Bailie Jaye Key (born 16 March 1999) is a retired American

artistic gymnast 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 ...

. She was a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 2014

Pacific Rim Championships The Pacific Rim Championships is a major regional biennial gymnastics competition. It is open to teams from member nations of the Pacific Alliance of National Gymnastics Federations, namely Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombi ...

and was the 2013 U.S. Junior National Champion.

Gymnastics career

2011-14: Junior international elite

Key was born in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georg ...

and trained at Texas Dreams Gymnastics under former gymnast and Olympic bronze medalist

Kim Zmeskal Kimberly Lynn Zmeskal Burdette (née ''Zmeskal'' on February 6, 1976) is an American retired artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach and the 1991 World All-Around champion. A member of the silver medal-winning U.S. team from the 1991 World Cha ...

and her husband, Chris Burdette. Her teammates included

Peyton Ernst Peyton Michelle Ernst (born January 27, 1997) is a former American collegiate and artistic gymnast. Personal life Ernst was born in Covington, Louisiana, in 1997 and began gymnastics in 1999. She currently lives in Coppell, Texas.Kennedy Baker Kennedy Baker (born May 10, 1996) is a retired American collegiate and artistic gymnast. She competed as an elite gymnast from 2009 through 2013 and has since retired. She had competed in collegiate gymnastics for the Florida Gators. Career ...

and Veronica Hults. In July 2011, Key competed at the 2011 U.S. CoverGirl Classic in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

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. She placed seventh in the overall standings. Later that year, she competed in the Visa National Championships. She came in ninth overall with a two-day combined score of 109.550. Key competed at the 2012 City of Jesolo Trophy. She won a gold medal with the team. She scored 14.250 on the

floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...

, which was enough to give her a bronze medal, and she was third in the all-around. At the U.S. Classic, she scored a 56.600, placing fifth. A few weeks later, at the Visa Championships, Key finished fourth in the all-around but got a bronze medal on the

balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...

and floor exercise. In March 2013, Key went to the 2013 City of Jesolo Trophy. She won the all-around gold medal with 58.100 and another two golds and one bronze in the event finals. In July, she competed at the Secret U.S. Classic, where she won the all-around title with a score of 58.250. She scored a 14.000 on floor, 14.250 on

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB o ...

to finish in fifth, 15.000 on vault to place third, and 15.000 on beam to place second. In August, Key competed at the P&G National Championships, which took place over two days, with the combined scores determining final placings. Key won gold in the all-around, beam and floor and placed fourth on bars and vault. Her scores for Day 1 were 15.350 on beam, 13.950 on bars, 14.800 on floor and 15.100 on vault. Her Day 2 scores were 15.550 on beam, 14.100 on bars, 14.950 on floor and 14.750 on vault. Her total all-around score was 118.550. Following her all-around win at the P&G Championships, Key was selected along with Laurie Hernandez, who placed second at the P&G Championships, to represent the United States at the Junior Japan International in

Yokohama, Japan is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

. Key won the all-around with a score of 58.400. She also won the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise titles. In November, Key was selected, along with fellow junior gymnasts Hernandez, Veronica Hults and Emily Gaskins and senior gymnasts Maggie Nichols and

Peyton Ernst Peyton Michelle Ernst (born January 27, 1997) is a former American collegiate and artistic gymnast. Personal life Ernst was born in Covington, Louisiana, in 1997 and began gymnastics in 1999. She currently lives in Coppell, Texas.Acapulco, Mexico. Key helped the American juniors take the team title in the International Junior Cup and also won the all-around title ahead of Hernandez, Gaskins and Hults, who finished second, third and fourth, respectively; however, only Key and Hernandez were awarded the gold and silver medals because of a two-per-country rule. In 2014, Key competed at the

City of Jesolo Trophy The City of Jesolo Trophy is an annual women's gymnastics competition held in Jesolo, Italy. There are competitions for the senior division and junior division. The United States won the senior team competition every year from 2010 to 2017.

Jesolo Jesolo or Iesolo (; vec, Gèxoło) is a seaside resort town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy of 26,447 inhabitants. With around six million visitors per year, Jesolo is one of the largest beach resorts in the country, and ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The United States won the team competition, and she won the all-around and three events (vault, bars and floor) and placed second on beam. She was named to the American team for the

in Richmond,

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, in April 2014. There, she won the all-around, vault and floor medals for the junior division and placed second on uneven bars and balance beam. Key withdrew from the 2014 Secret U.S. Classic because of a minor arm injury. Later in the season, she withdrew from the 2014 P&G National Championships with the same nagging arm injury and was consequently unable to defend her national title. On September 14, 2014, Key verbally committed to the

Florida Gators women's gymnastics The Florida Gators women's gymnastics team represents the University of Florida in the sport of gymnastics. The team competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gato ...

team. She announced the news through social media.

2015-2016: Senior career

Key turned senior in 2015, consequently becoming age-eligible for a place on the

USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and train ...

team for the 2015 World Championships in

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, and for the 2016 Summer Olympics in

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. City of Jesolo Trophy In March 2015, Key competed at the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy as part of the United States' senior team. She came in second place, behind

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 ...

, in the all-around with a score of 59.500, surpassing both

Gabby Douglas Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 20 ...

and

Aly Raisman Alexandra Rose Raisman (born May 25, 1994) is a retired American artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was captain of both the 2012 "Fierce Five" and 2016 " Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective tea ...

. She scored 15.000 on floor, 14.900 on bars, 15.200 on vault and 14.400 on beam. She also placed 2nd in the uneven bars final, earning the silver medal and also earned a gold medal with the U.S team. Secret U.S. Classic On July 25, Key competed at the Secret U.S. Classic. She placed 4th in the all-around with a score of 59.450, behind 2-time World All-Around Champion

, 2012 Olympic All-Around Champion

, and Maggie Nichols and ahead of

. She placed 3rd on bars (15.300) behind

Madison Kocian Madison Taylor Kocian (born June 15, 1997) is a retired American artistic gymnast. On the uneven bars, she is one of four 2015 world champions and the 2016 Olympic silver medalist. She was part of the gold medal-winning team dubbed the " Final ...

and Douglas, tied for 5th on beam with Nichols (14.450) behind Biles, Raisman, Douglas, and

Kyla Ross Kyla Briana Ross (born October 24, 1996) is a retired American 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 ...

, and tied for 3rd with Nichols on floor (14.800) behind Biles and Douglas. P&G Championships At the P&G Championships held in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

on August 13 & 15, Key finished 4th in the all-around with a 2-night score of 118.350, placing behind

, Maggie Nichols, and

. On night one, Key scored a 15.200 on bars, a 13.700 on beam (after grabbing the beam and being overtime), a 14.450 on floor, and a 15.250 on vault for an all around score of 58.600, .050 behind Raisman. This placed her fourth after night one. On the second day of competition, Key scored a 14.550 on beam, a 14.700 on floor, a 15.200 on vault, and a 15.300 on bars. Overall, she finished 10th on beam (28.250), 3rd on floor (29.150, tied with MyKayla Skinner), and 3rd on bars (30.500). She also placed 4th in the all around with a two-night total of 118.350, .200 behind Aly Raisman, who finished third. Key was named to the Senior National Team for the first time and received an invitation to the 2015 Worlds Selection Camp in September. She was named as a non-traveling alternate to the 2015 World Championship team.

2016

Key was scheduled to compete at the Secret U.S. Classic, but she later withdrew. Two weeks later, Key had decided to end her 2016 season due to an ongoing back injury, therefore ending her potential bid for the 2016 U.S. Women's Olympic Gymnastics team and her elite gymnastics career. On September 30, 2016, Key announced that she had committed to the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

and the Alabama Crimson Tide gymnastics team, having previously been verbally committed to the University of Florida. She signed the

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

to the University of Alabama and the Crimson Tide gymnastics team on November 10, 2016.

2017-2019

Key joined the University of Alabama Crimson Tide gymnastics team for the 2018 season. She competed in the season opener at Michigan, where she fell off the balance beam, receiving a score of 8.475. This would ultimately be the only competitive routine of her college career. In January 2019, it was announced that Key would miss the 2019 season due to an unspecified medical procedure. In June 2019, Key announced her retirement from gymnastics.

Competitive history

References

External links

Official website
*http://www.usagym.org/pages/athletes/athleteListDetail.html?id=209895 {{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Bailie 1999 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide women's gymnasts American female artistic gymnasts People from Augusta, Georgia People from Montgomery, Texas U.S. women's national team gymnasts Gymnasts from Texas