Maile O'Keefe ( ) (born February 26, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the U.S. National Team and is the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

U.S. Junior National Champion. She is the 2023 NCAA all-around champion as well as a 4x NCAA event champion.

Early life

O'Keefe was born on February 26, 2002, to Matthew and Tori Lynn O'Keefe in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. She has three siblings, Paige, Caitlin & Dylan. She completed high school through Odyssey Charter School, graduating a year early in 2019.

Elite gymnastics career

2013

In 2013, O'Keefe, then eleven, was a level 9 gymnast. She attended a developmental camp at the Karolyi Ranch where she earned the opportunity to compete at an elite qualifier. At the qualifier, she performed at a high enough level where she was qualified to Junior Elite status, bypassing level 10 completely.

2014–16

O'Keefe competed at various domestic meets. She finished 13th and 17th at the 2014 and 2015

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, 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 be ...

respectively. She encountered breakthrough during the 2016 season, where she won the all-around title in the Junior division at the 2016 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, in addition to the beam and floor titles too.

2017

In March, O'Keefe competed at International Gymnix in Canada where she placed first in the all-around and finished top three on every event. In April, she participated in the 2017

City of Jesolo Trophy The City of Jesolo Trophy is an annual women's gymnastics competition held in Jesolo, Jesolo, Italy. There are competitions for the senior division and junior division. The United States won the senior team competition from 2008, 2010 to 2017, 2019 ...

. In Jesolo she finished second in the all-around behind

Gabby Perea Gabrielle "Gabby" Perea (born January 1, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. An elite gymnast since 2013, she was named to the National Team in March 2016; she received her inaugural international assignment at that time also, at the 2016 L'In ...

. O'Keefe also won bronze medals in the uneven bars and balance beam finals, as well as a silver medal in the floor exercise final. In June O'Keefe announced that she had verbally committed to attend the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

on a gymnastics scholarship. In August, she won the all-around at the 2017 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. She along with silver medalist

Emma Malabuyo Emma Lauren Bringas Malabuyo (born November 5, 2002) is a Filipino-American artistic gymnast. Born in the United States, she represents the Philippines internationally and competed for her country of birth in the past. She represented the Phil ...

were selected to represent the USA at the 2017 International Junior Gymnastics Competition the following month in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. There O'Keefe won gold in the all-around and on beam and silver on floor, vault, and uneven bars.

2018–19

O'Keefe became age-eligible for senior competition in 2018. In February she was named as the wildcard athlete for the 2018

American Cup The American Football Association Challenge Cup (also known as the American Association Cup or simply American Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1884, and organised by t ...

. In her senior international debut, O'Keefe finished third with a score of 54.365, behind fellow American

Morgan Hurd Morgan Elizabeth Hurd (born July 18, 2001) is a retired American artistic gymnast and a five-time member of the United States women's national team (2016–21). She is the 2017 World all-around champion and balance beam silver medalist and th ...

and

Mai Murakami is a Japanese retired artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast and Olympic medalist. She is the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, 2017 and 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2021 World champion on floor exercise, the 2018 Art ...

of Japan. In the spring O'Keefe underwent wrist surgery to fix a

ganglion cyst A ganglion cyst is a fluid-filled bump associated with a joint or tendon sheath. It most often occurs at the back of the wrist, followed by the front of the wrist. The cause is unknown. The underlying mechanism is believed to involve an out ...

. She spent the remainder of the year recovering. In early 2019, O'Keefe announced that she had dropped back down to level 10. Her first meet was at the Brestyan’s Las Vegas Invitational in February. After the meet she announced that she received

early admission Early decision is a college admission plan in which students apply earlier in the year than usual and receive their results early as well. (It is completely different from “early admission,” which is when a high school student applies to coll ...

to the

and would be competing with their gymnastics program in the 2019–2020 season.

Collegiate gymnastics career

O'Keefe signed her

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

with the

in March 2019. She joined Abby Paulson, Jillian Hoffman, and Jaedyn Rucker as the freshmen class of the 2019–2020 season.

2019–2020 season

O'Keefe made her NCAA debut in a meet against the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

where she competed on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam to help Utah win 196.425 to 195.350. She made her all-around debut at the inaugural ''Best of Utah'' meet against BYU,

Southern Utah Dixie is a nickname for the populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County, the southwest corner of the State of Utah, bordering nearby Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. The area lies in the northeastern Mojave ...

, and Utah State, where she helped Utah win and individually she placed third in the all-around.

2020–2021 season

In a meet against defending national champions the Oklahoma Sooners, O'Keefe competed all four events. Although Utah lost, O'Keefe claimed the all-around and balance beam titles with scores of 39.550 and 9.95 respectively. She was subsequently named as the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

gymnast of the week. The following week in a meet against Arizona O'Keefe only competed on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. She received the highest score, a 9.90, on the latter two events. On January 30, in a meet against Washington, O'Keefe earned her first perfect 10, achieving this score on the balance beam. Additionally she won the all-around with a score of 39.525. As a result O'Keefe was named as the

gymnast of the week for the second time this season. After the regular season concluded, O'Keefe was announced as the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year. In March O'Keefe competed at the Pac-12 Conference Championships. She helped Utah finish first while individually winning the all-around title and co-winning the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise titles. In April O'Keefe competed at 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, and 1 in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps ...

. She competed all four events for Utah and finished 11th in the all-around after having minor issues on the balance beam. However she finished first on both the uneven bars (tied with Maya Bordas of California) and on floor exercise (tied with Lexi Graber of Alabama and Anastasia Webb of Oklahoma). Additionally she helped Utah advance to the team finals. During the team finals O'Keefe recorded the highest balance beam and uneven bars scores of the day and helped Utah place third.

2021–2022 season

O'Keefe competed at the Best of Utah meet where she competed on only the uneven bars and balance beam to help Utah win. She put up the highest uneven bars score of the night, a 9.875. On January 29, in a meet against Stanford, O'Keefe earned her second career perfect ten on the balance beam. As a result she was named

gymnast of the week. O'Keefe was named

Specialist of the Year. At the Pac-12 Championships O'Keefe helped Utah win their second consecutive team title. Individually she placed third in the all-around behind

Jade Carey Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics as an individual, and at the 2024 Summer Olympics as a member of the U.S. women's team, nicknamed the "Golden Girl ...

and teammate

Grace McCallum Grace Ann McCallum (born October 30, 2002) 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 is the 2018 Pan American and 2018 Pacific Rim individual al ...

2022–2023 season

O'Keefe spent the majority of the regular season only competing on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. She earned three perfect tens on balance beam on February 3, 11, and 24. However, after teammate

suffered an injury, O'Keefe began training on vault again. Even though O'Keefe had started competing in the all-around, she was named

Specialist of the Year for the second consecutive year. At the Pac-12 Championships O'Keefe led Utah to their third consecutive title and individually placed second in the all-around behind

. In the post season O'Keefe earned her fourth perfect ten on balance beam while competing at the UCLA regional semifinal. On the first day of the

O'Keefe helped Utah qualify to the final. Individually she earned her fifth perfect ten of the season on balance beam and earned the balance beam title. Additionally she won the all-around title ahead of

Jordan Chiles Jordan Lucella Elizabeth Chiles (born April 15, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 2024 Summer Olympics, having previously been a member of the silver medal-winning team at the 2020 Su ...

and

Haleigh Bryant Haleigh Alexandra Bryant (born December 20, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast currently competing for Louisiana State University in the NCAA. She is the 2024 NCAA Champion in the team and individual all-around, and is the 2021 NCAA Champi ...

. At the NCAA team finals O'Keefe helped Utah place third for the third consecutive year and also earned her sixth perfect ten of the season on balance beam. In winning the all-around and balance beam titles, O'Keefe became the seventh NCAA gymnast to win an individual title on at least four of the five events after she had won the uneven bars and floor exercise titles in 2021.

Career perfect 10.0

NCAA Regular season ranking

Competitive history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OKeefe, Maile 2002 births American female artistic gymnasts Level 10 gymnasts Living people Sportspeople from Las Vegas U.S. women's national team gymnasts Utah Red Rocks gymnasts 21st-century American sportswomen