McKayla Maroney, who was famously not impressed by winning silver at the London Olympics in vault, will not try to get the gold in vault in Rio. She announced plans to retire from gymnastics.
Her agent confirmed the decision with NBC Sports. Maroney also talked about not competing again in an interview with GymCastic from October that wasn’t published until Feb. 23.
“I don’t want anybody to ever think that McKayla is retiring. I don’t even want people to use that word,” Maroney said in the podcast. “The only difference is I’m not competing anymore.”
Maroney, 20, won the team gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London and silver in vault. While Maroney gave a perfect performance in the vault during the team event, she fell during her second vault in the individual event. She still came back to win the silver, but her “not impressed” facial expression made her more famous than gold medalist Sandra Izbasa. Maroney’s face became a meme around the web.
Unfortunately, after the Olympics, she faced frequent injuries. During a post-Olympics tour, she fractured her left tibia. The 2013 World championships turned out to be her final competitive appearance.
Earlier this week, Kyla Ross, who was also a member of the team that won gold in London, told USA Today that she will not compete in Rio either.