...

, won gold on vault and floor, and successfully completed a double-twisting Yurchenko vault and a full-twisting double layout 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 ...

. 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 California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. One of her gymnasts was

Shavahn Church Shavahn Nikole Church (born May 3, 1989 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California) is an American-British artistic gymnast who lives and trained in California. She formerly competed for the United States but decided in 2005 to represent Great Brita ...

, a member of the British national team. For a time, she lived in Europe and worked with

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

. She also taught preschool in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Maloney began working as an assistant gymnastics coach for the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, m ...

in Durham, New Hampshire in the 2010-11 season. She has been an assistant gymnastics coach at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

in Ames, Iowa since July 2011.

Skills

Her routines included the following skills: :

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 ...

: Double-twisting Yurchenko :

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 ...

: Maloney; Gienger; full-twisting double layout dismount :

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 ...

: 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 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 ...

: 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.

Awards and honors

*1999:

James E. Sullivan Award The AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), is awarded annually in April to "the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Representatives from the AAU created the AAU Sullivan Award with the int ...

: Finalist *1999: USA Gymnastics Gymnast of the Year *2005: Honda Sports Award *2017: UCLA sports hall of fame

References

External links

USA Gymnastics biographyIowa State biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maloney, Kristen 1981 births Living people American female artistic gymnasts Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in gymnastics Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Parkettes Pen Argyl Area High School alumni People from Hackettstown, New Jersey Sportspeople from Northampton County, Pennsylvania UCLA Bruins women's gymnasts Sportspeople from Warren County, New Jersey Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics U.S. women's national team gymnasts Goodwill Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games NCAA gymnasts who have scored a perfect 10