On this date in 2012, 16-year-old Gabrielle Douglas of the United States became the first African American to win the gold medal in the Artistic Gymnastics Women’s Individual All-Around final.
From Virginia Beach, VA, Douglas accomplished her feet on Day 6 of the London 2012 Olympic games at North Greenwich Arena in London, England.
Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the United States women’s national gymnastics team, dubbed the Fierce Five by the media, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she won gold medals in the individual all-around and team competitions. She was also a member of the gold-winning American team at the 2011 and the 2015 World Championships, and the all-around silver medalist at the 2015 World Championships. She was part of the Final Five at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won gold in the team competition.
Douglas is the first African American or the first of African descent of any nationality in Olympic history to become the individual all-around champion, and the first U.S. gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics. She and Simone Biles are the only two American all-around champions to win multiple gold medals in a single Olympic Games. Douglas is the first female reigning Olympic all-around champion to return to the World Championships and medal in the all-around since Elena Davydova in 1981. Gabby Douglas was also the 2016 AT&T American Cup all-around champion.
As a public figure, Douglas’ gymnastics successes have led to her life story adaptation in the 2014 Lifetime biopic film, The Gabby Douglas Story,as well as the acquisition of her own reality television series, Douglas Family Gold. Douglas has also written a book about her life and what it takes to be an Olympic Gold Medalist by determination and perseverance.
Gabrielle Douglas was born in Newport News, Virginia and grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to parents Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins-Douglas. She has three older siblings: two sisters, Joyelle and Arielle, and one brother, Johnathan. She began training in gymnastics at age six when her older sister convinced their mother to enroll her in gymnastics classes. In October 2002, Douglas began her training at Gymstrada.
At the age of eight, Douglas won the Level 4 all-around gymnastics title at the 2004 Virginia State Championships.
At 14, Gabby moved to Des Moines, Iowa, to train full-time with coach Liang Chow. Because her family had to stay in Virginia while her siblings finished school, Gabby lived with Travis and Missy Parton and their four daughters, one of them also trained at Chow’s gym.
Douglas is a Christian; she said, “I believe in God. He is the secret of my success. He gives people talent”, and “… I love sharing about my faith. God has given me this amazing God-given talent, so I’m going to go out and glorify His name.” Douglas has also stated in her biography that in the past her “family practiced some of the Jewish traditions”, including attending a Conservative Jewish synagogue, keeping kosher, and celebrating Hanukah.
Written by Dianne Washington