Battle of Old Fort Wayne

Madison Taylor Kocian (born June 15, 1997)[2] is an American retired artistic gymnast. On the uneven bars, she is one of four 2015 World co-champions and the 2016 Olympic silver medalist. She was part of the gold medal-winning team dubbed the "Final Five" at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and she was a member of the first-place American teams at the 2014 and 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2020, where she was a member of its women's gymnastics team. She helped the UCLA Bruins win the 2018 NCAA Championships.

Early life

Kocian was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Her parents, Thomas and Cindy Kocian, put her in gymnastics at a young age.[3] At age five, she began training at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano, Texas.[4] WOGA was the gym where Olympic all-around champions Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin trained. Patterson and Liukin served as early inspirations for Kocian, particularly Liukin, whom Kocian has likened to an older sister.[5] Kocian has one younger brother.[3] She was raised Catholic.[6] She attended Spring Creek Academy in Plano, Texas, and graduated in 2015.[5]

Junior elite career

2009–2010

Kocian made her elite gymnastics debut at the 2009 U.S. Classic,[7] finishing 18th in the all-around.[8] At the 2009 U.S. Championships, she placed sixth in the all-around and was added to the U.S. Junior National Team.[9][10] Later that year, Kocian was selected to make her international debut at the Top Gym Invitational in Charleroi, Belgium.[7] She won a bronze medal in the all-around competition behind Larisa Iordache and Julie Croket. In the event finals, she won a gold medal on the vault, and a silver medal on the balance beam behind Iordache.[11]

Kocian began the 2010 season at the WOGA Classic where she finished second in the all-around to her club teammate Grace McLaughlin.[12] She then placed fifth in the all-around at the U.S. Classic in Chicago.[13] At the U.S. Championships, she won a bronze medal on the uneven bars and once again finished fifth in the all-around.[14]

2011–2012

Kocian began the 2011 season by winning a silver medal in the all-around at the WOGA Classic.[15] Then at the City of Jesolo Trophy, she won a gold medal with the American team and finished second in the all-around to Kyla Ross.[16]

Kocian finished second in the all-around at the 2012 WOGA Classic behind club teammate Katelyn Ohashi.[17] She missed the rest of the season due to a broken growth plate in the radius of her wrist.[3]

Senior elite career

2013

Kocian became age-eligible for senior competitions in 2013. She returned to competition at the American Classic and won the all-around title.[18] Then at the U.S. Classic, held in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, where she placed seventh all-around and earned a silver medal on the uneven bars behind Kyla Ross.[19] On the first day of the U.S. Championships, she led the all-around competition after two rotations. However, on the floor exercise, she rolled her ankle on a triple twist and suffered a third-degree sprain. She withdrew from the competition and did not compete for the rest of the year.[20][21]

2014

She started off her 2014 season competing at the WOGA Classic, an International meet hosted by her club.

Kocian competed on two events, bars and beam, at the 2014 Secret U.S. Classic, finishing second on bars and 12th overall.[22]

At nationals, she competed on balance beam and uneven bars. On bars, she won the silver. She placed 5th on beam.

In August and September, Kocian competed at the Pan American Championships in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. She helped the American team place first in the team competition.[23] In the event finals, she placed second on the uneven bars, scoring 14.825.[24]

On September 17, Kocian was selected to compete at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China.[25] In qualifications, she competed in the all-around and qualified in 14th place with a score of 55.966, but did not make it into the all-around final due to the two-per-country rule and Simone Biles, Kyla Ross and Mykayla Skinner having higher scores. She competed in the team final on the bars, and contributed a bars score of 14.900 to the U.S. team's gold-medal finish.

2015

On July 25, Kocian competed at the Secret U.S. Classic and finished first on uneven bars with a score of 15.600, ahead of 2012 Olympic all-around champion and uneven bars finalist Gabby Douglas and Bailie Key. She also placed ninth on balance beam with a shaky routine with several wobbles, scoring a 13.850.[26]

On August 13 and 15, Kocian competed at the 2015 P&G Championships, where she competed in the all-around for the first time since 2013 where she severely injured her ankle. She placed 6th in the all-around with a two-night total of 115.950, placing behind Simone Biles, Maggie Nichols, Aly Raisman, Bailie Key, and Gabby Douglas. She placed ahead of her WOGA teammate Alyssa Baumann and 2014 Worlds teammate Mykayla Skinner by 0.250.

Kocian started on beam where she fell on her Arabian and had a shaky routine and scored a 13.100. On floor, she had a low landing on her double Arabian but stuck her double pike. She scored a 13.800 with a 5.6 start value. On vault, she landed her double-twisting Yurchenko and scored a 14.650. On bars, her best event, she had beautiful lines and execution that included a Komova II-Pak Salto-Chow 1/2 connections and landed her tucked full-in for a score of 15.500, the highest bar score of the night. She ended the night in 11th place with a total all-around score of 57.050.

On Night 2, Kocian started on floor where she had better landings on her tumbling passes for a score of 14.250, totaling her score to 28.050, placing 8th on the event. On vault, she performed a well-executed double-twisting Yurchenko and scored a 14.800. On bars, she repeated her difficult routine with excellent connections and stuck her tucked-full in dismount for a score of 15.600. With her total of 31.100, she took first on the event ahead of 2014 national uneven bars champion and 2014 Worlds teammate Ashton Locklear and Key. On beam, she took out her Arabian because she fell on the skill on Night 1 and tweaked her ankle. She added a few connections to keep her start value consistent. She scored a 14.250. She placed 12th on the event with a total of 27.350.

Kocian was named to the Senior National Team once again and was selected to compete at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. At these World Championships she anchored the USA on uneven bars toward its third consecutive team title, and qualified third to the uneven bars final.

In the uneven bars final, she scored a 15.366, placing her in a historic four-way tie for the gold medal with Russians Viktoria Komova and Daria Spiridonova, and China's Fan Yilin.[27] Kocian joined Marcia Frederick (1978), Shannon Miller (1993), Courtney Kupets (2002), Chellsie Memmel and Hollie Vise (2003), and Nastia Liukin (2005) as the American world champions on uneven bars.[28] She also became the third uneven bars world champion from her gym, WOGA, joining Vise and Liukin.

2016

Kocian (right) at the 2016 Summer Olympics

In February, Kocian competed on the balance beam and the uneven bars at the WOGA Classic and placed first on both events, with scores of 15.550 and 15.700, respectively. She also placed first as part of the WOGA team.

In March, Kocian, along with fellow National Team members Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman, attended the Team USA Media Summit in Los Angeles, an event for the media to interview and interact with athletes who will compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Kocian attended the event on crutches and wearing a cast, and confirmed to reporters that she had a sustained a fractured tibia that would likely take her out of contention for the 2016 City of Jesolo Trophy and 2016 Pacific Rim Championships teams. She recovered in time to compete in the U.S. Classic, the P&G Gymnastics Championships, and the 2016 Olympic Team Trials.[29]

On July 10, 2016, Kocian was named to the U.S. team for the 2016 Olympics alongside Biles, Douglas, Raisman, and Laurie Hernandez.[30]

Rio de Janeiro Olympics

On August 7, Kocian competed in the women's qualification round at the 2016 Summer Olympics. After showing all events in podium training, she competed only on the uneven bars, scoring a 15.833.[31] Her score was the highest on that event and qualified her in first place to the individual uneven bars event final. The team total also qualified USA into first for the team final. In the team final on August 9, Kocian again competed on the uneven bars, anchoring team USA on the event. She contributed a 15.933 (tying the highest mark of the competition in any event) to help the team to its second consecutive team gold at an Olympic games. This was the first time any US team won two consecutive team golds.

On August 14, Kocian won a silver medal in the uneven bars event final, scoring 15.833 and placing second behind Aliya Mustafina of Russia and ahead of bronze medalist Sophie Scheder of Germany. This is the first American Olympic medal on the uneven bars since Nastia Liukin in 2008.[32] Additionally, she is the third gymnast from WOGA to become an Olympic champion following 2004 and 2008 Olympic all around champions Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin.

College career

2017

Kocian began attending the University of California, Los Angeles in the fall of 2016 and joined the UCLA Bruins gymnastics program.[33] Her collegiate debut came on January 7, 2017, in a home dual meet against the University of Arkansas where she won three individual event titles and tallied an all-around score of 39.425 to win the all-around title.[34][35] Kocian and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross became the first Olympic gold medalists to compete as NCAA gymnasts. In February 2017, she scored a perfect 10.0 on the uneven bars in a dual meet against Stanford.[36]

On March 27, 2017, Kocian received first-team regular season All-American honors in the All-Around and second-team honors on Floor Exercise.[37] She helped UCLA place fourth in the Super Six at the 2017 NCAA National Championship, where she placed 7th in the All-Around.

2018

On August 21, 2017, Kocian underwent surgery to repair her torn labrum,[38] an injury she had dealt with since the 2016 Olympic Trials. She returned to NCAA competition on January 20, 2018, in a dual meet against Arizona, competing on only balance beam. She added floor exercise to her repertoire on February 25 in a dual meet against Oregon State and competed on uneven bars for the first time since her injury at the NCAA Regional Championship on April 7.[39][40]

With her three routines, she helped UCLA place first in the semi-finals to qualify for the Super Six at the 2018 NCAA National Championship. During the Super Six finals, she fell on the balance beam but contributed great performances on uneven bars and floor exercise to help UCLA win their first NCAA Gymnastics title since 2010.[41]

2019

On January 21, Kocian earned her second career perfect 10 on uneven bars in a meet against Arizona State.[42] She earned several post-season accolades, including Pac-12 First Team honors on uneven bars and was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic team with a 3.81 GPA.[43][44]

2020

Kocian was sidelined for the first few weeks of the 2020 season with shoulder soreness.[45] Kocian returned to competition at the BYU, Utah State tri-meet where she competed on both uneven bars and floor exercise.[46]

In March, Kocian was named the Pac-12 Conference scholar-athlete of the year for the sport of gymnastics.[47] At the conclusion of the school year, Kocian was named UCLA scholar-athlete of the year alongside cross country athlete Millen Trujillo.[48] She was also named as the Bruins' Tom Hansen Medal recipient alongside football player Darnay Holmes.[49]

Career perfect 10.0

Kocian received a perfect 10 twice in her NCAA career, both on the uneven bars.[1]

Season Date Event Meet
2017 Feb 11, 2017 Uneven bars UCLA vs Stanford
2019 Jan 21, 2019 UCLA vs Arizona State

Personal life

On August 16, 2018, Kocian came forward as a survivor of Larry Nassar's sexual abuse alongside UCLA teammate Kyla Ross.[50]

In July 2022, Kocian began studying at Baylor College of Medicine in its Physician Assistant Program.[51]

Competitive history

Kocian (center) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Junior
2009 U.S. Classic 18 20 11 13 42
U.S. Championships 6 15 8 10 11
TOP Gym Invitational 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2010 WOGA Classic 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 8 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
U.S. Classic 5 5 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 13 18
U.S. Championships 5 6 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 14 6
2011 WOGA Classic 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 7 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
City of Jesolo Trophy 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 4 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5
2012 WOGA Classic 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Senior
2013 American Classic 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
WOGA Classic 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
U.S. Classic 7 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
U.S. Championships WD
2014 WOGA Classic 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
City of Jesolo Trophy 1st place, gold medalist(s)
U.S. Classic 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 8
U.S. Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5
Pan American Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4
World Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2015 U.S. Classic 1st place, gold medalist(s) 9
U.S. Championships 6 1st place, gold medalist(s) 12 8
World Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2016 WOGA Classic 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
U.S. Classic 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 15
U.S. Championships 5 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 6
U.S. Olympic Trials 8 12 1st place, gold medalist(s) 9 9
Olympic Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
NCAA
2017 PAC-12 Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 7 5
NCAA Championships 4 7 7
2018 PAC-12 Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
NCAA Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2019 PAC-12 Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 9
NCAA Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 9 11
2020 PAC-12 Championships Canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the USA.[52][53]
NCAA Championships

[7]

References

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  2. ^ "Madison Kocian". United States Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
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  38. ^ "Kocian Recovering from Successful Shoulder Surgery". UCLA Bruins. September 10, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  39. ^ "UCLA Scores Season-High 198.075 in Win over OSU". UCLA Bruins. February 25, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  40. ^ "UCLA Advances to NCAA Gymnastics Championships". UCLA Bruins. April 7, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  41. ^ "UCLA Wins 2018 NCAA Gymnastics Title". UCLA Bruins. April 21, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  42. ^ "Madison Kocian notches first 10 since 2017 as No. 2 UCLA women's gymnastics cruises past No. 19 Arizona State before 10,000+ at Pauley Pavilion". Pac-12 Conference. January 21, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  43. ^ "Pac-12 Announces All-Conference Honors". Pac-12 Conference. March 26, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  44. ^ "Pac-12 Announces All-Academic Honors". Pac-12 Conference. March 27, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
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  46. ^ "Gymnastics Hosts Pride Meet Sunday vs. Arizona". UCLA Bruins. February 5, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
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  48. ^ "Honoring the 2019-20 Scholar-Athletes". UCLA Bruins. June 10, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  49. ^ "Darnay Holmes, Madison Kocian are your Tom Hansen Medal winners". UCLA Bruins. June 15, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  50. ^ "Olympic gymnasts Ross and Kocian: we were abused by Nassar". AP News. August 16, 2018.
  51. ^ Garcia, Julie (September 29, 2022). "Olympic gymnast chooses next career in Baylor's Physician Assistant Program". Baylor College of Medicine. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  52. ^ "Pac-12 statement on men's basketball tournament, Pac-12 sport competitions and Pac-12 championship events". Pac-12 Conference. March 11, 2020. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  53. ^ "NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships due to coronavirus concerns". NCAA. March 13, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2024.

External links

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Kocian