A Star In The Making
Fro an early age, McKayla stood out as a gymnast during her practices and at meets. Her dream to reach the Olympics were within reach, and everyone knew that it was simply a matter of time before she would make this dream come true.
A Star In The Making
One Photo
How is it that one photo could dramatically change people’s perception of her? As many who are in the spotlight experience, McKayla had to go through intense scrutiny after becoming a well known figure. Maybe things would have ended up differently for her if the photo had not become to widely circulated.
One Photo
On The Rise
As McKayla continued to compete, her collection of medals continued to grow. She was doing well at competitions both at home and abroad. Gymnastics fans started to get excited about the prospect of McKayla competing for Team USA in upcoming Olympic games. It was clear that she would become a big name in gymnastics.
On The Rise
Caught Off Guard
As McKayla continued to become well known for her talents and her fame grew, the photo that was taken in 2012 took a lot of people by surprise, and ended up having quite the lasting impact. She didn’t realize just how much this photo would affect her.
Caught Off Guard
A Household Name
McKayla couldn’t have known that this one photo would go on to become one of the most shared and talked about that entire year. The one thing was, regardless of how she felt about the photo, it’s true that this photo made her a household name and she became recognized even outside of the world of the Olympics.
A Household Name
A New Career Path
McKayla decided to take advantage of her newfound fame and actually make a pretty dramatic change in career. However, was there any indication before all of this that she wanted to make this shift? Those who followed her gymnastics career might think that this change came out of left field.
A New Career Path
An Energetic Kid
It seems like Maroney was always full of energy and her parents thought that she needed an outlet to let it all out. While speaking with the Orange County Register she said: “When I was younger, I would be watching Tarzan and running around on all fours. My mom was [like], ‘I need to put this child in gymnastics. She’s crazy.’”
An Energetic Kid
They Saw Her Potential
Although initially her parents enrolled her in a gymnastics class to get her to let some energy out, McKayla quickly took to the class. However, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as her father was a football player while he was in college at Purdue University.
They Saw Her Potential
Big Goals In Mind
McKayla’s mother was a figure skater in high school, so it’s clear that McKayla inherited her interest in sports from her parents. They also knew that she had a special talent early on, and they continued to support her and her dream. This is part of the reason why they started to home school her.
McKayla Maroney
Making Strides
Once she began to be home schooled, Maroney was able to dedicate a lot more of her time to gymnastics. This was another advantage that helped her, along with the fact that she started in the sport from a very young age. She said: “I realized that I had a dream that I wanted to go to the Olympics, and I wanted to go as far as I could go. I thought I should probably move to a new gym and start thinking about the Olympics.”
Making Strides
International Fame
In 2009, McKayla began to compete, finished third at the Dallas Visa Championships in the junior vaulting competition that year. A year later, she took second at the CoverGirl Classic, and first at the Visa Championships. McKayla also started to compete internationally and began to make a name for herself.
International Fame
Bringing Home Gold
During the Pan American Championships in 2010, McKayla won the gold in the vault and individual floor routines. This help solidify her as a clear contender to secure a spot on the team that would represent the US at the 2012 Olympics.
Bringing Home Gold
Her Motivation
During the weeks that led up to the London Olympic games, McKayla shared that her initial motivation was to compete in the Olympics. It was also what first attracted her to gymnastics and continued to motivate her towards success.
Her Motivation
Incredible Abilities
While speaking to the Orange County Register, McKayla shared: “I just loved doing stuff that most people can’t do with their body. I can flip in the air and just fly on certain things. And I just love that feeling of working so hard on something that you really, really want and reaching that goal. It’s the best feeling.”
Japan World Gymnastics, Tokyo, Japan
London Olympics
That finally takes us to the 2012 Olympics, where everything changed. So what led up to the photo in question, and what made it so popular? This is exactly happened and what caused the infamous photo.
London Olympics
A Win In Japan
Right before the 2012 Olympics, she actually won three international vault titles. Her biggest success was at the World Championships that took place in Japan. There she ended up in first place both in the vault and team event, which was quite the astounding accomplishment.
A Win In Japan
A Sure Thing
It’s therefore no surprise that everyone was uttering her name when people were discussing the potential gold winner at the upcoming Olympic games. Everyone was convinced that McKayla would bring home gold for Team USA at the individual events. The stage was all set for her to become an Olympic hero.
A Sure Thing
A Slip Up
What happened next, nobody predicted. At the beginning of the vault routine, everything seemed to be great for McKayla. On her second attempt, she suddenly slipped, leaving the spectators absolutely stunned and clearing the way for other gymnasts to overtake her.
A Slip Up
Taking Second Place
Romanian gymnast Sandra Izbasa was able to take advantage of McKayla’s fall and ended up winning the gold medal. McKayla ended up with the silver medal, which would certainly be more than enough for most. Most people will never win a silver medal at the Olympics. However, for McKayla, that was not the case.
Taking Second Place
Not Happy
McKayla had been favored to win the gold, took the silver medal but she was not too pleased about it. As is always the case at the medal ceremony, it was a heavily photographed event. Everyone turned their attentions to the gold, silver, and bronze medal winners. That was when photographers captured the moment that changed everything.
Not Happy
The Face Says It All
After the silver medal was put around her neck, she made a face that was captured quickly by photographers at the event that immortalized the moment forever. Her face truly reflected how she was feeling, despite the fact that she had just won a silver medal. A picture is really worth 1000 words, and this picture immediately went viral.
The Face Says It All
A Sore Loser?
McKayla had no idea that this small moment would change her life for good and that this photo would spread so quickly and so widely online. She also didn’t think that the face she made was such a big issue, as she told Inside Magazine.
A Sore Loser?
A Fleeting Moment
While speaking to the magazine in June 2014, she said: “I remember doing the face for literally two seconds. 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.”
A Fleeting Moment
A Natural Expression
She continued to say: “It’s just something I make. My friends were watching the Olympics, [and] they even said, ‘Oh, I didn’t even notice. You make that face so much all the time.’ Because they’re just used to seeing me do that face. But the world wasn’t! So it definitely blew up.”
A Natural Expression
A Meme Is Born
She was not even aware that the picture was going around the internet until her dad let her know about it. She also then saw the meme that was born out of the moment: “McKayla Is Not Impressed.” At that point, it was inevitable that the photo would spread like wildfire.
A Meme Is Born
Going Viral
People began to photoshop McKayla’s unimpressed face next to pretty much everything: the Mars Rover, Mozart, and anything else. It really didn’t matter the subject matter, people added the face to give visual commentary. So what was McKayla’s response to the whole situation? To begin with, she didn’t really understand what was such a big deal in the first place.
Going Viral
Not Understanding
She told Inside Gymnastics: “At the time I was like, I just didn’t get [the meme]. I was like, ‘What does this even mean? I don’t understand.’ Then, a couple of weeks later, it just kept getting more and more, and people were tweeting me about it. I was just like, ‘Let it go, let it go!’ And it just wasn’t going away.”
Not Understanding
Owning It
At a certain point, McKayla took a different approach and chose to embrace the meme as opposed to fighting it. She even started to make the face on purpose, posing with it in good humor. People embraced her for being a good sport about it.
Baby, Don’t Get Hooked On Me
Reflecting On It
She continued in her interview with Inside Gymnastics, saying that she was not sorry about the whole situation, and that she was just being honest and letting herself feel her genuine emotions. She was disappointed that she didn’t come in first place after expecting to. She said: “If you really want to think that I’m a bad sport, then go ahead. At the end of the day, I was sad, I was upset and I was not impressed!”
Reflecting On It
What Happened?
McKayla accepting the photo left a lot of people wondering, if she was okay with it, then why is she no longer competing in gymnastics? The truth is that she didn’t immediately leave gymnastics. Following the 2012 Olympics, she won three more vault titles in 2013, including the World Championships.
What Happened?
Retiring From Gymnastics
In 2016, McKayla announced that she would be retiring from gymnastics due to medical reasons. Thanks to her online presence, she was able to transition into show business. It’s not the first time McKayla would be making big leaps, and she was confident in her next chapter of life.
Retiring From Gymnastics
A Guest Appearance
Following so many years competing in sports, McKayla decided to try her hand at something completely different. She decided to pursue acting, and made her onscreen debut in 2012 on TV show Hart of Dixie. She then made other guest appearances on other TV shows and also appeared in the promo video for 30 Seconds To Mars song “Up In The Air.” She then chose to pursue a career in music.
A Guest Appearance
Enjoying Life
McKayla said that for the first time she was able to pursue something that was less stressful than gymnastics and that she was able to enjoy. In 2016, she told Seventeen magazine: “Gymnastics, you get one shot. Acting, it’s like, do it again, do it again, do it again. So that was the one thing that I found very different. You’re allowed to get different tries.”
Enjoying Life
Finally Expressing Herself
She went on to say: “And you’re more expressive in a way when you’re working with people. In gymnastics, you’re so on your own and individual.” The former gymnast didn’t just pursue acting, but also wanted to try out music as well.
Finally Expressing Herself
Pursuing Music
She said: “For the last year, I was just figuring out my sound. I’ve loved writing songs since I was really young. I thought I was going to be like Sia and sell my songs to people. But after they were done, I was like, ‘I’m not going to sell these to anybody! I want to sing them.’”
Pursuing Music
Her First Single
On her first single being released, McKayla said: “I have some demos done, and I’m going to be showing them to some bigger people in the industry. And we’ll see where that takes me. In the next couple of months, I think I’ll have a single out, and I’m excited for people to hop on this new journey of mine.”
Her First Single
Her Versatility
Well, in reality “a few months” became four years, which is how long it took her to release her first single, called “Wake Up Call.” She released it in March 2020 on Twitter. She wanted to prove that she was so much more than just a meme and that she had more to offer even beyond her decorated gymnastics career.
Her Versatility
Second Single
In April 2020, she released another single called “COVID Lockdown,” fittingly released right at the beginning of the pandemic. She tweeted about it: “tbh i wrote covid lockdown as a joke, but everytime i listen to it, it makes me laugh, and i think we could all use a laugh right now … i love u guys sm!! wish i had words to make things better. hopefully music helps a little !!”
Second Single
Another TV Spot
In December 2013, she made an appearance on season 9 of TV show Bones, in an episode called “The Spark in the Park,” on which she played a gymnast named Ellie who is suspected or murdering another gymnast.
Another TV Spot
Superstore Episode
In August 2016, she had a role on NBC show Superstore, where she even pulled her classic “unimpressed” face. She appeared in the episode alongside fellow Olympians Tara Lipinski and Apolo Ohno. In 2021, she appeared in GEICO commercials.
Superstore Episode
