Nia Dennis

Nia Dennis is an American artistic gymnast. A National Team member since 2012, she began to represent the United States internationally in 2014. She trained at Buckeye Gymnastics in Westerville, Ohio and Legacy Elite Gymnastics in Naperville, Illinois, and is currently a member of the UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics team.

Dennis made her international debut in March 2014 at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy. She took home a team gold and individual silvers on the bars and all-around. She went on to compete at the 2014 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in Richmond, Canada, where she won the gold medal with the U.S. team and the all-around and vault silver medals.

A video of Dennis performing a floor routine set to a medley of songs by Beyoncé, Missy Elliott, Kendrick Lamar and other Black artists went viral in 2021, with many on social media praising the gymnast for her impressive choreography and celebration of Black artists. Dennis received an almost perfect score (9.95) for the routine.

This is not the first time the UCLA senior has gone viral for her gymnastics performances. Her floor routine set to Beyoncé’s music at the Pac-12 conference in 2020 wowed spectators and social media users and earned her a score of 9.975. Following her first viral performance, Dennis was a guest on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to talk about the routine and her gymnastics career.

“The routine reflects everything that I am today as a woman,” Dennis said, “and, of course, I had to incorporate a lot of parts of my culture. I wanted to have a dance party because that’s my personality and, of course, I had to shout out L.A. because we out here, UCLA.”

Other than the floor routine, Dennis excels at other gymnastics events. Dennis was the first-team all-American on bars in 2019 and was the NCAA team champion in 2018. In 2020, she received second team All-Pac-12 honors on vault and floor and finished the year ranked nationally at number 18 on floor.