Madison "Maddie" Desch (born August 25, 1997) is a retired American artistic gymnast who was a member of the gold medal winning US team at the

2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Nanning, China at the Guangxi Gymnasium from 3–12 October 2014. The competition was the fourth time a World Artistic Gymnastics Championships has been held in the continent of Asia. ...

and

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 competed on the gymnastics team at the

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

where she accepted a full athletic scholarship to study beginning in 2016.

Junior elite career

2011

Desch's elite debut was at the 2011 CoverGirl Classic. She tied for third on vault and placed eighth on balance beam. She finished ninth in the all-around, and qualified for the Junior National Championships. At the 2011 Junior Visa Championships, Desch placed tied for seventh on vault, nineteenth on bars, seventeenth on beam, and fifth on floor exercise. She was added to the Junior National Team.

2012

At the start of the year, Desch competed at the City of Jesolo competition with teammates

Katelyn Ohashi Katelyn Michelle Ohashi (born April 12, 1997) is an American gymnast who competed for the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a six-time All-American and was a four-time member of USA Gymnastics' Junior National Team, the 2011 junior n ...

, Bailie Key, Lexie Priessman, and

Amelia Hundley Amelia Magdalena Hundley (born January 21, 1998) is a former American artistic gymnast. She won a gold, silver, and bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She also won team gold medals competing for the United ...

. The team won the gold medal, and Desch placed 5th in the all-around. At the U.S. Secret Classic, she placed 2nd in the all-around behind

Simone Biles Simone Arianne Biles Owens ( Biles; born March 14, 1997) is an American Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. Her 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history. She is widely regarded as one ...

. At the Visa National Championships, Desch placed second in the all-around behind Lexie Priessman. She also became the

balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. The apparatus and the event are sometimes simply called "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is BB. The bal ...

junior national champion with a score of 29.150.

Senior elite career

2013

Desch's senior debut was at the Secret US Classic. She only competed on balance beam, where she placed sixth. At the P&G National Championships, she placed ninth in the all-around and fourth on floor exercise. However, she was not added back to the National team until the November training camp.

2014

At the

City of Jesolo Trophy The City of Jesolo Trophy is an annual women's gymnastics competition held in Jesolo, Jesolo, Italy. There are competitions for the senior division and junior division. The United States won the senior team competition from 2008, 2010 to 2017, 2019 ...

, she contributed to the USA's gold medal finish, and placed eighth in the all-around. Desch competed two events at the 2014 Secret U.S. Classic, finishing 13th. In August and September, Desch competed at the Pan American Championships in Mississauga, Canada. She helped the American team place first in the team competition. Individually, she placed fifth in the all-around competition with a score of 54.900. Desch was selected to compete at the 2014 World Championships in

Nanning, China Nanning; is the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City (绿城) " because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of Guangxi, Nanning is surrounded by a hil ...

, but she was later named the alternate.

2015

Desch competed at the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy for the U.S. National team. On April 10, 2015, Desch announced that she was committed to the

and their gymnastics team to do collegiate gymnastics. On August 13, Desch competed at the P&G Championships where she competed on 3 events (not vault). She started on bars and scored a 13.100. However, Desch was invited to the Worlds training camp at the Karolyi Ranch. On November 11, 2015, she signed the

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

to the

2016

On May 29, 2016, Desch announced her retirement from elite gymnastics via her personal Instagram account, citing a persistent back injury. She said she would focus instead on preparing for her collegiate career at the University of Alabama.

NCAA career

2017

In her freshman season at the University of Alabama, Desch was named to the Scholastic All-American, All-SEC, and SEC All-Freshman team and scored a 9.95 on both vault and floor during the regular season. Alabama advanced to the NCAA Championship final (Super Six), ultimately placing sixth.

2018

In her sophomore season, Desch was named a Scholastic All-American and to the SEC Academic Honor Roll. Alabama again advanced to the NCAA Championships, but did not make the Super Six, after placing fifth in the semifinal. She matched her career-high 9.95 on floor against Arkansas in February 2018.

2019

In her junior season, Desch earned All-SEC honors for the second time, and was named a Scholastic All-American and to the SEC Academic Honor Roll. She earned a 9.9 on floor exercise at the SEC Championships, where Alabama posted a season-high score in the first session.Alabama Gymnastics SEC Championships 2019
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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Desch, Madison Living people 1997 births Alabama Crimson Tide women's gymnasts American female artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Kansas City, Missouri Sportspeople from Kansas People from Lenexa, Kansas Sportspeople from Johnson County, Kansas U.S. women's national team gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in gymnastics Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in gymnastics 21st-century American sportswomen