Ashton Locklear

Ashton Locklear
— Gymnast —
Country represented  United States
Born (1998-01-13) January 13, 1998
Lumberton, North Carolina
Residence Hamlet, North Carolina
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Senior International Elite
Years on national team 2014
Club Everest Gymnastics
Head coach(es) Qi Han and Yiwen Chen
Medal record
Representing  United States
World Championships
2014 Nanning Team
Pacific Rim Championships
2016 Everett Team
2016 Everett Uneven Bars
Pan American Championships
2014 Mississauga Team
2014 Mississauga Uneven Bars
US National Championships
2014 Pittsburgh Uneven bars
2015 Indianapolis Uneven bars

Ashton Locklear (born January 13, 1998) is an American artistic gymnast from North Carolina. She was a member of the gold-medal winning US team at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She is also the 2014 US Champion on the uneven bars. She was a member of the US national team in 2014.[1] Originally Ashton competed in the Olympic event, Trampolining, however later switched to artistic gymnastics, excelling and moving through the levels quickly.

Personal life

Locklear was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, to Carrie and Terry Locklear. She has an older sister, Angelia, who is also a gymnast.[2]

Locklear is a homeschooled eleventh grader.[3] She has committed to compete for the University of Florida in NCAA gymnastics. She is a member of the Lumbee Tribe.[4]

Early gymnastics career

At a young age, Locklear watched her older sister's gymnastics lessons and began imitating her. "Eventually, my mom said, ‘Why don’t we go ahead and put (me) in gymnastics too," Locklear said.[4] She also cites watching the 2000 Olympics on television as an inspiration to begin gymnastics.[4] "When she was two years old, she watched the Olympics and she said that's what she wanted to do. We found a gym and then started," said Carrie Locklear.[5]

Locklear began her gymnastics career in the trampoline discipline of gymnastics, however later switch to artistic gymnastics, excelling and moving through the levels quickly.

Locklear's first championship in the sport was a state-level trampoline and tumbling title she earned at age 5.[4] When Locklear was 11, she began training at Everest Gymnastics in Huntersville, North Carolina, with coaches Qi Han, a former member of the Chinese men's national team and a graduate of Beijing Sports University,[2] and his wife Yiwen Chen. Because of the distance between Huntersville and Locklear's hometown of Hamlet, her family now maintains a household in each town. "We have not moved, we still live in Hamlet, however we stay in an apartment closer to the gym during the week and return home late Saturday nights and go back for practice in Huntersville on Mondays," Carrie Locklear said. "It is difficult not being able to be home every day, but it’s what we have to do in order for Ashton to train at Everest. We are committed to do whatever is necessary for her to follow her dream."[4]

Locklear suffered a stress fracture in her back in 2013 which limited her to conditioning for approximately four months. "It was hard to keep up the conditioning," Locklear said. "I missed training a lot."[2] The injury limits Locklear to competing on uneven bars and balance beam. "She had a beautiful floor routine and was strong in that event, but she can’t do that any more since the back injury," Han said. "Right now, we’re focused on her two special events. She’s doing very well. It’s fun to watch her."[2]

Senior career

2014

Locklear's breakout performances came during the 2014 season. At the Secret U.S. Classic, she finished first on the uneven bars (15.700), beating Kyla Ross, the reigning world silver medalist on uneven bars, by more than half a point.[6] Later in August, Locklear competed at the US National Championships, where she became national champion on the uneven bars. She scored 15.850 on the event on day 1 and 15.200 on day 2, for a combined total of 31.050.[7] She also placed eighth on balance beam, scoring 14.550 on day 1 and 13.550 on day 2 for a combined total of 28.050. She was named to the US national team and the US team for the upcoming Pan Am Championships in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.[8]

In Mississauga, Locklear and her teammates (Mykayla Skinner, Maggie Nichols, Madison Desch, Amelia Hundley, and Madison Kocian) easily won the team gold medal, beating silver medalist Brazil by more than six points.[9] She also won the gold medal on the uneven bars with a score of 14.975.[10]

On September 17, Locklear was selected to compete at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China.[11] In the team final, she helped the team to a gold medal.[12] In the Uneven Bars final, Locklear placed 4th with a score of 15.266.

2015

Early in 2015, Locklear sustained a shoulder injury and had to have major surgery. Following intense physical therapy, she returned to Elite competition and competed at the Secret U.S. Classic on July 25. She only competed exhibition, meaning she scored a 0 on both uneven bars and balance beam. She wanted to show everyone where she was at in her recovery and her training and did not have all of her difficulty on either event. She said that she would have her full difficulty by the P&G Championships.

On August 13 & 15, Locklear competed at the 2015 P&G Championships, competing on only uneven bars and balance beam. On Night 1, despite a lower start value (removed inbar stalders and used toe-on skills), she scored a 15.400 for the second highest bar score of the night. On beam, she fell on her back-handspring layout stepout series and scored a 12.950. On Night 2, she scored a 15.400 on bars again and did not fall on beam, where she scored a 13.750. She placed 2nd on bars behind 2014 Worlds Teammate Madison Kocian and ahead of Bailie Key with a total score of 30.850. She placed 13th on balance beam with a total score of 26.700. A week following the competition, Locklear was named to the Senior National Team and is invited to the 2015 Worlds Selection Camp in September.[13]

On September 10, 2015, the category,'Name of College', was changed Ashton's USA Gymnastics athlete profile to 'Undecided'; thus prompting speculation that she had uncommitted to the Florida Gators program.[14] She later changed her Twitter biography too.[15][16]

Almost a month later; on October 2, 2015, she confirmed on her personal Ask.fm account that she had decided to forgo NCAA eligibility.[17]

2016

Ashton began her 2016 season at the 2016 City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy, representing the U.S. She helped the U.S take the gold medal as a team. Ashton also qualified in first place to the Uneven Bars final. In the final, Locklear took the gold medal with a huge score of 15.250, making a strong case to earn a spot on the 2016 U.S Olympic Team.

In April, Ashton was selected for another major international competition in the lead up to the 2016 Olympic Games, the 2016 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships. She helped the U.S take the gold medal in the team competition.

She also qualified to the Uneven Bars final and took the gold medal in the final with a score of 15.625.

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2013Nastia Liukin Cup 7th
2014U.S. Classic 1st4th
U.S. Championships 1st8th
Pan American Championships1st1st
World Championships1st 4th
2015U.S. Championships 2nd13th
2016City of Jesolo Trophy1st 1st
Pacific Rim Championships1st 1st
Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2014 World Championships Nanning Team 1 179.280 1 235.038
Uneven Bars 4 15.266 4 15.233

References

  1. ↑ "Women's Artistic Gymnastics National Teams". USA Gymnastics. USA Gymnastics. 23 August 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Lakso, Seth (6 September 2014). "Local gymnast Ashton Locklear has Olympic-sized dreams". Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  3. ↑ https://usagym.org/pages/athletes/athleteListDetailPrint.html?id=152485
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Stinson, Shawn (13 October 2014). "Locklear dreams of Olympic glory". Robesonian.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  5. ↑ Fountain, Caroline. "Huntersville Olympic Hopeful Heads to National Championship". Fox46 Carolinas. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "Biles, Chiles Take Secret U.S. Classic All-Around Titles". USA Gymnastics. USA Gymnastics. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  7. ↑ https://www.usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_14champs_srevents.pdf
  8. ↑ "USA Gymnastics Names U.S. Senior Women's National Team, Senior Pan Am Championships Team". USA Gymnastics. 24 August 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "USA Wins Women's Team Gold At Senior Pan American Championships". USA Gymnastics. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Skinner Wins Floor Exercise Gold At 2014 Senior Pan Am Championships". USA Gymnastics. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  11. ↑ "USA Gymnastics Announces U.S. Women's Team For 2014 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  12. ↑ http://www.teamusa.org/News/2014/October/08/Team-USA-Womens-Gymnasts-Golden-At-World-Championships
  13. ↑ "2015 P&G Championships - Women Day 2". usagym.org. August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  14. ↑ https://usagym.org/pages/athletes/athleteListDetail.html?id=152485
  15. ↑ https://twitter.com/ashton_locklear?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
  16. ↑ https://twitter.com/TripleTwistGym/status/641988128639713280
  17. ↑ http://ask.fm/ashtonlocklear_2016/answer/131597692628
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.