Sport: Gymnastics
Born: May 28, 1996
Town: Plainfield, New Jersey
Elizabeth Nicole Price was born May 28, 1996 in Plainfield, NJ. She was the first of three children born to Diane and David Price. Elizabeth had boundless energy as a toddler. When she was 3, her parents began to channel it into gymnastics classes. By the age of 8, Elizabeth was winning events and all-around titles at major state and regional events. The Prices moved to the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania and, in order to devote more time to her sport, they decided to home-school Elizabeth. By the age of 12, she was competing nationally, excelling in the vault and uneven bars and finishing among the leaders in the all-around.
Elizabeth made the US Junior National Team in 2010 and 2011, competing internationally against the world’s top young gymnasts. She had assembled a superb coaching team during her rise to prominence. It included Donna and Bill Strauss, Robin Netwall, Joe Stallone and John Holman. In 2011 and 2012, Elizabeth—known to her teammates as “Ebee”—ascended to elite senior-level competition. She finished second in the vault at the 2012 Jesolo Trophy in Italy, helping Team USA repeat as event champions. She earned silver in the vault again at the US Classic in Chicago, which qualified her for the VISA Championships in June—a huge opportunity in an Olympic year. Once again, Elizabeth finished second in the vault, and just missed medaling in the uneven bars. She was invited to the Olympic Trials in July.
Elizabeth finished fourth in the all-around and was not picked for the five-person team headed to London. She did, however, make the team as an alternate. She did not compete in London where the “Fierce Five” won gold in the team all-around and came home with four individual medals.
During the 2012–13 season, Elizabeth continued to improve her world ranking, reaching #2 in the all-around. Unfortunately, separate injuries to both hips kept her out of big events. She got back on track in 2014, winning the all-around at the Pacific Rim Championships. Shortly after that victory, Elizabeth announced her retirement from elite gymnastics in order to attend Stanford University. She had signed a letter of intent with Stanford early in the 2013–14 season.
Elizabeth began her collegiate career with seven consecutive wins in individual events. Stanford finished third at the 2015 Pac-12 championships and Elizabeth was named conference Specialist of the Year. Later, she won the NCAA title in the vault and was named a first-team All-American in the vault and uneven bars.
Elizabeth finished her collegiate career in 2018, winning gold in the uneven bars and bronze in the all-around at the NCAA Championships. Elizabeth was accepted into graduate school at Harvard, where she studied Design Engineering, and then began a career in finance.