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Allison Taylor was born July 14, 1988 in Dallas, Texas. Since starting gymnastics classes as a four-year-old she has worked her way up to compete at the international elite level and earn a scholarship to compete for UCLA starting in the fall of 2007.

Her life in gymnastics started at Dallas Gymnastics Center with weekly classes. In 1997 Allison began competing at Level 4, qualified for Level 5 State the same year and also made the TOPs National team for the first time. She then made the TOPs National Team the next two years as well, competing in the US Challenge in 1998 and 1999. In 2001 as a Level 9, she had a great year on bars by winning the event at all but the first meet of the year, plus she was the Texas State, Region 3 and Westerns uneven bars champion that year. At the beginning of 2002 Allison moved to WOGA and competed Level 10, qualifying to J.O. Nationals and finishing 9th All-Around. Shortly after Nationals she tested and qualified as a junior international elite.

In 2003 Allison qualified to US Championships where she finished 19th All-Around and 10th on floor as a junior. An injury in 2004 kept her out of competition until the Voronin Cup in Moscow in December where she qualified for the finals on bars and finished 8th. In her first year as a senior she started the year with a 2nd on vault and a 3rd on bars at the WOGA Classic, then a win on bars at the Metroplex Challenge, but due to bad luck at the US Classic she barely missed qualifying to US Championships. In 2006 stress fractures in a vertebra kept her out of competition, but not out of the college coaches’ sights. After being recruited by over 13 colleges, and getting offers from six, including Oklahoma, Minnesota, Arizona State and North Carolina, Allison accepted the offer from UCLA. An ill-timed foot fracture limited her competition in 2007 to bars only, but she finished 3rd at the WOGA Classic and 2nd at the Excalibur Cup competing as a Level 10.

Allison is an only child, but far from lonely. She has many friends from WOGA and Spring Creek Academy, as well as other gymnasts from around the country, that are very important to her. The family has two dogs – Sadie, an adopted “Heinz-57” shepherd-mix mutt and Bailey, a high-energy Sheltie (Shetland sheepdog). Allison enjoys shopping, music, reading sports-related books and hanging out with friends. She admires the strength and dedication to excellence of Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods; and she is a more-than-avid Dallas Mavericks fan. At UCLA she plans to prepare for a career in sports marketing/PR.

Her original goals of making the National Team and competing internationally for the US were frustrated by injury, but she has never wavered from her love for and dedication to gymnastics. Fully healed, her goals have shifted to keeping up her skills and staying in shape this summer in preparation for making the line-up as a UCLA Bruin.

As Allison has said often “the glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time you fall”. For a gymnast, that’s an excellent philosophy to embrace.