Kristen Maloney

Kristen Maloney was on the US women’s gym team that won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She was US all-around champion in 1998 and 1999 and won a gold medal on beam at the 1998 Goodwill Games. Maloney competed at the 1997 and 1999 World Championships.

After the Olympics Maloney attended UCLA, competing on their gym team from 2001-05. She won four NCAA titles, in the vault and beam in 2005, and led the Bruins to team titles in 2001 and 2004. Her career was hampered by a series of persistent injuries including a tibial stress fracture in her leg. As a senior at UCLA she was given the Honda Sports Award as the nation’s top female gymnast.

After graduating Maloney worked as a gymnastics coach in California and then lived in Europe and performed with Cirque du Soleil. She later taught pre-school in Queens, New York but then returned to coaching. She became an assistant gymnastics coach, first at the University of New Hampshire and then at Iowa State University.