Rosie, E, Ro (Facebook page, 23 Mar 2020; gymcan.org, 16 Jul 2017; canadianathletesnow.ca, 01 Jan 2017)

Dancing, wakeboarding, skiing, snowboarding. (Facebook page, 23 Mar 2020, 19 Oct 2019)

Public Speaker, Student

Health Studies, Physical Education - University of Toronto, Canada

Partner Nick

English

Her grandfather Lorne Patterson was a gymnast. He qualified for the 1940 Olympic Games that were due to take place in Tokyo, but the Games were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II. (guadalajara.olympic.ca, 25 Sep 2011)

2005 for Canada (olympic.ca, 01 Sep 2012)

She sustained a severe lower leg sprain and two torn ligaments two months prior to the 2020 Olympic Games. She recovered in time to compete at the Games. (bvmsports.com, 03 Aug 2021)

She sustained a broken ankle after landing awkwardly on the side of the trampoline at the 2019 World Cup event in Minsk, Belarus. (cbc.ca, 06 May 2019; olympicchannel.com, 01 Apr 2019)

A neck injury ruled her out of the 2017 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. (olympic.ca, 08 Nov 2017)

In July 2015 she suffered a concussion injury three weeks before the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, ON, Canada, and in August 2015 sustained another head injury. She resumed training in November that year, having experienced headaches, vision issues, and occasionally mixing up her words due to her concussions. (ctvnews.ca, 12 Aug 2016; theglobeandmail.com, 03 May 2016; cbc.ca, 25 Nov 2015; torontosun.com, 20 Jul 2015)

She took up the sport at age seven at Airborne Trampoline Club in Woodbridge, ON, Canada. She began competing at age 11. (thestar.com, 31 Oct 2014; drgregwells.com, 18 Jun 2014)

Her older siblings attended a trampolining club and she followed them into the sport. Watching the Olympic Games on television as a child, she decided she wanted to be an Olympian before she had even chosen a sport. She was then inspired by Canadian trampolinist Karen Cockburn winning a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. (thegistnews.ca, 06 Aug 2019; drgregwells.com, 18 Jun 2014; olympic.ca, 01 Dec 2014)

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, she became the first Canadian gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal in trampolining. After her gold at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she became the first Canadian athlete to successfully defend an Olympic title at the summer Games, and the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals in an individual event at the summer Games. (SportsDeskOnline, 14 Oct 2018; olympic.ca, 21 Aug 2016; cbc.ca, 18 Dec 2014; olympic.ca, 01 Dec 2014)

Competing in front of a home crowd at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, ON, Canada, and being chosen as Canada's flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (gymnastics.sport, 14 Nov 2022)

Her grandfather Lorne Patterson, Canadian trampolinist Karen Cockburn, Canadian ice hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser. (cbc.ca, 08 Jun 2017; rosiemaclennan.ca, 22 Dec 2014; olympic.ca, 01 Dec 2014)

Canadian trampolinist Karen Cockburn. (thegistnews.ca, 06 Aug 2019)

"Focus on what you can control, have faith in what you don't." (Facebook page, 19 Oct 2019)

She was flag bearer for Canada at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (cbc.ca, 21 Jul 2016)

She won the 2012 Syl Apps Award, an honour given by the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in Canada to the Athlete of the Year. (ontariosportlegendshof.com, 29 Apr 2015)

She was named Female Athlete of the Year at the 2012 Canadian Sports Awards. (tsn.ca, 18 Oct 2012)

General
RETIREMENT
She announced her retirement from competition in December 2022. "Trampoline has been such an integral part of my life and sport will continue to be, even if my role in sport is changing. My experience as an athlete has exceeded even my wildest childhood dreams. It's time for my next chapter - one where I will continue to push for stronger sport governance, accountability, and for athletes to be heard and seen as partners in the sport system. I will work so that more girls stay in sport and have opportunities to pursue professional sport as a career path. I will continue to use my voice and energy to make sport better for the next generation. After 10 world championships and four Olympic Games, it is time for me to hang up my shiny spandex." (olympics.com, 02 Dec 2022; Instagram profile, 02 Dec 2022)

SPORT AS A PROFESSION
She says that achieving good grades at school was her priority growing up, and that she did not consider sport to be a viable career path until later on. "It wasn't until after high school when I was 18 that I specialised in trampoline. Still, ever since I was a kid I wanted to go to the Olympics before I even really knew what that meant. Sport was such a big part of my life growing up, but it was always positioned as a hobby. Education was priority number one and I could only play sports if I got a certain grade. I never saw it as a viable career option until much later and only after watching and interacting with other athletes. One of my biggest goals is to show younger athletes, and especially young girls, that being a professional athlete is a career option. For Olympic athletes, it is a career and it should be valued the same way you would another career path. The lessons you learn through sport translate into other careers too, and in so many other aspects of your life." (thegistnews.ca, 06 Aug 2019)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She was elected International Gymnastics Federation [FIG] Athletes' Commission representative for trampoline gymnastics from 2022 to 2025. She has also served as chair of the Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission, and been on the advisory board of the children's non-profit organisation Right To Play. "I learned about Right To Play in high school as an organisation that combined things I was very passionate about. At my first international competition in South Africa I was 11 and staying at this beautiful, luxurious resort, but just outside the gates was a slum. At that age I didn't know how to reconcile that, but it stuck with me and triggered an interest in international development. Then, at Beijing in my first Olympics there was a Right To Play tent in the village, and I went there right away to learn about it and get involved." (LinkedIn profile, 16 Nov 2022; gymnastics.sport, 18 Nov 2021; thegistnews.ca, 06 Aug 2019; cbc.ca, 23 Mar 2020)

FURTHER EDUCATION
She studied for a master's degree in kinesiology and exercise science at the University of Toronto in Canada between 2012 and 2018. In 2021 she began studying for a master's degree in business administration at Stanford University in the United States of America. (Instagram profile, 16 Sep 2021; speakers.ca, 01 Jan 2017; LinkedIn profile, 01 Jun 2018)