Rachel Kathryn Gowey (born October 3, 1997) is a former American artistic gymnast. She was a U.S. National Team member, from 2014 until her retirement from elite gymnastics in 2016, following her performance at the

U.S. Olympic Trials The United States Olympic Trials are competitions held in certain sports to select the United States' participants in those sports at the Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading i ...

. Gowey was a member of the gold-winning U.S. team at the 2015 Pan-American Games in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. There, she also won a gold medal individually on the uneven bars. During her elite career, she was coached by

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 ...

, 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 ...

and 2012 Olympic individual all-around champion

Gabby Douglas Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Olympic all around champion and the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Champi ...

. She was coached by Jenny Rowland at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, where she began attending in 2016.

Competitive history

2013

Gowey became a Senior International Elite in 2013 and advanced to the

USA Gymnastics National Championships The USA Gymnastics National Championships is the annual artistic gymnastics national competition held in the United States for elite-level competition. It is currently organized by USA Gymnastics, the governing body for gymnastics in the United Stat ...

, but was unable to compete there due to a back injury.

2014

Gowey was added to the U.S. National Team in 2014. Since her addition to the squad, she was named to the U.S. delegation to the 2014 City of Jesolo Trophy in Venice, Italy. She finished 5th in the all-around with a score of 56.750. Gowey competed at the 2014 Secret U.S. Classic, placing 4th scoring 57.000. She was scheduled to compete at the 2014 P&G U.S National Championships but had to withdraw after fracturing her ankle on her triple twist dismount on the balance beam at podium training. After recovering and attending national team camps, Gowey was added back to the team on November 25, 2014.

2015

At the Pan American Games in Toronto (July 11-15, 2015), she was part of the US team that won gold convincingly. She also won gold on the uneven bars with a score of 14.725. Following the P&G Championships, where she placed 6th on the uneven bars (15.350 Day 1 + 14.700 Day 2 = 30.050) and 6th on the balance beam (14.400 Day 1 + 14.350 Day 2 = 28.750), Gowey was named to the Senior National Team and was invited to the 2015 Worlds Selection Camp in September. On November 11, 2015, she officially signed the

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 ...

to the

2016

Gowey competed at the Secret U.S. Classic in Hartford, Connecticut in June. She placed 2nd in the All-Around at this meet and advanced to the P&G Gymnastics Championships. Later in June, Gowey competed at the P&G Gymnastics Championships in St.Louis, Missouri. After two days of competition, Gowey placed 5th on the uneven bars and 9th in the All-Around with a combined two day score of 113.700. This qualified Gowey to the

and she was also named to the U.S. National Team following the event. In July, Gowey competed at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials for gymnastics which were held in San Jose, California. After two days of competition, Gowey placed 6th on the uneven bars and 7th on balance beam. In September, Gowey began attending the

, where she competed for the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

gymnastics team from 2016-2020.

Personal life

Gowey was born 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, ...

. She is a member of the

Johnston High School Johnston High School is a public secondary school located in Johnston, Iowa. It is part of the Johnston Community School District. The school serves approximately 1,600 students in grades 10 through 12. Freshman students attend Johnston Middle S ...

class of 2016 and the

class of 2020 where she competed on the

gymnastics team.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gowey, Rachel 1997 births Living people American female artistic gymnasts Florida Gators women's gymnasts Sportspeople from Des Moines, Iowa People from Urbandale, Iowa Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics U.S. women's national team gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games NCAA gymnasts who have scored a perfect 10 21st-century American women