Gabby Douglas was born Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas to Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins on December 31, 1995. Douglas is the youngest of four siblings, all of whom are athletic. Brother Johnathan plays football and is involved with karate and track, sister Arielle is a ballroom dancer and other sister Joyelle is a figure skater.
Douglas became interested in gymnastics at 4 years old, following in former gymnast Arielle’s interests. She joined a local gym at age 6 and quickly advanced in her abilities. Douglas encountered a racist incident while at Excalibur Gym in Virginia Beach, though. When a chalkboard had to be erased, Douglas claims that she overheard other girls saying: “Why doesn’t Gabby do it? She’s our slave.” The gym’s CEO refuted those claims.
At 14, Douglas moved in with a host family in West Des Moines, Iowa, to train with Liang Chow, who coached 2008 Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson. She made the move after her former coach invited Chow and saw him teach Douglas the Amanar vault, a very difficult move, in one afternoon.
In 2008 Douglas made her national debut, appearing in the US Classic in Houston. She placed 10th. She later placed 16th in the Visa Championships. A year later she was to compete in the 2009 CoverGirl U.S. Classic but couldn’t, due to a fracture in her wrist. She competed again in the Visa Championships but, because of her injury, was only able to compete in the Balance Beam and Floor exercises.
Douglas competed in the Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup in 2010, hosted by the Olympic champion Liukin. Douglas came in fourth place all around.
Later that year Douglas made her elite debut in the 2010 CoverGirl Classic. She placed third on the balance beam, sixth on the vault, and all-around ninth in the junior division.
In the 2010 Pan American Championships, Douglas won the title for the uneven bars and placed fifth all around.
After winning the Olympic Trials in 2012, Douglas was the only hopeful with a guaranteed spot on the team, edging out favorite to win Jordyn Wieber. She was joined by McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Wieber.
At the 2012 Olympics the “fierce five,” as the gymnastics team was called, won the Team All-Around Gold Medal. Douglas won the Individual All-Around Gold Medal as well, the first woman of color of any nationality to do so. Douglas came in seventh for the balance beam and eighth in the uneven bars. Douglas is the second African American woman period to win an Olympic gold medal.
Douglas appeared on special edition boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, breaking the tradition of athletes appearing on the Wheaties box.
Douglas went on to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics. These games, however, were not as enjoyable. Viewers took to social media and criticized her for not putting her hand over her heart while the U.S. national anthem played, and even berated her for not cheering hard enough for her teammates at the all-around final. Douglas finished sixth in the uneven bars and spoke out about her disappointment with her results and her overall experience that year.
In 2017, Douglas opened up about former U.S. Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, who was arrested in 2016 and later convicted of being a child molester, for which he was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison. Douglas was one of more than 130 women who spoke out against the abuse that they received from Nassar and is now a vocal advocate for mental health in the athletic world.
Douglas talked to Uinterview exclusively about her team’s intense Olympic training routine. “We do these obstacle courses,” Douglas said. “You run and jump on the table 40 times, go on the other side and jump on 20 times, 100 crunches, 25 split-jumps on each leg, 50 straddles, handstand push-ups, arch-ups, sit-ups, and a lot of that good stuff.”
When the games are over, though, Douglas is ready to splurge. “After the competition, I’ll splurge myself with either chocolate cake or a brownie with ice cream,” she told Uinterview.
In addition to her medals won at the Olympics, Douglas has won numerous other awards.
In 2010 Douglas won the US Junior National Championship Beam Silver Medalist, the Pan American Championships Uneven Bars Gold Medalist and was a 3-time US National Team Member.
Douglas as a member of the gymnastics team that won the gold medal at the 2011 World Championships.
In 2012 Douglas was the US Olympic Trials All-Around Trials Champion, the US Olympic Trials Uneven Bars Gold Medalist (in a tie), Secret US Classic Uneven Bars Gold Medalist, Pacific Rim Uneven Bars Gold Medalist, US National Championships All-Around Silver Medalist, US National Championships, US National Championships Floor Exercise Bronze Medalist and the Uneven Bars Gold Medalist.
In 2013 Douglas won the BET Youngstars Award and Subway Sportswoman Award, as well as the Teen Choice Award for Choice Female Athlete.
Douglas appeared at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, performing a brief gymnastics routine during Alicia Keys and Nicki Minaj’s performance of the Inferno Remix of “Girl on Fire.” Minaj included the verse “But I got ’em aggy, cause I win the gold like Gabby.” Douglas was a guest on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno alongside First Lady Michelle Obama.
Douglas made her first acting appearance on an August episode of Disney Channel’s Kickin It and appeared in an advertising campaign for New Super Mario Bros. 2 and several Proctor & Gamble brands.
Douglas has authored two nonfiction books – Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith and Raising The Bar.
Douglas is quiet about her dating life. At present there is no evidence that she is dating anybody.
For her performance at the US National Championships Douglas was nicknamed “Flying Squirrel” for her aerials on the uneven bars. Her family calls her “Brie” for short.
Douglas’ parents are divorced. She lived primarily with her mother and was fairly estranged from her father, a National Guardsman. He left when Douglas was 9 years old and, according to the Olympian, didn’t pay much in the way of child support. Her mother filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
When Timothy appeared at the 2012 Olympic Trials to cheer on his daughter, it was the first time in two years she had seen him.
Douglas led the pledge of allegiance at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The night before she attended President Barack Obama’s campaign rally and introduced Stevie Wonder and Francena McCorory.
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