Second surgery for McKayla Maroney

Second surgery for McKayla Maroney

Sep 29, 2012 by Marina Mazor
Second surgery for McKayla Maroney
Olympic gold and silver medalist, McKayla Maroney, underwent a second surgery on September 28, 2012, just 15 days after a first surgery on her leg.  This second surgery was on her right big toe, which she re-injured just prior to the London Olympics.  

On September 28, Maroney tweeted a photo of herself giving a thumbs-up, dressed in what appears to be a hospital gown.  She wrote:  "Another successful surgery!!  #ThankGod.  This time it was on my toe!  Okayy ummm.. Can I please go home now" 

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Photo:   https://twitter.com/McKaylaMaroney 

In the London Olympics, Maroney famously vaulted on her fractured right toe, helping catapult Team USA to Olympic gold with her trademark, near-perfect Amanar.  Maroney then competed in the individual vault finals, in which she was widely considered a lock for the gold.  After performing a beautiful Amanar, she sat down her second vault, a Mustafina.  Despite the fall, Maroney earned a silver medal for her performance.  Notwithstanding her achievement, she perhaps is best remembered for her "McKayla is not impressed" face, which she made during the vault medal ceremony.  The face has spawned an internet meme of Maroney scoffing at universally impressive moments, like the first human landing on the moon.   Click here to see Gymnastike's favorite McKayla is not impressed memes.  Maroney has been a tremendously great sport about the meme, tweeting about it, publicly stating that she finds it hilarious, and graciously indulging interviewers by making the face on demand during interviews.   

After the Olympics, Maroney received a warm-red carpet welcome from her AOGC teammates and humbly expressed her appreciation for their support; walked in high heels on her broken on Letterman; taught Maria Menounos how to Dougie while revealing that she had a fractured fibula in addition to her broken toe; chatted with Sportstalk4kids; and made numerous television appearances with her teammates, including on the MTV Video Music Awards, the Colbert Report, The LA Morning News.  She has received so much attention, including marriage proposals, that her parents reportedly hired bodyguards to protect her. 

As part of her post-Olympic activity, Maroney was scheduled to perform on the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions, featuring champion gymnasts including Fierce Five.  On September 9, 2012, during just the second stop of the tour in Ontario, California, Maroney injured her left leg upon landing a bar dismount.  Testing revealed a fractured left tibia; Maroney had surgery just four days later.  After that surgery, she tweeted a similar thumbs-up photo:  

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Photo:  https://twitter.com/McKaylaMaroney 

This summer's leg injuries were not Maroney's first visits to the hospital in recent memory.  During warm-ups on the second day of the Visa Championships, the qualifier to the Olympic Trials, Maroney suffered a concussion and fractured a bone in her nose.  She was forced to pull out of the second day of the Visa Championships and take a full week off from training.  Her status for competing in the Olympic Trials was questionable until just prior to the competition.  There, after successful performances on vault and floor, she was named to the 2012 Olympic team.

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