McKayla Maroney could have let her not impressed moment go, but instead the 17-year-old gymnast has decided to embrace the meme that pokes fun at her seemingly angry acceptance of a silver medal.
In an interview with Yahoo! Sports , Maroney said the “not impressed” moment captured on the podium after she took silver in the vault competition at first was seen as the ungratefulness of a bratty competitor. Maroney noted that within hours of returning to her dorm after the competition, people on the internet who had seen the picture were calling her spoiled and disrespectful.
“It was just a moment of complete shock,” McKayla Maroney said of her not impressed moment. “I can’t even remember much of that day. I remember the day before watching other Americans on the medal stand and hearing the anthem. I remember wishing it had gone differently, and I had an expression on my face for two seconds.”
She admitted that the criticism stung at first.
“I’m not a brat,” Maroney said. “There were people who really hurt my feelings, people who were saying things that just weren’t true.”
But soon the picture took on a life of itself, transforming into the “McKayla Maroney is not impressed … ” meme that was turned into countless other pictures. McKayla Maroney not impressed on the surface of Mars. McKayla Maroney not impressed in various historical settings.
The young gymnast has turned her trademark scowl into countless appearances as well. She displayed the not impressed face on trips to the Late Show with David Letterman and the set of How I Met Your Mother.
But McKayla Maroney had her biggest not impressed moment a few weeks ago, The Associated Press noted. She and the rest of the women’s gymnastics team traveled to the White House, and Maroney got a chance to do the not impressed face with President Obama.