By NANCY ARMOUR
AP National Writer
Even McKayla Maroney was impressed.
A photo of the Olympic gold
medalist gymnast and President Barack Obama doing her now-famous
"McKayla Maroney is not impressed" face went viral Saturday after the
White House posted it on Twitter. The two took the picture Thursday when
Maroney and her Fierce Five teammates visited the White House.
"He was the one who brought
it up," Maroney told The Associated Press. "We were about to leave and
he said, 'I want to talk to you one second about the face.' He said, 'I
pretty much do that face at least once a day.'"
Maroney was photographed
making the half scowl with her nose scrunched up while she was on the
medals podium after winning silver on vault at the London Olympics. It
spawned dozens of "McKayla Maroney is not impressed" memes - including
one showing a photoshopped Maroney in the White House Situation Room on
the night Osama Bin Laden was killed.
The "face" has become
Maroney's trademark. But it's one thing for fans to ask her about it,
quite another when the president does.
"I, like, freaked out," Maroney said. "He said, 'Let's do it together.' We took a picture and now it's everywhere."
The entire U.S. Olympic
team visited the White House earlier this fall, but the Fierce Five
missed it because they're doing a 40-city nationwide tour. But the show,
which ends Sunday in New York, was in Washington on Thursday night, so
Maroney, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber got
their own private visit.
The Fierce Five had talked
to Obama in London, where they became just the second U.S. women's team
to win the Olympic title, and first since 1996. But it was neat to meet
him in person, Maroney said.
"He's the coolest person I
ever met," she said - which is saying something, considering the Fierce
Five have hobnobbed with a Who's Who of celebrities since London. "He's
got the hardest job in the entire world."
Maroney had hinted on
Twitter that she had done "the face" at the White House, saying, "Did I
just do the Not Impressed face with the President." But she didn't know
when - or even if - the White House was going to release the photo.
Her father saw it first and sent Maroney a text message. It wasn't long before pretty much everyone was passing it around.
"It's really funny," she said. "Because it's like everywhere."
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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