Ragan Smith

Ragan Smith
Smith at the 2017 World Championships Qualifications
Personal information
Full name Ragan Elisabeth Smith
Country represented  United States
Born (2000-08-08) August 8, 2000
Snellville, Georgia USA
Hometown Dacula, Georgia USA
Residence Lewisville, Texas USA
Height 4 ft 6 in (137 cm)
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Senior International Elite
Years on national team 2014 - Present (US)
Club Texas Dreams Gymnastics
Head coach(es) Kim Zmeskal
Assistant coach(es) Chris Burdette
Former coach(es) Elena Piskun
Choreographer Kim Zmeskal
Dominic Zito
Music The Addams Family Theme (2016-2017)
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' (2017 - Present)

Ragan Elisabeth Smith (born August 8, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast. She is a five-time member of the US National Team (2014-2019). She is the 2017 National All-Around Champion[1] and was an alternate for the 2016 Olympic team.

Personal life

Smith was born in Snellville, Georgia, to Michael and Kerry Smith. She has two younger brothers. Her mother was a gymnastics coach. Smith began gymnastics in 2004. Smith currently lives in Lewisville, Texas.[2]

Junior career

2013

Smith qualified for Junior International Elite status in 2013 and advanced to the 2013 Secret U.S. Classic in Chicago, Illinois. She placed 23rd in the all-around and advanced to U.S. Nationals later in the month, where she finished 17th all-around.[3]

2014

Smith attended her first international assignment in March 2014, after her addition to the U.S. National Team, at the 2014 City of Jesolo Trophy in Venice, Italy. She contributed an all-around score of 52.650.[4] In August 2014, Smith competed at the 2014 Secret U.S. Classic and scored 54.450, finishing thirteenth in the all-around and first on floor, advancing to the U.S. Nationals, where she placed seventh in the all-around with a two-day combined total of 110.750 and second on beam and floor with scores of 29.000 and 29.150, respectively.

2015

In March, Smith once again attended the City of Jesolo Trophy. In qualifications, which also served as an all-around/team final, Smith placed 5th with a score of 56.100 and made both the vault and floor finals. She scored a 14.350 on vault, earning a third-place finish, and 14.250 on floor, placing second.[5]

Smith competed in the Secret U.S. Classic, placing 1st on the floor exercise, as well as 2nd in the all-around and 3rd on vault.[6] In August, Smith attended the 2015 US Nationals. She came in 3rd all-around with a two-day combined score of 116.450 and won both balance beam and floor.[7] On December 19, 2015, Smith committed to the University of Oklahoma and the Sooners program.[8]

Senior career

2016

Smith's senior debut came at the 2016 City of Jesolo Trophy in March, where she finished second on beam, floor, and the all-around.[9] In April, she competed at the Pacific Rim Championships, winning balance beam with a score of 15.225. At the Secret U.S. Classic, Smith finished fifth on beam and tied for sixth on bars.[10] At the U.S. Olympic Trials in San Jose on July 10, 2016, she scored 15.3 on the balance beam and finished second on the event. On July 10, Smith was named as an alternate to the 2016 Olympic team, alongside Ashton Locklear and MyKayla Skinner.

2017

On March 4, Smith won the gold medal ahead of Japanese Olympian Asuka Teramoto at the American Cup in Newark, New Jersey. In July Smith competed at the U.S. Classic on uneven bars and balance beam only. She took first place on both events.[11]

On August 20, Smith won the 2017 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships all-around title with a two-day combined score of 115.250, over five points ahead of silver medalist Jordan Chiles. She also placed first on floor exercise ahead of Jade Carey and Trinity Thomas, first on balance beam ahead of Riley McCusker and Thomas, and third on uneven bars behind McCusker and Locklear.[12] She was named to the national team for the fourth consecutive year.

On September 20, Smith was selected to represent the United States at the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Montreal alongside Carey, Locklear, and Morgan Hurd.[13][14] During qualifications Smith qualified to the all-around final in second place behind Mai Murakami of Japan despite an uncharacteristic fall on the balance beam. Smith also qualified to the floor exercise final in first with a score of 14.433, ahead of Murakami and teammate Carey.[15] She was arguably the favorite to win the all-around title, but minutes before her first rotation on vault she injured her ankle during warmups and withdrew from the all-around final.[16] This was only one of many injuries sustained by major contenders over the course of the championships, with Kohei Uchimura of Japan, Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and Larisa Iordache of Romania all withdrawing from the competition due to injury. Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, the athlete representative, mentioned that the new podium training format only allowed the gymnasts a few minutes on each piece, not giving the gymnasts a sufficient amount of time to get used to the equipment, and suggested this as a reason for a much larger number of mistakes and injuries than usual. Smith's injury also forced her to withdraw from the floor exercise event final. Smith's recovery included extensive physical therapy and rehab as she chose to avoid the risks of surgery.[17]

2018

In her comeback meet, Smith competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in April. The US did not field a team, but Smith and club teammate Emma Malabuyo competed as individuals.[18] Smith won silver in the all-around, balance beam, and uneven bars.[19][20] She competed at the 2018 U.S. Classic in late July.[21] She only competed on vault, balance beam, and uneven bars. She finished third on balance beam.[22]

Marred by lingering torn ligaments in her ankle, broken toes, and mental struggles at the 2018 U.S Championships in August, Smith finished 10th in the all-around, 8th on vault, 8th on beam, tied for 11th on bars, and 11th on floor over the cumulative two day competition. She was not selected for the eight member national team for 2018.

In October Smith participated in the Worlds Team Selection Camp. During the competition she placed fifth in the all-around, third on balance beam behind Kara Eaker and Riley McCusker, fourth on vault and floor exercise, and eighth on uneven bars.[23] The following day she was named to the team to compete at the 2018 World Championships alongside Biles, Morgan Hurd, McCusker, Grace McCallum, and Eaker (alternate to be named in Doha).[24] As a result of making the World Championship team, Smith was added back onto the National Team.

Competitive history

Junior

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2012U.S. Classic (HOPEs)2nd, silver medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)73rd, bronze medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)
2013U.S. Classic6
U.S. National Championships17108
2014City of Jesolo Trophy1st, gold medalist(s)8
U.S. Classic13121st, gold medalist(s)
U.S. National Championships78292nd, silver medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)
2015City of Jesolo Trophy1st, gold medalist(s)53rd, bronze medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)
U.S. Classic2nd, silver medalist(s)3rd, bronze medalist(s)741st, gold medalist(s)
U.S. National Championships3rd, bronze medalist(s)671st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)

Senior

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2016City of Jesolo Trophy1st, gold medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)
Pacific Rim Championships1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)
U.S. Classic65
U.S. National Championships811513
U.S. Olympic Trials511102nd, silver medalist(s)6
Olympic GamesAlternate
2017 American Cup1st, gold medalist(s)
U.S. Classic1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)
P&G National Championships1st, gold medalist(s)3rd, bronze medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)
World Championships[lower-alpha 1]WDWD
2018City of Jesolo Trophy2nd, silver medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)
U.S. Classic113rd, bronze medalist(s)
U.S. National Championships1011811
Worlds Team Selection Camp5483rd, bronze medalist(s)4
  1. Smith qualified to the All-Around and Floor Exercise finals in 2nd and 1st respectively but had to withdraw from both due to an injury sustained before the AA final.

References

  1. "Smith wins women's all-around crown at 2017 P&G Championships". USA Gymnastics. August 20, 2017.
  2. "Ragan Smith". usagym.org. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  3. http://gym-style.com/ragan/results.htm
  4. http://www.gymnasticsresults.com/2014/eu/ita/jesolo/junaa.pdf
  5. http://thegymter.net/2015/03/28/2015-jesolo-live-results/
  6. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_15susc_jr.pdf
  7. https://usagym.org/PDFs/Results/w_15champs_jraa.pdf
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  9. http://thegymter.net/2016/03/19/2016-city-of-jesolo-trophy-results/
  10. https://myusagym.com/meets/past/57553/results/5397/
  11. "2017 U.S. Classic – Seniors". FloGymnastics.
  12. "Smith grabs first U.S. all-around title on final night of P&G Championships". USA Gymnastics. August 20, 2017.
  13. "Meet The 2017 U.S. Women's World Championships Team". FloGymnastics. September 20, 2017.
  14. "USA Gymnastics names U.S. Women's Team for 2017 World Championships". USA Gymnastics. September 20, 2017.
  15. "Pedigree shines through nerves as U.S. women poised for World Championships success". USA Gymnastics. October 4, 2017.
  16. "Ragan Smith Injured, Out Of AA Final At 2017 Gymnastics World Championships". FloGymnastics. October 6, 2017.
  17. "Pain, training and 73 medals: Inside the life of US gymnastics all-around champion Ragan Smith". SportsDay. 2018-08-15. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  18. "U.S. Gymnasts Set To Compete At 2018 City of Jesolo Trophy". FloGymnastics. February 19, 2018.
  19. "U.S. Seniors Populate The Podium, Malabuyo Is AA Champ". FloGymnastics. April 14, 2018.
  20. "Junior and Senior Event Finals: RESULS & RECAP". FloGymnastics. April 15, 2018.
  21. "World, Olympic, U.S. champions expected to compete at 2018 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. July 16, 2018.
  22. "Biles, Wong win all-around titles at 2018 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. July 28, 2018.
  23. "Biles wins U.S. women's World Team Selection Camp competition". USA Gymnastics. October 11, 2018.
  24. "USA Gymnastics announces 2018 U.S. Women's World Championships Team". USA Gymnastics. October 12, 2018.
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