Rosannagh "Rosie" MacLennan (born August 28, 1988) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

retired

trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame often using many coiled spring (device), springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes. The fabric that use ...

gymnast. She is the 2013 and 2018 World Trampoline champion, 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion, and 2011 and 2015

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

champion in the individual trampoline event. MacLennan was the Canadian National Women's champion in 2005, 2009 and 2011, and in 2007 was the World Champion in

synchronized trampoline Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic sport in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle position to more co ...

with

Karen Cockburn Karen Cockburn (born October 2, 1980) is a Canadians, Canadian trampoline gymnast. She won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the individual event. She won a gold medal at the 2003 Trampoline World Championships in Hannover, Germany i ...

. She has also won five silver and four bronze medals in World Championship competition in both the individual and synchro events. MacLennan trains at Skyrider's Trampoline Place in

Richmond Hill, Ontario Richmond Hill ( 2021 population: 202,022) is a city in south-central York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and the 27th most populous municipality in Canada. Ric ...

, with coach David Ross, who has coached all of Canada's Olympic trampolinists.

Background

MacLennan was born in the township of King, Ontario. Her parents are Jane and John MacLennan. Her grandfather was selected as a gymnast for the

1940 Summer Olympics The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, was a planned international multi-sport event scheduled to have been held from 21 September to 6 October 1940, in Tokyo City, Japan, and later rescheduled for 20 July t ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, but was unable to compete as the games were cancelled due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Rosie MacLennan also suffered a mild concussion before the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.

Career

MacLennan has competed internationally at various levels since 1999. In 2006, she paired with her training partner, the Olympian

, in

and the pair would go on to dominate the event internationally, winning eight consecutive World Cup events including the World Cup Finals in

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in 2006. That year she also graduated from King City Secondary School, where she was a

cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

during her final year. In the 2007 World Championships in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

they again won the event The pair hold the current female synchronized trampoline routine world record for difficulty with a DD of 14.20 which they scored in April 2007 at the Lake Placid Trampoline World Cup. Her results at the 2007 World Championships qualified her for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

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. Following the 2007 World Championships, MacLennan came in second place in the Good Luck Beijing International Invitational Tournament, a competition held to test the facilities and organization for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In June 2008, she was selected to join Karen Cockburn and Jason Burnett as one of Canada's three trampoline gymnasts at the

. In the trampoline preliminary competition, she qualified in 3rd place for the Finals but eventually finished in 7th place. After the 2008 Olympics, MacLennan won the 2009 Canadian Women's Individual title. She came in 4th place for individual trampoline in the 2009 Trampoline World Championships in

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and 3rd place for individual trampoline in the 2010 Trampoline World Championships in

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. In 2011, she again won the Canadian Championships and came in 1st place at the

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and 2nd place in the 2011 Trampoline World Championships in

which won a place for Canadian women in the Trampoline event for the

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. She obtained a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education degree from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in November 2011 and is returning to University of Toronto's Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education to pursue a master's degree. Her next major competition was at the 2012 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 2012 she suffered a concussion and had to be cautious in her training, missing the 2012 Canadian Trampoline Championships. However at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, she put on her best performance ever with a finals routine of 57.305, which was the gold-medal winning score for Canada. 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 want 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 good 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 performance but narrowly beat out MacLennan's Canadian teammate Karen Cockburn for the bronze medal. MacLennan's result 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 Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player

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was eventually given the honour, to a little controversy. In November 2013, MacLennan won the gold medal at the World Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria. In May 2014, MacLennan won the Canadian National Championship in Ottawa. During training before the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

, she sustained a mild

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

when she landed on the side of a trampoline. She won the women's trampoline event at the Pan American Games two weeks later, then undertook physical and cognitive rest to recover from the concussion. She stated that she was "having some issues with spatial awareness" after the concussion with symptoms including

headache A headache, also known as cephalalgia, is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of Depression (mood), depression in those with severe ...

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, and

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. The concussion's effects were resolved over five months of rest, mental exercises, and finally physical exercise. She conducted exercises with a vestibular ocular therapist to restore her balance and timing, and began doing flips again by November 2015. In 2016, she won the Canadian National Championship in Edmonton. MacLennan was Canada's flagbearer in the opening ceremony of the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. She successfully defended her Olympic title on August 12, 2016. She is the first Canadian to do so in an individual sport at the Summer Olympics and the first trampolinist, male or female, to successfully defend their Olympic title. She competed at the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo, Japan, where she finished fourth. MacLennan announced her retirement from trampolining in December 2022.

Personal life

MacLennan married Nick Snow, former University of Toronto basketball star, in 2018.

References

External links