Aimee Boorman (born Aimee Banghart; March 27, 1973) is an American

artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

coach. She coached 2016 Olympic champion and 2013-2015 world champion

Simone Biles Simone Arianne Biles (; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most de ...

. She was the USA women's gymnastics team head coach at the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

. She currently serves as an assistant coach for the Netherlands' women's gymnastic team.

Early life

Aimee Boorman was born and raised by a single mother in the

Rogers Park Rogers Park is the first of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located from the Loop, it is on the city's far north side on the shore of Lake Michigan. The neighborhood is commonly known for its cultural diversity, lush green public spaces, early ...

area of Chicago. She began gymnastics classes with the

Chicago Park District The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, several boat harbors, two botanic conservatorie ...

at age 6. To help earn money at age 13, she started coaching at the Lakeshore Gymnastics Club. She attended

Lane Technical High School Lane Tech College Prep High School (often shortened to Lane Tech, full name Albert Grannis Lane Technical College Preparatory High School), is a public 4-year selective enrollment magnet high school located in the Roscoe Village neighborhood on ...

, which had a strong gymnastics program, where she excelled in floor exercises, winning the city championship in that event as a freshman. She realized she would not become an Olympic gymnast herself, but she considered continuing in the sport as a coach. In college at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

she became a member of the social sorority

Delta Phi Epsilon Delta Phi Epsilon () may refer to: *Delta Phi Epsilon (professional), the professional foreign service fraternity and sorority *Delta Phi Epsilon (social) Delta Phi Epsilon ( or DPhiE) is an international Fraternities and sororities in North Ame ...

. While at first reluctant to continue coaching and pursue a degree, she missed the sport and took a part-time coaching position. She graduated with a business degree related to sports management in 1995. That same year, when her friend had interviews in Houston, she went along on a whim and lined up interviews for herself. She was offered a coaching job.

Coaching career

Boorman's first coaching job in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

was at Cypress Academy of Gymnastics located in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Boorman started working at Bannon's Gymnastix in 1996. She began coaching

in 2005, when Biles was eight years old. Biles rose to prominence in 2013 after becoming U.S. national champion and world all-around champion in her senior debut. Boorman was the head coach at Bannon's, where Biles trained under her, until 2014, when they both left. She and Biles temporarily trained at AIM Athletics in

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with p ...

, until Biles' parents' new gymnastics facility, World Champions Centre, opened. The facility is located in

Spring, Texas Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, part of the metropolitan area. The population was 62,559 at the 2020 census. While the name "Spring" is popu ...

, and Boorman was the team manager and head coach. Boorman was named head coach of the United States women gymnastics team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. Post-Olympics, she left World Champions Centre and took the executive director position at Evo Athletics in Sarasota, FL.

Personal life

Boorman was raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and resides in Florida. Boorman married husband James in 2000. Together the couple has three children.

References

External links

Aimee Boorman
at World Champion Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Boorman, Aimee 1973 births Living people Gymnastics coaches from Illinois Sportspeople from Chicago Northern Illinois University alumni People from Spring, Texas American Olympic coaches