Kyla Ross
Kyla Briana Ross Rittman is an American retired artistic gymnast and current assistant coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team. She is the first female gymnast to win NCAA, World, and Olympic championship titles.
Ross was an international elite gymnast from 2009 to 2016. During her junior elite career, she won two national all-around titles and the 2010 Pan American all-around title. In her first year as a senior gymnast, she was the youngest member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics; dubbed the Fierce Five, the squad won the gold medal in the team competition. Ross was the 2013 World all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam silver medalist. At the 2014 World Championships, she was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team and the all-around bronze medalist.
In February 2016, she retired from elite gymnastics to attend college. That fall, she enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles and joined the university's NCAA gymnastics team. She won the uneven bars and balance beam titles at the 2017 NCAA Championships and then helped UCLA win the team title at the 2018 NCAA Championships. On March 16, 2019, she became the 11th NCAA gymnast to achieve a "Gym Slam", having earned a perfect 10 score on all four apparatuses. One week later, she became the second NCAA gymnast, after Maggie Nichols, to achieve a second Gym Slam. She then won the vault and floor exercise titles at the 2019 NCAA Championships. Her senior season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading her to retire from gymnastics. She joined the UCLA coaching staff as an Undergraduate Assistant Coach for one year while finishing her degree, and she joined the Arkansas coaching staff for the 2022 season.
Early life
Kyla Briana Ross was born on October 24, 1996, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Kiana and Jason Ross. Her mother is of Filipino, German, and Puerto Rican descent and her father is of African American and Japanese descent. Her father was a minor league outfielder for six years. She has two younger siblings, McKenna and Kayne. Her sister McKenna played for the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine volleyball team.Early gymnastics career
Ross's parents said their daughter was always very strong and had a lot of energy, leading them to enroll her in gymnastics classes. Ross began gymnastics when she was three years old in Greenville, South Carolina, and also trained in Richmond, Virginia, before the family settled in Aliso Viejo, California. In 2005, she began training alongside future Olympic teammate McKayla Maroney at the Gym-Max Academy of Gymnastics under coaches Howie and Jenny Liang. Ross found early success as a competitive gymnast. At the 2008 Junior Olympic national championships, she won the balance beam, floor exercise, and all-around titles and finished second on vault.Junior elite gymnastics career
2009
Ross began competing as a junior elite gymnast in 2009. In April, she competed at the American Classic in San Diego, California and placed second in the all-around behind McKenzie Wofford with a score of 55.316. She then won the all-around title at the U.S. Classic in Des Moines, Iowa. In August, she competed at the U.S. Championships in Dallas, Texas. She had the lead in the all-around competition after the first day of competition. Despite a mistake on the uneven bars, she maintained her lead on the second day of competition and became the junior national all-around champion. She also won the vault and balance beam titles. She was then selected to compete at the Junior Pan American Championships in Aracaju, Brazil, alongside Bridgette Caquatto, Aly Raisman, and Sabrina Vega. Making her international debut, Ross contributed to the team's 14-point victory over Canada in addition to winning the individual all-around title. In the event finals, she won gold medals on the uneven bars and balance beam and a silver medal on the floor exercise behind Raisman.2010
In March, Ross competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy, where she placed second in the all-around behind Russia's Anastasia Grishina. The following month, she was selected to compete at the Pacific Rim Championships in Melbourne, Australia. The team, which included junior gymnasts Ross and Jordyn Wieber and senior gymnasts Raisman and Rebecca Bross, won the gold medal, beating China by more than 15 points. Individually, Ross placed second behind Wieber in the all-around. Then in the event finals, she won a gold medal on the vault and silver medals on the uneven bars and floor exercise.At the U.S. Classic in Chicago, Ross placed third behind Wieber and Katelyn Ohashi in the all-around and had the highest score on the balance beam. The following month, she competed at the U.S. Championships in Hartford, Connecticut, as the defending junior national champion. Despite a fall on uneven bars during her warm-up, she earned the highest score on the event on Day 1 of the competition. She then fell off the uneven bars on day two, but she finished strong on the balance beam to win her second straight junior all-around title. She also won the national title on the balance beam and placed third on the vault and floor exercise.
In September, Ross competed at the Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico. She and teammates Sabrina Vega, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas, Brenna Dowell, and Sarah Finnegan beat silver medalist Canada by nearly 20 points. Individually, she placed first in the all-around, ahead of Vega and Jessica López of Venezuela. In the event finals, she won the silver medal on the floor exercise behind Maroney and placed sixth on the uneven bars.
2011
Ross again competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in March. She and teammates Katelyn Ohashi, Madison Kocian, Lexie Priessman, Elizabeth Price, and Ericha Fassbender won the team event over Russia by more than ten points. She also won the all-around competition with a score of 58.750, a point ahead of Kocian who won the silver medal. Additionally, Ross won the gold medal on the balance beam and the silver medals on the vault behind Priessman and on the uneven bars behind Anastasia Grishina.At the U.S. Classic in Chicago in July, Ross debuted an Amanar vault on her way to winning the all-around gold medal. She entered the U.S. Championships in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in August as the two-time defending junior champion. She struggled on the first day of competition, falling on a double pike on floor exercise and her Amanar vault was devalued to a double-twisting Yurchenko. On the second day, she earned full credit for her Amanar, and her all-around total for the day bested Ohashi's, 60.150 to 60.000. However, she finished with a two-day total of 117.65 to Ohashi's 120.95 and earned the all-around silver medal.
Senior elite gymnastics career
2012
Because her 16th birthday fell within the calendar year, Ross became a senior elite gymnast in 2012 and was eligible to compete at the Olympic Games. In March, she made her senior debut at the 2012 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in Everett, Washington. The U.S. team consisted of senior gymnasts Ross, Jordyn Wieber, and Gabby Douglas, and junior gymnasts Lexie Priessman, Katelyn Ohashi, and Amelia Hundley. They easily won the competition, beating silver medalist China by nearly 20 points. Individually, Ross placed second in the all-around behind Wieber, the reigning World all-around champion. Then in the event finals, she won a gold medal on the balance beam, a silver medal on the uneven bars, and a bronze medal on the floor exercise. Later that month, Ross competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy for the third straight year. The U.S. team again earned an easy victory, finishing more than ten points ahead of silver medalist Italy. Ross also won the all-around competition ahead of teammates Aly Raisman and Sarah Finnegan. She also claimed titles on uneven bars and balance beam and a bronze medal on vault.At the U.S. Classic, Ross placed second in the all-around behind Raisman despite struggling with her Amanar vault. She performed well on the uneven bars to finish second to Douglas on that apparatus. The following month, she competed at the U.S. Championships in St. Louis, Missouri. She placed fourth in the all-around on the first day of competition and earned the highest score of the day on uneven bars. However, she competed a lower-difficulty vault at the recommendation of the national team coordinator Márta Károlyi and stepped out of bounds on the floor exercise. She improved her all-around total score on the second day, but she remained in fourth place behind Wieber, Douglas, and Raisman. As a result, she qualified for the Olympic Trials. Additionally, she won the silver medal on the uneven bars, behind Douglas.
At the beginning of July, Ross competed at the Olympic Trials in San Jose, California. She placed fifth in the all-around and tied with Douglas for first on the uneven bars. Afterward, she was chosen as a member of the team that would be sent to the 2012 Summer Olympics alongside Douglas, Maroney, Raisman, and Wieber. Ross was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the rest of the team in the July 18, 2012, "Olympic Preview" issue. It was the first time an entire Olympic gymnastics team had been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
London Olympics
At the end of July, Ross competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, and she was the youngest member of the entire United States Olympic team. She helped the American team, nicknamed the "Fierce Five", qualify first to the team final by competing on the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise in the qualification round. Ross finished 11th on the uneven bars, making her the second reserve for the event final. Despite finishing sixth on the balance beam, she did not qualify for the event final because of the two-per-country rule, as Douglas and Raisman both finished ahead of her. In the team final, she contributed scores of 14.933 on uneven bars and 15.133 on balance beam toward the team's victory. They became the second U.S. team, after the "Magnificent Seven" in 1996, to win the team competition.After the Olympic Games, Ross appeared with her teammates on The Today Show and Late Show with David Letterman and also rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. They also performed on Dancing with the Stars in support of 2008 Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson. She performed on the 40-city Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions before returning home to train full-time for the upcoming season.