Norah Irene Flatley (born March 10, 2000, in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2014 Pacific Rim junior balance beam champion. She previously competed for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

and also competed for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

Early life

Norah Flatley was born on March 10, 2000, in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

to Terrence Flatley and Ann McKenzie. She is the youngest of four children. One of Flatley's sisters, Anna, was a competitive gymnast, and at the age of four Flatley wanted to join her. She enrolled in gymnastics classes at Salto Gymnastics in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Naturally gifted, Flatley made both the 2007 and 2009 National TOPs teams. In 2010, Flatley was both Level 8 State (WI) and Regional (4) champion for her age category. In the summer of 2010 her family relocated to

Cumming, Iowa Cumming is a city in Warren County, Iowa, United States. The population was 436 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the hometown of former Senator Tom Harkin. A part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area, Cummin ...

, in order for her to train under the tutelage of

Liang Chow Liang Chow (also known as Qiao Liang; ) (born January 1, 1968) is a Chinese-American former artistic gymnast. He is the founder, owner, and head coach of Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa. He is notable for being the ...

, the former coach of 2008 Olympic balance beam champion

Shawn Johnson Shawn Johnson East (born Shawn Machel Johnson; January 19, 1992) is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Johnson is also the 2007 al ...

. A year later, in 2011, she was crowned Level 9 Regional Champion. At her first Level 9 Western Championships – at the age of eleven, Flatley was crowned the individual champion in the all-around, on beam and floor.

Gymnastics career

Level 10

2012

Flatley moved up to Level 10 for the 2012 competitive season. She was State champion, and was second at Regionals. In May, she participated in her first ever J.O. Nationals – held in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

. She tied for third in the all-around with Chow's club teammate Alexis Vasquez, and Southeastern gymnast Grace Glenn. However, she won the balance beam title with a score of 9.725.

Junior elite

2013

Flatley qualified to Junior International Elite status. She qualified to the

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 Chicago and placed fourth in the all-around and won gold on balance beam. Flatley scored the highest balance beam score (15.2) of the meet within both senior and junior divisions. At the 2013 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, Flately accumulated a two-day all-around score of 112.400, placing fifth overall. She won silver on balance beam behind

Bailie Key Bailie Jaye Key (born 16 March 1999) 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. Gymnastics career 2011-14: ...

. As a result she was named to the junior

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

2014

Flatley made her international debut at the

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.

competition in Jesolo, Italy. She helped team USA win gold. Individually she placed third in the all-around behind

and

Nia Dennis Nia Camille Dennis (born February 23, 1999) is a retired American collegiate artistic gymnast. She was a member of the USA National Team from 2012–16. She is the 2014 Pacific Rim team champion and junior all-around and vault silver medalist. ...

and won gold on balance beam. She next competed at the

Pacific Rim Championships The Pacific Rim Championships is a major regional biennial gymnastics competition. It is open to teams from member nations of the Pacific Alliance of National Gymnastics Federations, namely Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, ...

in April in Richmond, Canada. While there she won team gold and gold on the balance beam. At the 2014

Flatley placed third in the all-around, tied with

Deanne Soza Deanne Soza (born September 24, 2001 in Orem, Utah) is a former American artistic gymnast. Competitive History 2013 Soza competed at the 2013 Secret U.S. Classic, placing 16th all-around. She advanced to Nationals where she accumulated a tw ...

and behind

Jordan Chiles Jordan Lucella Elizabeth Chiles (born April 15, 2001) 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 was a member of the team that won gold at the 2 ...

and Dennis. In August Flately competed at 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 ...

. She finished third in the all-around behind

Jazmyn Foberg Jazmyn Foberg (born February 2, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast. She was the 2014 junior national all-around and uneven bars champion, as well as a member of the United States Junior National Team. Starting in 2017, she is competing on the ...

and Dennis. Additionally she won silver on the uneven bars behind Foberg and placed fourth on balance beam.

2015

Flatley competed her last year as a Junior International Elite in the 2015 season. At the

2015 City of Jesolo Trophy The 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy ( it, Trofeo Citta Jesolo 2015) was the eighth edition of the City of Jesolo Trophy competition and was held March 25–29, 2015 at the SGA Gymnasium Treviso in Jesolo, Italy Teams from Italy, the United States, Can ...

she helped the USA finish first as a team. Individually she won gold on balance beam and silver in the all-around and on the uneven bars, behind

Laurie Hernandez Lauren Zoe Hernandez (born June 9, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast. During her debut year as a senior gymnast, she competed as a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team dubbed the " Final Five" at the 2016 Summer Olympics; Ultimately, t ...

on each. Due to a foot injury, Flatley missed the

and the U.S. National Championships. On October 7, 2015, Flately announced her verbal commitment to the

UCLA Bruins gymnastics 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 Regi ...

program, through her

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account.

Retirement from elite

2016–2017

Flatley was set for her Senior International debut in 2016 but withdrew from all competitions for reason of injury. On July 21, 2017, she announced her retirement from elite gymnastics and announced plans to move down to Level 10 for the 2018 season.

Collegiate

2018–2019 season

In the fall of 2018, Flatley 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 ...

, joining the gymnastics team. Flatley competed on uneven bars and balance beam in every meet of her freshman season. She was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on February 26. She helped her team to a third-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships, contributing scores on beam and bars of 9.8875 and 9.9 respectively.

2019–2020 season

Flatley regularly contributed to the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise lineups before the season got cut short due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

2020–2021 season

While warming up for UCLA's season-opening meet against Arizona State, Flatley suffered an ankle injury that kept her out of competition until the postseason. She returned to the uneven bars lineup at the Pac-12 Championship, scoring 9.875. She competed uneven bars and balance beam at the regional championships, but UCLA failed to qualify to nationals.

2021–2022 season

Fully recovered from the previous season's ankle injury, Flatley competed in at least three events during every meet of the regular season, including six times in the all-around. At the regional finals, Flatley competed only on the vault and uneven bars, citing mental health reasons. UCLA again failed to qualify to the national championships as a team, finishing just 0.025 points behind the second-place qualifying

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...

. However, Flatley's all-around score of 39.575 from the regional semifinals qualified her to nationals as an individual in the all-around. At 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 ...

, Flatley placed seventh in the all-around with a score of 39.6 and fourth on the balance beam with a score of 9.9375.

2022–2023 season

Following the 2022 National Championships it was reported by gymnastics podcast GymCastic that Flatley, who has a fifth year of NCAA eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had entered the transfer portal. On May 31, 2022 it was announced that Flately would be joining the

gymnastics team, reuniting with former UCLA teammate

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 ...

, as assistant coach for the team. Flatley made her debut for Arkansas on January 7, 2023 in a meet against Nebraska. Flatley competed on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam towards Arkansas' victory. Individually Flatley posted the highest score on uneven bars and co-highest score on vault. Following the 2023 SEC Championship, she was awarded All-SEC honours on vault, floor and all-around.

Regular season ranking

Personal life

Flatley has been in a relationship with

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

soccer player Justin Garces since November 2018.

Competitive history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flatley, Norah 2000 births Living people American female artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from San Diego Sportspeople from California UCLA Bruins women's gymnasts U.S. women's national team gymnasts Arkansas Razorbacks women's gymnasts