Marissa King

Marissa King
Full nameMarissa Petra King
Nickname(s)Riss
Born (1991-04-20) 20 April 1991
Cambridge, England
Height154 cm (5 ft 1 in)[1]
Gymnastics career
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Country
represented		 Great Britain
 England
College teamFlorida Gators (2009-2013)
ClubHuntingdon Gymnastics Club
Head coach(es)Rhonda Faehn
Assistant coach(es)Adrian Burde, Robert Ladanyi
Retired2013

Marissa Petra King (born 20 April 1991) is an English former artistic gymnast and current coach. She represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as the 2007 and 2009 World Championships. After finishing her elite gymnastics career, she competed for the Florida Gators and became the 2011 NCAA champion on the vault. Since 2024, she has been an assistant coach for the Georgia GymDogs.

Gymnastics career

King began gymnastics at the age of eight.[2]

Elite career

King became age-eligible for senior elite international competitions in 2007. At the 2007 European Championships, she advanced into the vault final and finished sixth.[3] She competed with the British team that finished seventh in the team final at the 2007 World Championships.[4] After the World Championships, she finished fourth on the vault at the DTB Cup, only 0.025 points away from the bronze medal.[5] She then won the vault gold medal at the Glasgow Grand Prix.[6] In December 2007, she won a bronze medal on the vault at the Good Luck Beijing International Tournament, behind Cheng Fei and Hong Su-jong.[7]

At the 2008 Maribor World Cup, King won the vault silver medal, behind Hong Un-jong.[8] She then helped the British team place sixth at the 2008 European Championships.[9] She placed sixth in the all-around at the British Championships and also won a silver medal on the vault.[10] She was then selected to represent Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics alongside Becky Downie, Beth Tweddle, Hannah Whelan, Rebecca Wing, and Laura Jones (later replaced by Imogen Cairns).[11][12] The team finished ninth in the qualifications and did not advance into the final.[13]

King competed on the vault and the floor exercise at the 2009 World Championships, but she did not advance into either final.[14] In 2010, King began competing for the Florida Gators gymnastics team. At the 2010 NCAA Championships, she advanced into the vault and floor exercise finals, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. She earned a total of four All-America honors during her freshman year.[2][15]

King won a silver medal on the vault at the 2010 British Championships and was named to the 2010 Commonwealth Games team.[15] However, she had to withdraw from the team due to a torn pectoral muscle.[16] She won the vault title at the 2011 NCAA Championships. The next year, she helped Florida win the team SEC Championships and place second at the 2012 NCAA Championships.[17] She returned to elite competition in 2012 in an attempt to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics,[18] but she was not selected for the team.[19] At the 2013 NCAA Championships, King helped Florida win its first-ever NCAA team title.[20]

Coaching career

King worked as a volunteer assistant coach for the Florida Gators in 2014. She worked as a choreographer and coach for club-level teams before being hired as a volunteer assistant coach for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. She was promoted to be Nebraska's assistant coach in 2024.[21] She was then hired to be an assistant coach for the Georgia GymDogs.[22][23]

Personal life

King is the daughter of a British father and Thai mother[24] She graduated from the University of Florida in August 2014 with bachelor's degrees in mass communications and geography. From 2014 until 2020, she was an artistic acrobat for Cirque du Soleil.[21] She is married to fellow Georgia GymDogs assistant coach, Oleksii Koltakov, and they have one son.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Marissa King – University of Florida – Biography". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  2. ^ a b Rudolph, Mara (14 January 2011). "World-Traveled Gymnast Marissa King Happy to be in Gainesville". Florida Gators. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  3. ^ "Keatings claims silver in pommel". BBC Sport. 29 April 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  4. ^ "40th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Stuttgart (GER) September 1st–9th 2007 Results Women's Team Final" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. International Gymnastics Federation. 5 September 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
  5. ^ Atkinson, Vera (29 October 2007). "Seven out of ten Finals for the British at the DTB Cup!". Sport Focus. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  6. ^ Gill, Christine (10 November 2007). "GB gymnasts win gold in Glasgow". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  7. ^ "USA wins two more medals at Good Luck Beijing International Tournament". USA Gymnastics. 2 December 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  8. ^ "Nakamori places fifth on parallel bars at World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia". USA Gymnastics. 28 April 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  9. ^ "27th Women's European Championships Artistic Clermont-Ferrand (FRA) 3-6 April 2008" (PDF). European Gymnastics. 5 April 2008. p. 179. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  10. ^ "2008 British Women's Championships The Guildford Spectrum, Guildford (GBR) 2008 June 28-29". Gymnastics Results. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  11. ^ "Tweddle and Downie lead GB team". BBC. 29 June 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  12. ^ "Cairns on British Olympic Team". International Gymnast. 17 July 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  13. ^ "Gymnastics Artistic Women Qualification Results" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. Beijing 2008. 10 August 2008. p. 2. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  14. ^ "41st Artistic Gymnastics World Championships October 13-18, 2009 London (GBR) Results Women's Qualifications" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. International Gymnastics Federation. 14 October 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Gator Gymnast Marissa King Named to England's Commonwealth Team". Florida Gators. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  16. ^ "Injury Sidelines Marissa King for Commonwealth Games". Florida Gators. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  17. ^ Harvin, Jim (11 January 2013). "King enjoying her time at UF". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  18. ^ Sierra, Danny (21 May 2012). "Marissa King aiming for London 2012". FloGymnastics. FloSports. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  19. ^ "London 2012: GB's Beth Tweddle fit for last gold medal attempt". BBC Sport. 4 July 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  20. ^ "Florida wins its first NCAA Championship". USA Gymnastics. 21 April 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  21. ^ a b "King named Nebraska women's gymnastics assistant". KOLN. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  22. ^ Whitfield, Joe (4 May 2024). "Oleksii Koltakov, 2008 Olympian Marissa King named assistant coaches for Georgia Gymnastics". The Albany Herald. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  23. ^ a b "Marissa King". Georgia Bulldogs. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  24. ^ Women's Artistic. British-gymnastics.org. Retrieved on 2013-01-05.
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