(1995-)

Who Is Gabby Douglas?

Gabby Douglas, is an American gymnast who became the first African American in Olympic history to win the individual all-around event at the 2012 Summer Games. Douglas, standing at 5′ 2″, also won team gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Douglas began formal gymnastics training at six years old and won a state championship by the time she was eight. In 2016, Gabby Douglas unveiled a Barbie Shero doll just before the Summer Olympics in Rio.

Early Life

Douglas was born on December 31, 1995, in Virginia Beach, Virginia to Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins. Her first experience with gymnastics came at the age of three when she perfected a straight cartwheel using a technique that she learned from her older sister, Arielle, a former gymnast. By age four, Douglas had taught herself how to do a one-handed cartwheel.

With encouragement from Gabby’s sister, Douglas’ mother allowed Gabby to begin taking formal gymnastics classes at the age of six. Only two years later, in 2004, she was named a Virginia State Gymnastics Champion.

Gymnastic Career

When Douglas turned 14, she left her hometown and family, and moved to West Des Moines, Iowa, to train with renowned coach Liang Chow, known for molding American gymnast Shawn Johnson into a world champion and Olympic gold medalist. Travis and Missy Parton volunteered to be Douglas’ host family in West Des Moines. According to Douglas’ official website, she became like a big sister to the Parton’s four daughters, one of whom was also a student of Chow’s.

At the 2010 Nastia Liukin SuperGirl Cup — a televised meet held in Massachusetts — Douglas made her debut on the national scene, placing fourth all-around. She also placed third on the balance beam, sixth on vault and ninth all-around in the junior division of her first elite meet, the 2010 CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois.

Douglas went on to win the silver medal on balance beam and fourth all-around at the 2010 U.S. Junior National Championships, and then took the uneven bars title at the 2010 Pan American Championships. Her performance at that event also placed Douglas at fifth all-around and her performance helped the U.S. team win the gold medal.

Douglas was a member of the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the team finals at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. She also won the 2012 Olympic Trials, which took place in San Jose, California, and was selected as a member of the national team that represented the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

“Her unique blend of power, flexibility, body alignment and form has led her to be compared with three-time Olympian Dominique Dawes,” according to an article on American-Gymnast.com. Douglas is the first African American to make the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team since Dawes in 2000.

Douglas’ high-flying skills and high difficulty score on bars not only likened her to Dawes, but caught the attention of U.S. women’s national team coordinator Martha Karoyli, who nicknamed her “Flying Squirrel.”

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Douglas and other members of the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team — Kyla Ross, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber — took home a team gold medal. Fans worldwide watched as judges announced the team’s medal win — the first gold medal for the American women’s gymnastics team since 1996.

Douglas went on to compete in the individual all-around and became the first African American to win gold in the prestigious event. Following her two golds, she competed in the individual uneven bars and individual beam events, but failed to medal in either, placing eighth and seventh, respectively.

By 2012, 16-year-old Douglas had proven herself a champion, going from underdog to Olympian in a short time. She was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in early July of 2012, along with the rest of the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team, and on one of five covers released by TIME Magazine that same month. She was also a featured Olympian on Kellogg’s special edition box of Wheaties corn flakes.

Road to Rio Games

After her historic Olympic win, Douglas moved to Los Angeles in 2013. In 2014, she returned to training with Chow and later that year began training under coach Kittia Carpenter.

Douglas did not compete in 2014 but returned to international competition in 2015. She placed 4th all-around at the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy, second in the all-around at the U.S. Classic and 5th overall in the P&G Championships. She was named to the Senior National Team and was selected for the 2015 U.S. Women’s World Championship team. She also won silver in the all-around at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

In 2016, Douglas won the all-around title at the City of Jesolo Trophy and placed fourth all-around at the P&G Championships.

At the Olympic trials in July 2016, Douglas finished seventh, after two falls from the balance beam. Regardless, she earned a spot on the 2016 Olympic team, with fellow gymnasts Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Raisman, to become the first reigning all-around Olympic champion to return to compete in a second Olympic Games since Nadia Comaneci in 1980. She and teammate Raisman, also a member of the gold medal-winning team in 2012, were the first American women gymnasts to return to the Olympics since Dawes and Amy Chow in 2000.

Gabby Douglas competes on the balance beam during the Sr. Women’s 2016 Secret U.S. Classic at the XL Center on June 4, 2016 in Hartford, Connecticut.

2016 Olympic Games

On August 9, 2016, Douglas helped the U.S. women’s gymnastics team grab the gold again with her impressive performance on the uneven bars, for which she scored 15.766.

Douglas shared the team gold with Biles, Raisman, Hernandez and Kocian, a team that called themselves “The Final Five.”

Raisman explained the meaning behind the team nickname on the Today Show: “We’re the Final Five because this is [coach] Marta [Karolyi’s] last Olympics, and without her none of this would have been possible. … We wanted to do it for her just because she’s there with us every single day.” She added: “This is the last Olympics where there’s a five-girl team. The next Olympics is only going to be a four-person team.”

The Final Five became the third American women’s gymnastics team to win gold, following team victories in 1996 and 2012.

Douglas had the third-highest score of 61 participants in the qualifying rounds to compete in the women’s individual all-around event. However, a rule which only allows two gymnasts per country to compete prevented Douglas from participating and defending her 2012 title. Teammates Biles and Raisman finished ahead of her in the qualifying round and went on to take the gold and silver, respectively, in the competition.

Douglas did compete in the uneven bars final but met with more disappointment when she made an error on a handstand, earning a seventh-place finish. Her teammate Madison Kocian took home the silver medal in the event.

The Olympic champion was also “heartbroken” over attacks on the Internet, according to her mother Natalie Hawkins. “She’s had to deal with people criticizing her hair, or people accusing her of bleaching her skin. They said she had breast enhancements, they said she wasn’t smiling enough, she’s unpatriotic. Then it went to not supporting your teammates. Now you’re ‘Crabby Gabby,’ ” Hawkins said in a Reuters interview. “You name it, and she got trampled. What did she ever do to anyone?”

Douglas, who tearfully told reporters the attacks were “hurtful,” said she would remain positive. “I still love the people who love me, still love the people who hate me, and I’m just going to stand on that,” she said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Movies, TV Shows and Books on Gabby Douglas

Douglas released her autobiography Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith in 2012.

The Gabby Douglas Story, a TV movie about the gymnast’s life, aired on Lifetime in 2014. Douglas Family Gold, a reality TV show following Douglas and her family, premiered on the Oxygen channel in 2016.

Barbie Doll

On July 11, 2016, the day after she was named to the Olympic team, Gabby Douglas debuted her new Barbie Shero doll.

Sexual Assault Controversy

Douglas became embroiled in controversy after news of former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar’s inappropriate actions toward patients, which included members of the celebrated 2012 Olympic team, became public.

As Nassar stood trial for criminal sexual conduct charges in November 2017, Raisman made several media appearances for her new autobiography, in which she revealed she had been molested by Nassar. Douglas then responded to a tweet by Raisman by pointing out that women should “dress modestly and be classy … dressing in a provocative/sexual way entices the wrong crowd.”

Coming at a time when women from numerous industries were sharing accounts of sexual harassment, Douglas’ comment drew immense backlash for contributing to victim shaming. After parrying some of the outrage directed her way, Douglas attempted to clarify things with a lengthy Instagram apology, in which she hinted that she had also been molested by Nassar. Her publicist later confirmed that Douglas was indeed revealing that news with her post.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Gabrielle
• Birth Year: 1995
• Birth date: December 31, 1995
• Birth State: Virginia
• Birth City: Virginia Beach
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas is best known as the first African American to win the individual all-around event. She also won gold medals for the U.S. in the team competitions at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.
• Astrological Sign: Capricorn

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Gabby Douglas Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/athletes/gabby-douglas
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 4, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

QUOTES

• I just want people to know it took a lot. It took a lot of hard days in the gym and determination, passion and drive. Gold medals are made out of your sweat, blood and tears, and effort in the gym every day, and sacrificing a lot.
• Sometimes I’m like, ‘Why can’t I be a normal girl?’ But at the same time, I’m really blessed to be in this position.
• What’s wrong with my hair? I’m like, ‘I just made history and people are focused on my hair?’ … Nothing is going to change … You might as well stop talking about it.
• I like to give them the Flying Squirrel when I go out there and perform.
• No one is going to feel sorry for you, so you have to go out there and be fierce.
• I thought about how I would impact younger girls. I want to let them know everything is possible if you put your mind to it.
• The whole point of the Olympic Games is to inspire a generation. I always wanted to play that role.
• I love all the attention, people noticing me. ‘There’s the gymnast. There she is!’
• With strong faith in God and some serious determination, every dream is possible—especially if your mama refuses to let you fly home, fry chicken and give up.
• I used to have this lucky rock and I used to always have to rub it three times before I competed.

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