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Last updated: July 6, 2009

Grace Ellen Taylor was born on March 29, 1988 in Essex, Maryland. She is a native of Aiken, South Carolina. Grace is the daughter of Daniel and Lynn. She began gymnastics in 1992. She trained at Aiken Gymnastics during her whole club career. Her club coaches are from the Czech Republic. She began competing as a level four in Greenwood, South Carolina in 1994.

In 1996, Grace competed as a level five. She was the all-around state champion. She moved up to level six in 1997 and won her second all-around state title. In 1998, Grace skipped level seven and moved up to eight. She finished first all-around at the USAIGC Regionals. At the USAIGC Nationals, Grace finished second all-around. She was first on beam and floor! In USAG, Grace won states. She also won Regionals. At Regionals, Grace also was the floor champion.

In 1999, she competed as a level nine. She won the all-around title at the Atlanta Crown. At the USAIGC Regionals, Grace finished third all-around and first on floor. At the USAIGC Nationals, Grace was second all-around! In USAG, she finished first all-around, on beam and on floor at the South Carolina State Championships. At Regionals, she placed high enough to qualify for Easterns. Grace became the Eastern All-around, and Bars Champion! Also in 1999, Grace went to the WIMGYM Cup in Canada. She finished second on beam!

She moved up to level ten in 2000! At the Buckeye Classic, she finished fourth all-around. Grace won her fifth state all-around title at States! She ended her domestic season at Regionals. In the fall, she went to France and Czech Republic for two meets. At the L'Eurogym in France, she won the all-around, bars and beam titles. At the GK Vitkovice Ostrava, Grace won bars and the all-around title!

Grace had a much more successful year in 2001. At the Lady Luck Invite in Las Vegas, she placed third all-around. She then won the all-around at the Buckeye Classic. Grace only finished third all-around at States. At Regionals, she placed in the top seven. This qualified her for the JO National Championships. At JO Nationals, she won beam! Grace was also tenth all-around.

In her first year as a junior international elite in 2002, Grace did very well. She started her season by competing in a few open invitationals such as the Atlanta Crown and Carolina Classic. At the National Elite Podium Meet, Grace finished ninth all-around! She moved up to eighth at the American Classic. This had her added to the US National Team. She also qualified for Nationals! Grace competed at the US Classic shortly before Nationals. At Nationals, she suffered from inconsistency to finish 20th all-around.

She choose to do another year as a junior in 2003. At the Friendship Classic, she finished second all-around. She finished eighth all-around at the American Classic. She moved up to fifth at the US Classic. At Nationals, Grace finished eleventh all-around. This left her one spot short of a national team berth.

In 2004, Grace competed as a senior international elite. At the USA/Japan Meet, Grace helped the USA win. She also finished third all-around at the Friendship Classic. She placed 16th all-around at the American Classic. She moved up two spots at the US Classic. She competed at Nationals. In 2005, Grace won the all-around at the Charleston Cup. Grace won the all-around title at the Friendship Classic. She then finished ninth all-around at the US Classic. She chose not to compete at Nationals. She decided to drop down to level ten in 2006. At the JO National Championships, she won beam.

As a freshman at Georgia, she earned a 4.0 GPA both semesters. This earned her a spot on SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll. She was also named an NACGC Academic All-American. She led the Georgia team on beam must of the year. She was named a First-Team All-American on beam. She placed second at the NCAA Championships in event finals. She was also a Second-Team All-American on bars.

Grace had a successful sophomore season. She was named a NACGC First-Team Academic All-American. She was also on the SEC Academic Honor Roll and CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Women’s At-Large Second Team. She earned her first career ten on bars against Iowa State. This was the only ten on bars in 2008. She won bars against Stanford and beam against Alabama. She tied for first on beam against Arkansas and NCAA Regional Championships. She won the SEC titles on bars and beam earning a spot on the First-Team All-Sec. At the NCAA Championships, she earned first-team All-American honors on bars and beam. She earned second-team recognition on floor. She won the NCAA Title on beam!

As a junior, she was selected to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll during the fall season. She posted a 10 on beam against Michigan. She was named to the All-SEC Second Team. She was also chosed as the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.