Karen Cockburn (born October 2, 1980) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

trampoline gymnast Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic sport in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle position to more com ...

. She won a bronze medal at the

2000 Summer 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 the individual event. She won a gold medal at the

2003 Trampoline World Championships The 23rd Trampoline World Championships were held in Hannover, Germany from 17 October to 19 October 2003. Results Men Trampoline Individual Trampoline Team Trampoline Synchro Double Mini Trampoline Double Mini Trampoline Tea ...

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany in the same event and a bronze in the team event. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

and

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, she won a silver medal in the individual event.

Background

Cockburn was born 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 anch ...

and grew up in

North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a po ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. She began trampolining at age 11, and was a student at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and sta ...

. She is a member of the Skyriders Trampoline Place and is coached by

Dave Ross Dave Ross (born April 10, 1952) is a talk show host on Seattle's KIRO-FM radio station. He joined KIRO as a news anchor in 1978 and was given his own talk show in 1987. He has sometimes broadcast his show while on assignment in other locations, ...

. Following the Lake Placid and Quebec City World Cup competitions that took place in April 2007, the

FIG The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

World Rankings were updated. The women's ranking saw four time World Champion and five time World Cup Final winner Irina Karavaeva of Russia retake top place from Cockburn in Women's Individual Trampoline after Karavaeva won the gold medal at both of the World Cups. Cockburn and her partner,

Rosannagh MacLennan Rosannagh "Rosie" MacLennan (born August 28, 1988) is a Canadian trampoline gymnast. She is the 2013 and 2018 World Trampoline champion, 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion, and 2011 and 2015 Pan American Games champion in the individual trampoline ev ...

, were ranked first in Women's Synchronised Trampoline following their two winning performances in 2007.

Career

After winning the Canadian National Trampoline Championships seven years in a row, Cockburn made an error in her second routine (of three) and came in 6th place in the 2005 finals on June 1, 2005. She was beaten by her partner in synchronized trampoline, Rosannagh MacLennan. Later in June, she competed in the Trampoline World Cup and came in 3rd in the individual competition and won gold in synchronized trampoline with Rosannagh MacLennan. In September 2005 at the Trampoline World Championships in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, Cockburn regained her title beating MacLennan into second place, on May 20, 2006. On November 25, 2006, Cockburn won both the Individual gold medal and, with MacLennan, the synchronized gold medal at the Trampoline and Tumbling World Cup Final competition in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

. In April 2007 at the Lake Placid Trampoline World Cup, the Cockburn and MacLennan achieved a new female synchronised trampoline routine world record for difficulty with a DD of 14.20. Canadian gymnasts

At the 2007 Canadian Trampoline Championships in Regina,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, Cockburn took first place, edging out MacLennan by 2.5 points with a score of 106.90 in the Women's Senior Individual trampoline category. In the category of synchronized trampoline, Cockburn and MacLennan won the gold with a score of 131.70. On November 3, 2007, at the 2007 Trampoline World Championships in Quebec City, Cockburn and MacLennan won the synchronised event, maintaining their unbroken string of nine first-place finishes in World Cup and World Championships. In the individual final, Cockburn did not complete her routine and finished in 8th place. However, her and MacLennan's rankings in the preliminary round earned two women's places at the 2008 Olympic Games for Canada. On June 7, 2008, Cockburn won her 10th Senior Women's Trampoline Canadian Championship in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

, beating MacLennan into second place. Both women, however, with

Jason Burnett Jason Nicholas Burnett (born December 16, 1986) is a Canadian trampoline gymnast from Etobicoke, Ontario. He is noted for having completed, in training, the world's most difficult trampoline routine with a degree of difficulty of 20.6 and holdin ...

were named to compete for Canada at the

in Beijing. Cockburn qualified for the finals in 4th place, and on August 18, 2008, she won a silver medal in the women's final at the

in Beijing. She was the only trampoline athlete to have won a medal at every Olympic Games at which the event has been competed until her 4th-place finish in the 2012 London Olympics. She was selected as Canada's flag bearer for the closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Following the 2008 Olympic Games, Cockburn did not compete again until the 2009 Canadian National Championships in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

. She came in second place after

. In the synchronised competition, she paired with MacLennan but they did not complete one routine and came in second place. She regained the Canadian National Championship in 2010 at

Kamloops, British Columbia Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, ...

with MacLennan coming in 2nd place. In the 2009 Trampoline World Championships in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, Cockburn won the Bronze medal in Individual trampoline in her first international competition since the Beijing Olympics. She also won a silver medal in Synchronised Trampoline with her usual partner Rosannagh Maclennan. In 2011, Cockburn did not compete in the Canadian National Championships and was sick for the Finals of the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

. In the

2011 Trampoline World Championships The 28th Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships were held in Birmingham, England, from 17 to 20 November 2011 at the National Indoor Arena. This event was the first qualifying round for the 2012 Olympics which was held in London. The top 8 ...

, England, Cockburn and MacLennan secured two places for Canadian women in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

and Cockburn won a Silver medal for the synchronised trampoline event (with MacLennan) and a Bronze medal for the Team competition. In 2012, Cockburn finished in 4th place in the 2012 Summer Olympics's individual trampoline. In 2014, Cockburn resumed training after giving birth to a daughter in 2013. She is attempting to qualify for the 2015 Pan-American Games to be held in Toronto. She stated that she wanted to compete in a major international event before her hometown crowd before she retired. She competed in the 2014 Canadian National Champuionships in Ottawa and was third. While training at the Trampoline World Championships in Daytona Beach, Florida, in November 2014, she landed badly and broke her ankle forcing her to withdraw from the competition. Cockburn received the honour of being selected to pronounce the athletes' oath in front of her home crowd in Toronto during the opening ceremonies of the 2015 Pan-American Games. Competing at these games, she placed third in the women's individual trampolining event. On July 16, 2017, at the 2017 Canadian National Trampoline and Tumbling Championships, Karen Cockburn officially retired at a ceremony held to honour her contribution to the sport. As of 2019 she was the National Team Director for Trampoline Gymnastics at Gymnastics Canada.

Personal life

Cockburn married her fellow-Olympian and former training partner

Mathieu Turgeon Mathieu Turgeon (born August 2, 1979) is a Canadian trampoline gymnast, born in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. Turgeon won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in individual trampoline and qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics but failed to make t ...

on December 22, 2007. In September 2013, she gave birth to a daughter. Her autobiography, called ''Karen Cockburn: Soaring High'', was published in November 2007.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cockburn, Karen 1980 births Living people Canadian female trampolinists Olympic gymnasts of Canada Olympic medalists in gymnastics Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics Gymnasts at the 2007 Pan American Games Gymnasts at the 2011 Pan American Games Gymnasts at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships Gymnasts from Toronto

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic la ...

Canadian autobiographers Competitors at the 2009 World Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games 20th-century Canadian women 21st-century Canadian women