Shayla Worley

Shayla Worley
— Gymnast —
Full name	Shayla Worley
Nickname(s)	Lala, Shay
Country represented	United States
Born	(1990-09-02) September 2, 1990 Orlando, Florida
Hometown	Orlando, Florida
Height	5'4
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Club	Orlando Metro
College team	UGA Gymdogs
Head coach(es)	Jeff Wood
Assistant coach(es)	Christi Barineau
Music	Show
Eponymous skills	Worley (balance beam)
Medal record Gymnastics World Championships Gold 2007 Stuttgart Team Pacific Alliance Championships Gold 2006 Honolulu Team All-Around Silver 2006 Honolulu Uneven Bars American Cup Gold 2006 Philadelphia Balance Beam Silver 2006 Philadelphia All-Around Silver 2006 Philadelphia Uneven Bars Silver 2006 Philadelphia Floor Exercise Bronze 2008 New York City Vault Bronze 2008 New York City Uneven Bars US Senior Nationals Silver 2007 San Jose All-Around Silver 2007 San Jose Uneven Bars

Shayla Worley (born September 2, 1990 in Orlando, Florida) is an American gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal-winning American team at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She has been training at Orlando Metro Gymnastics where she is coached by Jeff Wood and Christi Barineau, since she was a Level 6 gymnast. Worley is currently competing at the University of Georgia, the 10 time NCAA champions.

Junior career

Worley competed at Level 9 in 2001, placing first in the all-around competition at the Florida State Championships. Her final meet of the season was the Level 9 Eastern Championships, the highest meet to which a Level 9 gymnast can advance, where she placed second all-around. Worley finished off the junior Olympic levels by placing second all-around at the 2002 Level 10 Florida State Championships.

In 2002, Worley became a junior national elite, one step below the elite level; today, it is referred to as pre-elite. She won the all-around title at the American Challenge, and also placed well at the U.S. Challenge.

She advanced to junior international elite in 2003. At the U.S. Classic, Worley placed high enough to qualify to the U.S. National Championships. A few weeks later, she competed at the U.S. National Championships, where she finished fourth all-around. This also gained her a spot on the United States National Gymnastics Team.

Worley continued on competing as a junior elite in 2004. She helped the U.S. win in a dual meet against Japan, and at the American Classic, she finished fourth all-around and again qualified to the U.S. National Championships. A few weeks later, she was named to the Pacific Alliance Team, finishing fourth all-around at the Pacific Alliance Championships. She also competed at the U.S. Classic, where she placed second all-around. In the fall, she won the all-around at the USA versus Japan meet and was named to the Junior Pan Am Games team, but could not compete because of a back injury.

Worley's final year as a junior was 2005. She started off her season at the International Tri Meet, which the United States won. She also went on the European tour, which included meets against lower-ranked Great Britain and Switzerland; the U.S. won both. Her next competition was the U.S. Classic. A potential winner, she finished fourth all-around after falling on floor. At the U.S. Nations one month later, a fall on bars kept her down in the standings on day one. She battled back and tallied the highest all-around score on day two, eventually finishing third overall behind Natasha Kelley. In her final meet of the season, the Massilia Cup, Worley only competed on bars, finishing second.

Senior career

Worley turned senior in 2006. Her first senior outing was the American Cup, where she finished second all-around behind Nastia Liukin.^[1] Next, she competed at the Pacific Alliance Championships, where she finished second on bars, making her the highest-placed American, and helping the U.S. win the team title.

A hamstring injury prevented Worley from taking part in further competition in 2006. As a national team member who had scored well in the first half of the year, she had hopes of being named to the U.S. team for the World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, but her injury had not gotten better, so she was unable to compete.

She was ready in time for the 2007 American Cup, but a fall on her uneven bars dismount meant she narrowly missed qualifying for finals; she would have done so easily without this error. Worley was also selected to compete in the Britain v. USA dual match held in Lisburn, Northern Ireland on St. Patrick's Day. There were no errors this time, and in the absence of the world's top two bars competitors, Britain's Beth Tweddle and American teammate Nastia Liukin, Worley took the bars title, and also finished second all-around. At the US Classic she only competed on bars and beam. Unfortunately, her grip ripped during the middle of her bar routine, causing her to place out of the top three. However, she placed second on beam. At the Visa Championships, she finished runner-up to Shawn Johnson,^[2] and was also second on uneven bars. She was selected to represent the U.S. in the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

At the World Championships, Worley and Team USA finished first overall in team qualifying, about four points ahead of the nearest team, China.^[3] Worley qualified 8th overall for the all-around competition, but because of rules permitting only two competitors per country, she was excluded since Liukin and Johnson qualified ahead of her. Worley also finished in the top eight on balance beam, but the two-athlete rule again caused her elimination from the event final. During the team finals, Worley competed on bars and floor, earning 15.575 and 14.675 respectively. The scores contributed to the U.S. total of 184.400, which earned the gold medal.

In 2008, Worley competed at the American Cup with a third place finish in vault and bars. She then traveled to Boston, Massachusetts for the VISA National Championships, but had to pull out after aggravating a herniated disc in training the month before, resulting in her requiring four ice baths a day to soothe it by the time of the trials. She successfully petitioned to attend the Olympic trials, where she placed 14th all-around without competing on floor exercise. Worley was then invited to the final training camp in Texas, but ultimately was not chosen as an Olympic team member due to a broken leg.^[4] She then soon decided to retire from elite gymnastics.

Personal life

Worley attended William R. Boone High School in Orlando. Outside of gymnastics, she has competed in speech oration contests; has modeled for Disney, Tupperware, and Lands' End; and has done commercials for Disney and Universal.^[5]

At the end of 2008, after retiring from elite level gymnastics, Worley committed to NCAA-level gymnastics with the University of Georgia Gymdogs.^[6] Worley is double majoring in marketing and advertising at the University of Georgia and she hopes to have a career along those lines.^[7] Outside of the gym, Worley is also involved with the Cards for Hosptalized Kids foundation, where she makes cards for kids in the hospital.^[8]

Competitive History

Senior history

2008 season

2007 season

2006 season

2005 season

References

External links

• Official site
• Worley on Twitter
• Shayla Worley at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Shayla Worley at USA Gymnastics

World Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Team Competition     1934:  Czechoslovakia 1938:  Czechoslovakia 1950:  Sweden 1954:  Soviet Union 1958:  Soviet Union 1962:  Soviet Union 1966:  Czechoslovakia 1970:  Soviet Union 1974:  Soviet Union 1978:  Soviet Union 1979:  Romania 1981:  Soviet Union 1983:  Soviet Union 1985:  Soviet Union 1987:  Romania 1989:  Soviet Union 1991:  Soviet Union 1994:  Romania 1995:  Romania 1997:  Romania 1999:  Romania 2001:  Romania 2003:  United States 2006:  China 2007:  United States 2010:  Russia 2011:  United States 2014:  United States 2007:  United States (USA), Ivana Hong, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Samantha Peszek, Alicia Sacramone, Shayla Worley