Sabrina Vega (born May 24, 1995) is a retired American

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

Carmel, New York Carmel (pronounced ) is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the town had a population of 33,576. The town may have been named after Mount Carmel in Israel. The Town of Carmel is on the souther ...

. She was a five-time national team member and a member of the United States team that won gold at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She later competed for the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

from 2017 to 2020.

Personal life

Vega was born to David Vega, a former gymnast, and Jahaira Vega. Her younger brother, David Jr., plays baseball and football. She began gymnastics in 2000 and trained at Dynamic Gymnastics in

Mohegan Lake, New York Lake Mohegan, commonly known as Mohegan Lake, is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Yorktown in Westchester County, New York, United States. There is a private lake, Mohegan Lake, also known as "Lake Mohegan", with beaches ...

, until 2013, when she switched gyms to train 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 ...

. In 2018, Vega filed a lawsuit against Béla and

Marta Károlyi Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) :István Márta composer * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), a ...

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 ...

, and the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

for the abuse she suffered at the hands of

Larry Nassar Lawrence "Larry" Gerard Nassar (born August 16, 1963) is an American former physician and convicted child rapist. For 18 years, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team. He used his employment as the ...

, the former national team doctor. She was one of more than 300 women and girls who were victims of Nassar's abuse.

Elite career

In 2009, Vega competed at the United States Junior National Championships in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

. She won gold on the

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 ...

and bronze 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 finished fourth in the all-around. She then competed at the 2009 Junior Pan American Championships in Aracaju, Brazil, where she helped the United States team win the gold medal. Individually, she won silver medals in the all-around and 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 ...

behind 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 ...

. In her first major meet as a senior, the 2011 CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Vega placed third in the all-around (scoring 56.85), second on floor (14.25), and fourth on vault (14.6). That August, she placed fifth in the all-around at the 2011 U.S. National Championships in

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, with a two-night score of 112.05. She earned fourth place on floor exercise (28.9) and fifth place on beam (28.85), and was named to the Worlds team along with

Alicia Sacramone Alicia Marie Sacramone Quinn (; born December 3, 1987) is a retired American artistic gymnast. She won a silver medal with the United States team at the 2008 Summer Olympics and is the 2005 World Champion on floor exercise and the 2010 World Ch ...

Gabby Douglas Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 2 ...

McKayla Maroney McKayla Rose Maroney (born December 9, 1995) is a retired American artistic gymnast and singer. She was a member of the American women's gymnastics team dubbed the Fierce Five at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the team ...

Aly Raisman Alexandra Rose Raisman (born May 25, 1994) is a retired American artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was captain of both the 2012 " Fierce Five" and 2016 " Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective te ...

, and

Jordyn Wieber Jordyn Marie Wieber (born July 12, 1995) is an American former artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach. Since April 2019, she has been the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team. Wieber was a member of the gold medal-winning ...

. The United States went on to win gold in the team final, where Vega competed on bars and beam. At the 2012 Olympic Trials, Vega finished 10th in the all-around and was not named to the Olympic team. She did not train in 2013, but resumed training in mid-2014 and attended a U.S. training camp in November 2014. At the 2015 U.S. Classic, Vega returned to elite competition for the first time since 2012 after transferring to GAGE, where she trained under Al Fong and Armine Barutyan-Fong alongside new teammates

Brenna Dowell Brenna Dowell (born March 4, 1996) is a former American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. A prevalent gymnast on the National scene throughout the 2010s, D ...

and

Madison Desch Madison "Maddie" Desch (born August 25, 1997) is a retired American artistic gymnast who was a member of the gold medal winning US team at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and 2015 Pan American Games. She competed on the gymnast ...

. She scored a 0 on bars, performing only an exhibition routine. She had a subpar beam routine with a 5.6 start value and scored 12.500 to finish 14th on the event. On floor, she had a fall and scored 13.200, finishing 11th. On October 3, 2015, Vega announced that she had retired from elite gymnastics and accepted a scholarship to the

to compete 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 for the

Georgia Gym Dogs The Georgia Gymdogs (officially the Georgia Bulldogs) is the women's gymnastics team of the University of Georgia. The team is part of NCAA Division I and competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gymdogs compete in Stegeman Coliseum in ...

NCAA career

2017 (Freshman)

Vega competed beam and floor consistently throughout the season, with season highs of 9.9 and 9.95, respectively. Georgia qualified for the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, where it placed 12th.

2018 (Sophomore)

Vega competed beam and floor at every meet and vault at all but one, earned first-team All-American honors on floor, earned SEC Specialist of the Week, and repeatedly led the team on floor. At the 2018 Tuscaloosa Regional, Georgia came in ranked 18th and was not favored to advance to the NCAA Championships. However, the higher-ranked Michigan team struggled and Vega hit the final routine of the day for Georgia, scoring 9.875 on beam. Georgia edged out Illinois by 0.075 to qualify to Nationals, where it finished 7th, just missing a spot in the finals.

2019 (Junior)

Entering her junior year as a team leader, Vega was named SEC Specialist of the Year and earned regular season first-team All-American honors on beam and second-team honors on floor. She competed on vault, beam, and floor in every meet. Georgia again qualified for Nationals, where it placed 8th.

2020 (Senior)

In her final season, Vega added bars to her program and competed all four events for the first time since 2012. The season was 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 identi ...

, but she finished ranked in the top 20 nationally on beam and the top 10 nationally on floor, and "was Georgia’s leading scorer five times on beam, nine times on floor, and three times in the all-around," according to the UGA athletics department. She earned regular season All-American honors and two SEC Specialist of the Week awards, while landing among the ESPN Top 10 "Should Go Viral" floor routines. She was nominated for the

AAI Award The AAI Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the most outstanding senior collegiate female gymnast in the country. The award is voted on by NCAA women's gymnastics head coaches and sponsored by American Athletic, Inc. Winners ...

, "widely considered the Heisman Trophy of women’s gymnastics." Vega was also a strong student at Georgia, majoring in biology and minoring in public health, with the goal of attending medical school.

References

External links

*
Sabrina Vega
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vega, Sabrina 1995 births Living people American female artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Sportspeople from New York City People from Carmel, New York Georgia Gym Dogs gymnasts U.S. women's national team gymnasts