McKayla Maroney Ends Gymnastic Career: Could ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Be Next?
McKayla Maroney has announced that her gymnastic career is over, and she’s blaming the negative health effects caused by her grueling training schedule as the main reason she decided to stop competing. However, perhaps the former Olympian would be willing to train for a competition that’s not quite as physically demanding—the cast of Dancing with the Stars will be announced in the near future, and she’s said that she’s interested in the show.
During an interview with GymCastic, McKayla Maroney explained why she’s giving up on her dream of competing in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. According to Maroney, training took a major toll on her health. She wasn’t eating right, and a lack of proper nutrition combined with hours of intense work at the gym left her feeling drained and depressed. At first, Maroney didn’t see anything wrong with what she was doing to herself because she was being told that it was a positive thing that she was dropping lots of weight.
“Since October of 2014, I would go back to the gym and then burn myself out for 3 months. And I did that probably until a couple months ago,” McKayla said, according to Self. “And I would go to doctor after doctor, and I got so many blood tests … I was so unhealthy and tired I couldn’t get out of bed. I got depressed.”
You can check out McKayla’s full interview below. She also talks about her horrific injuries and surgeries, “risque Instagram selfies,” her Napoleon Dynamite pose, and life after the 2012 London Olympics.
As NBC Sports reports, McKayla Maroney became a household name while competing with the 2012 United States Women’s Gymnastics team, affectionately dubbed the “Fierce Five” by fans. McKayla was favored to win gold in the individual vault event, but she landed in second place after failing to stick the landing of her second vault. Maroney couldn’t hide her disappointment on the medal podium, and a photo of her facial expression became an internet meme dubbed “McKayla Maroney is Not Impressed.”
Many expected McKayla to compete in this summer’s Olympic Games to go for the gold that she lost in London, but McKayla has decided that her health is more important to her than trying for redemption in Rio. Now the gymnast is ready to pursue new passions.
“I’m just ready to put my worth and value into something else, and I’m ready to be excited about something else.”
McKayla Maroney wants to pursue a career in music, but perhaps she would consider trying her hand at dancing, too. According to ABC, the Season 22 cast of Dancing with the Stars will be announced on March 8, so it’s possible that Maroney gave up on Rio at the right time to join the show. Dancing with the Stars has a long history of courting gymnasts and Olympians, and Maroney has actually appeared on DWTS already — she and her fellow Fierce Five members appeared in gold medalist Shawn Johnson’s freestyle routine during Season 8.
After her DWTS performance, Us Weekly asked Maroney if she would consider competing on a future season of Dancing with the Stars.
“I definitely would [do DWTS]!” Maroney said. “It would just be an amazing experience.”
One Fierce Five member has already competed on DWTS — Aly Raisman finished fourth during Season 16. The Season 20 fourth place finisher, Nastia Liukin, is the most recent Olympic gymnast to appear on the show.
Because Dancing with the Stars is set to announce the Season 22 cast next week, it might be too late for Maroney to be added to the mix. However, there’s a possibility that she and the show were in talks before she revealed that she’ll be available to compete.
The Dancing with the Stars cast will be announced Tuesday, March 8 on Good Morning America, so fans of the show will have to wait until then to see if McKayla Maroney decides to compete for a Mirrorball Trophy in lieu of another Olympic medal.
[Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for GBK Productions]
