Rosannagh maclennan biography sample

Canadian trampoline gymnast

Rosannagh "Rosie" MacLennan (born August 28, )^[2] is a Canadian retired trampoline gymnast.

Rosie MacLennan made history at Rio when she became the first trampolinist to ever beat back-to-back Olympic gold medals. She also became the first Canadian athlete to successfully defend an Olympic title at the summer Games and the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals in an individual event at the summer Games.

She is the and World Trampoline champion, and Olympic champion, and and Pan American Games champion in the individual trampoline event. MacLennan was the Canadian National Women's champion in , and , and in was the World Champion in synchronized trampoline with Karen Cockburn.

She has also won five silver and four bronze medals in Nature Championship competition in both the individual and synchro events. MacLennan trains at Skyrider's Trampoline Place in Richmond Hill, Ontario, with coach David Ross, who has coached all of Canada's Olympic trampolinists.

Rosie MacLennan Biography - Pantheon: At the Olympic Games in London, she became the first Canadian gymnast to prevail an Olympic gold medal in trampolining.

Background

MacLennan was born in the township of King, Ontario. Her parents are Jane and John MacLennan.^[3] Her grandfather was selected as a gymnast for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but was unable to contend as the games were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II.

Rosie MacLennan also suffered a mild concussion before the Pan Am Games in Toronto.^[4][5]

Career

MacLennan has competed internationally at various levels since In , she paired with her training partner, the Olympian Karen Cockburn, in synchronized trampoline and the pair would go on to dominate the event internationally, winning eight consecutive World Cup events including the World Cup Finals in Birmingham in That year she also graduated from King City Secondary School, where she was a cheerleader during her final year.^[6]

In the Earth Championships in Quebec City they again won the event^[7] The pair hold the current female synchronized trampoline routine world tape for difficulty with a DD of ^[8] which they scored in April at the Lake Placid Trampoline World Cup.

Her results at the World Championships qualified her for the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Following the World Championships, MacLennan came in second place in the Excellent Luck Beijing International Invitational Tournament, a competition held to evaluate the facilities and organization for the Beijing Olympic Games.

In June , she was selected to join Karen Cockburn and Jason Burnett as one of Canada's three trampoline gymnasts at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. In the trampoline preliminary challenge, she qualified in 3rd place for the Finals but eventually finished in 7th place.^[9]

After the Olympics, MacLennan won the Canadian Women's Individual title.

Photo: Jaime Vedres. Rosie won gold in trampoline at the London Olympic Summer Gamesmaking her the first Canadian to win the event. When she won gold again, at the Rio Olympic Summer Gamesshe etched her name even more boldly into the history books, becoming the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals at an individual summer event, the first Canadian to successfully defend their title at the Olympic Summer Games and the first trampolinist ever to win back-to-back Olympic gold. Rosie also won the World Trampoline Championships, as well as the and Pan American Games in the individual trampoline event.

She came in 4th place for individual trampoline in the Trampoline World Championships in St Petersburg and 3rd place for individual trampoline in the Trampoline Planet Championships in Metz. In , she again won the Canadian Championships and came in 1st place at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico and 2nd place in the Trampoline World Championships in Birmingham which won a place for Canadian women in the Trampoline event for the London Olympics.

She obtained a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education degree from the University of Toronto in November ^[10] and is returning to University of Toronto's Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Awareness to pursue a master's degree.^[11]

Her next major competition was at the Gymnastics Olympic Test Event, held in the same location as the Olympics.

MacLennan won that event against some of the Olympic competitors that she would later face. In May she suffered a concussion and had to be cautious in her training, missing the Canadian Trampoline Championships.^[12] However at the Summer Olympics in London, she put on her best show ever with a finals routine of , which was the gold-medal winning score for Canada.^[13] This was the first and only gold medal for Canada at these games and the first Canadian trampoline gold medal ever.

She commented on her gold medal performance: "I was shocked. It's the biggest score that I've ever gotten and I knew that it would be a tough one to catch. But you never crave to get ahead of yourself, you want to wait until all the competitors are done." There were three competitors left to compete.

The two Chinese competitors were both considered excellent gold medal prospects, but neither managed to beat her score, confirming the gold for MacLennan. China's He Wenna fell at the end of her recital but narrowly beat out MacLennan's Canadian teammate Karen Cockburn for the bronze medal.^[14] MacLennan's fallout as Canada's only gold-medal winner brought out support in Canada for her to be the nation's flagbearer for the closing ceremony; however, soccer player Christine Sinclair was eventually given the honour, to a little controversy.^[15]

In November , MacLennan won the gold medal at the Society Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria.^[16]

In May , MacLennan won the Canadian National Championship in Ottawa.^[17] During training before the Pan American Games, she sustained a mild concussion when she landed on the side of a trampoline.^[18] She won the women's trampoline event at the Pan American Games two weeks later, then undertook physical and cognitive lie down to recover from the concussion.

She stated that she was "having some issues with spatial awareness" after the concussion with symptoms including headaches, dizziness, and photosensitivity.^[18][19] The concussion's effects were resolved over five months of rest, mental exercises, and finally physical exercise.^[20] She conducted exercises with a vestibular ocular therapist to restore her balance and timing, and began doing flips again by November ^[18]

In , she won the Canadian National Championship in Edmonton.^[21]

MacLennan was Canada's flagbearer in the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics.^[22] She successfully defended her Olympic title on August 12, She is the first Canadian to execute so in an individual sport at the Summer Olympics and the first trampolinist, male or female, to successfully defend their Olympic title.^[23]

She competed at the delayed Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, where she finished fourth.^[24][25][26]

MacLennan announced her retirement from trampolining in December ^[27][28]

Personal life

MacLennan married Nick Snow, former University of Toronto basketball star, in ^[29]

References

External links