Why did Mckayla Maroney quit gymnastics? Reason behind retirement explored

McKayla Rose Maroney, also known as McKayla Maroney, is a retired American artistic gymnast. In 2012, she was a member of the American women's gymnastics team dubbed the 'Fierce Five' at the Summer Olympics. She won a gold medal in the team and a silver medal in an individual event.

A unique talent and prominent figure in world gymnastics between 2010-13, McKayla saw her career plagued by a series of setbacks at a very young age, both professionally and personally.

When the Olympic buzz came to an end, McKayla wanted to take her gymnastics career onwards and upwards. However, she found things going wrong for her following the London Olympics.

A few months after the 2012 Olympics, she fractured her left tibia after falling on her uneven bars dismount during the second stop of a 40-city gymnastics tour. She explained the experience in these very graphic terms:

“When your tibia fractures, it’s the loudest bone that breaks in the body. So I heard a gunshot, and it wasn’t a gunshot. It was my leg snapping, my tibia snapping. It didn’t even hurt.”

McKayla Maroney at London Olympics

However, her competitive spirit and resolute determination got her through that difficult phase. McKayla made a comeback in 2013 and became the first American woman ever to defend her world title on the vault.

Vault was her speciality and she dominated the apparatus throughout her short career, ending up in the elite gymnasts club.

She finished first in the event at nine different national and international gymnastics competitions between 2010 and 2013, including the 2011 and 2013 World Championships.

That's not all. Maroney is also well known for her almost perfectly scored performance on the vault.

She also went viral for an expression that was later famously labeled the 'not impressed' face. It was at the medal ceremony of the women's vault event at the 2012 Olympics where she won gold.

Maroney, an overwhelming gold medal favorite, was photographed on the podium at the 2012 Olympics with an expression that seemed like disappointment. She missed the gold and settled for silver after her shocking and heartbreaking fall during the second of her two vault attempts.

Speaking about the viral video, the gymnast later said:

“Like, if you watch the video, it’s two seconds. And I remember thinking, did I just make a face? Because it’s natural. I do it all the time, I have pictures of me when I’m little doing it. I have it on my Mac computer when I’m like 13."

However, after staying out of competitions as well as national team training camps due to injuries and health issues, McKayla called time on her international career in 2016.

In a GymCastic podcast interview, McKayla Maroney said:

“I don’t want anybody to ever think that McKayla is retiring. I don’t even want people to use that word. The only difference is I’m not competing anymore.”

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McKayla Maroney after retirement

McKayla Maroney, after retiring from gymnastics, has been associated with different projects. In 2020, she released her first music album, Wake Up Call, which was shortly followed by her second album, COVID- 19 Lockdown.

Her songs Wake Up Call, COVID Lockdown, and Spose to Do are available on streaming platforms.

The 26-year-old has also been trying her hand at acting, making guest appearances on a number of popular TV shows.

McKayla Maroney currently has 1.4m followers on Instagram and also runs a health and wellness Instagram account named Glowy. She shares various types of information from skin care tips to inspirational sayings.