Ashton Locklear

Ashton Locklear
— Gymnast —
Country represented  United States
Born January 13, 1998
Lumberton, North Carolina
Residence Hamlet, North Carolina
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Senior International Elite
Club Everest Gymnastics
College team University of Florida (2016) [1]
Head coach(es) Qi Han and Yiwen Chen

Ashton Locklear (born January 13, 1998) is an American artistic gymnast. 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 has been a member of the US national team since 2014.[2]

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.[3]

Locklear is a homeschooled eleventh grader.[4] She has committed to compete for the University of Florida in NCAA gymnastics. She is a member of the Lumbee Tribe.[5]

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.[5] She also cites watching the 2000 Olympics on television as an inspiration to begin gymnastics.[5] "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.[6]

Locklear's first championship in the sport was a state-level trampoline and tumbling title she earned at age 5.[5] 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,[3] 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.”[5]

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."[3] 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.”[3]

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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]

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.[10] She also won the gold medal on the uneven bars with a score of 14.975.[11]

On September 17, Locklear was selected to compete at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China.[12] In the team final, she helped the team to a gold medal.[13]

In the Uneven Bars final, Ashton placed 4th with a score of 15.266.

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2013Nastia Liukin Cup 7th
2014Secret U.S. Classic 1st4th
P&G Championships 1st8th
Pan American Championships1st1st
World Championships1st 4th

References

  1. ↑ "Ashton Locklear". GymDivas. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "Women's Artistic Gymnastics National Teams". USA Gymnastics. USA Gymnastics. 23 August 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lakso, Seth (6 September 2014). "Local gymnast Ashton Locklear has Olympic-sized dreams". Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  4. ↑ https://usagym.org/pages/athletes/athleteListDetailPrint.html?id=152485
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Stinson, Shawn (13 October 2014). "Locklear dreams of Olympic glory". Robesonian.com. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  6. ↑ Fountain, Caroline. "Huntersville Olympic Hopeful Heads to National Championship". Fox46 Carolinas. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Biles, Chiles Take Secret U.S. Classic All-Around Titles". USA Gymnastics. USA Gymnastics. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  8. ↑ https://www.usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_14champs_srevents.pdf
  9. ↑ "USA Gymnastics Names U.S. Senior Women's National Team, Senior Pan Am Championships Team". USA Gymnastics. 24 August 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "USA Wins Women's Team Gold At Senior Pan American Championships". USA Gymnastics. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  11. ↑ "Skinner Wins Floor Exercise Gold At 2014 Senior Pan Am Championships". USA Gymnastics. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  12. ↑ "USA Gymnastics Announces U.S. Women's Team For 2014 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  13. ↑ http://www.teamusa.org/News/2014/October/08/Team-USA-Womens-Gymnasts-Golden-At-World-Championships