Shayla Worley - Senior Career

Senior Career

Worley turned senior in 2006. Her first senior outing was the American Cup, where she finished second all-around behind Nastia Liukin. Next, she competed at the Pacific Alliance Championships, where she finished second on bars, making her the highest-placed American, and helping the U.S. win the team title.

A hamstring injury prevented Worley from taking part in further competition in 2006. As a national team member who had scored well in the first half of the year, she had hopes of being named to the U.S. team for the World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, but her injury had not gotten better, so she was unable to compete.

She was ready in time for the 2007 American Cup, but a fall on her uneven bars dismount meant she narrowly missed qualifying for finals; she would have done so easily without this error. Worley was also selected to compete in the Britain v. USA dual match held in Lisburn, Northern Ireland on St. Patrick's Day. There were no errors this time, and in the absence of the world's top two bars competitors, Britain's Beth Tweddle and American teammate Nastia Liukin, Worley took the bars title, and also finished second all-around. During the US Classic she only competed bars and beam. Unfortently her grip ripped during the middle of her bad routine, she did end up placing second on beam though. After the Visa Championships, in which she finished runner-up to Shawn Johnson, and was also second on Uneven Bars, she was selected to represent the U.S. in the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

At the World Championships, Worley and Team USA finished first overall in team qualifying, about four points ahead of the nearest team, China. Worley qualified 8th overall for the all-around competition, but because of rules permitting only two competitors per country, she was excluded since Liukin and Johnson qualified ahead of her. Worley also finished in the top eight on balance beam, but the two-athlete rule again caused her elimination from the event final. During the team finals, Worley competed on bars and floor, earning 15.575 and 14.675 respectively. The scores contributed to the U.S. total of 184.400, which earned the gold medal.

In 2008, Worley competed at the American Cup with a third place finish in vault and bars. She then traveled to Boston, Massachusetts for the VISA National Championships, but had to pull out after aggravating a herniated disc in training the month before, resulting in her requiring four ice baths a day to soothe it by the time of the trials. She successfully petitioned to attend the Olympic trials, where she placed 14th all-around without competing on floor exercise. Worley was then invited to the final training camp in Texas, but ultimately was not chosen as an Olympic team member due to a broken leg. She then soon decided to retire from elite gymnastics.