McKayla Maroney: Everything You Need to Know About the Olympic Gymnast | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Nearly every elite gymnast gets an early start in the sport, but it's the rare competitor who started at a younger age than McKayla.

"My mom put me in gymnastics because I had so much energy and I was always running around, so she thought gymnastics might take away some of the insane amounts of energy," says Maroney on her USA Gymnastics profile.

The Long Beach, California native got her start at the National Gymnastics Training Center in Aliso Viejo, CA, and after spending several years at Gym-Max Academy of Gymnastics in Costa Mesa, CA, moved to her current gym, the All Olympia Gymnastics Center.

At the Visa Championships in Dallas, she finished third in the junior division on the vault, and she has been a regular presence in national and international competitions ever since.