Norah Irene Flatley is an American artistic gymnast. A prodigious junior, she retired from elite gymnastics before her senior debut.
Early life
Norah Irene Flatley was born on March 10, 2000 in San Diego to Terrence P. Flatley and Ann McKenzie. The youngest of four children, Norah has an older brother, Jake; a United States Marine and she has two sisters, Kyla and Anna; an Elementary Education major at Iowa State University. One of Norah's sisters, Anna, was a competitive gymnast, and at the age of four, Norah wanted to join her. Thus, she enrolled in gymnastics classes at Salto Gymnastics in Wisconsin. Naturally gifted, Flatley made both the 2007 and 2009 National TOPs teams. In 2010, Flatley was both Level 8 State and Regional champion for her age category. In the summer of 2010, her family relocated to Cumming, Iowa, in order for Norah to train under the tutelage of Liang Chow, the former coach of 2008 Olympicbalance beam champion Shawn Johnson. A year later, in 2011, she was crowned Level 9 Regional Champion. At her first Level 9 Western Championships – at the age of eleven, Flatley was crowned the individual champion in the all-around, on beam and floor.
Flatley moved up to Level 10 for the 2012 competitive season. She was State champion, and was second at Regionals. In May, she participated in her first ever J.O. Nationals – held in Hampton, Virginia. She tied for third in the all-around with Chow's club teammate Alexis Vasquez, and Southeastern gymnast Grace Glenn. However, she won the balance beam title with a score of 9.725.
2013–present: Junior International Elite career
2013
Flatley qualified to Junior International Elite status with no previous Hopes or Pre-Elite experience. She qualified to the U.S. Classic in Chicago, IL taking home 4th place all-around and a beam gold, her all-around score being 56.500. Flatley accumulated the highest beam score of the meet within both senior and junior divisions. At the National Championships, Norah accumulated a two-day all-around score of 112.400, managing 5th place all-around. She won a silver on beam and posted the highest all around score of a first year junior for the meet. Following her impressive performance, Flatley was named to the U.S Junior national team.
Flatley competed her last year as a Junior International Elite in the 2015 season. At the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy, she took home 2 gold and 2 silver. Due to a foot injury, Flatley missed the U.S. Classic and the U.S. National Championships. On October 7, 2015, she announced her verbal commitment to the UCLA Bruins gymnastics program, through her Instagram account. She had previously visited the school.
2016–2017: Retirement from elite and Level 10
Flatley was set for her Senior International debut in 2016 but withdrew from all competitions for reason of injury. On July 21, 2017, she announced her retirement from elite gymnastics and announced plans to move down to Level 10 for the 2018 season.
