Gabrielle Christina Victoria "Gabby" Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. As a member of the U.S. Women's Gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals in both the individual all-around and team competitions. Douglas is the first woman of color and the first African-American gymnast in Olympic history to become the individual all-around champion, and the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics as well as being the only American All-Around Champion to win multiple gold medals, thus far. She is also the first all-around champion to not medal in an individual event since women's gymnastics was added to the Olympics in 1952.
She was also a member of the gold-winning U.S. team at the 2011 World Championships.
Douglas and her teammates, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber (nicknamed the "Fierce Five"), won the team all-around gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She then won the gold medal in the individual all-around, becoming the first African-American woman, as well as the first woman of color of any nationality, to win the event. She is also the first American gymnast ever to win both the team and individual all-around gold at the same Olympics. Douglas finished eighth in uneven bars, and seventh in balance beam. She is the first all-around champion to not medal in an individual event since women's gymnastics was added to the Olympics in 1952.[37] On August 3, the Kellogg Company announced that it would feature a picture of Douglas standing on the podium with her gold medal on special-edition boxes of Corn Flakes in the fall. This breaks the tradition of Olympic athletes appearing on Wheaties boxes. On August 13, Douglas appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which also featured U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama.
On August 26, Douglas spoke about racist bullying at Excalibur Gymnastics in an interview with Oprah Winfrey and how it nearly made her quit the sport. She described an incident in which she had heard other girls at the gym say "Why doesn’t Gabby do it? She’s our slave” when chalk needed to be scraped off the bars The CEO of Excalibur Gymnastics, Gustavo Maure, has denied these claims.
Post-Olympics In September 2012, Nintendo announced that Douglas would be part of a new ad campaign for New Super Mario Bros. 2. On September 6, Douglas participated in the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. She and her Fierce Five teammates introduced Alicia Keys, who sang "Girl on Fire" Keys was joined by Nicki Minaj who rapped her verses from the Inferno Remix of the song. When Minaj rapped the line "But I got 'em aggy, cause I win the gold like Gabby", Douglas appeared on stage and performed a brief routine containing cartwheels, jumps and back hand springs.
In December 2012, Douglas released her autobiography, Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith. The book debuted at number four on The New York Times Young Adult Bestseller List. In August 2013, Douglas moved to Los Angeles to be with her family. Although she is no longer training with Chow, she said that she is still preparing to compete in the 2016 Olympics.
Douglas had a small acting role on the Disney XD series Kickin It in the episode "Gabby's Gold", which aired on August 12, 2013.
Douglas was a nominee for the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year. In June 2013, Douglas received two BET Awards for her accomplishments.
In December, the Associated Press named her the Female Athlete of the Year. Douglas became the fourth gymnast to receive the honor. On September 4, Douglas led the Pledge of Allegiance at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. The night before the election, Douglas appeared at President Barack Obama's campaign rally in Norfolk, Virginia, where she introduced Stevie Wonder and Olympic track and field gold medalist Francena McCorory
courtesy of wikipedia.com
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She was also a member of the gold-winning U.S. team at the 2011 World Championships.
Douglas and her teammates, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber (nicknamed the "Fierce Five"), won the team all-around gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She then won the gold medal in the individual all-around, becoming the first African-American woman, as well as the first woman of color of any nationality, to win the event. She is also the first American gymnast ever to win both the team and individual all-around gold at the same Olympics. Douglas finished eighth in uneven bars, and seventh in balance beam. She is the first all-around champion to not medal in an individual event since women's gymnastics was added to the Olympics in 1952.[37] On August 3, the Kellogg Company announced that it would feature a picture of Douglas standing on the podium with her gold medal on special-edition boxes of Corn Flakes in the fall. This breaks the tradition of Olympic athletes appearing on Wheaties boxes. On August 13, Douglas appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which also featured U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama.
On August 26, Douglas spoke about racist bullying at Excalibur Gymnastics in an interview with Oprah Winfrey and how it nearly made her quit the sport. She described an incident in which she had heard other girls at the gym say "Why doesn’t Gabby do it? She’s our slave” when chalk needed to be scraped off the bars The CEO of Excalibur Gymnastics, Gustavo Maure, has denied these claims.
Post-Olympics In September 2012, Nintendo announced that Douglas would be part of a new ad campaign for New Super Mario Bros. 2. On September 6, Douglas participated in the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. She and her Fierce Five teammates introduced Alicia Keys, who sang "Girl on Fire" Keys was joined by Nicki Minaj who rapped her verses from the Inferno Remix of the song. When Minaj rapped the line "But I got 'em aggy, cause I win the gold like Gabby", Douglas appeared on stage and performed a brief routine containing cartwheels, jumps and back hand springs.
In December 2012, Douglas released her autobiography, Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith. The book debuted at number four on The New York Times Young Adult Bestseller List. In August 2013, Douglas moved to Los Angeles to be with her family. Although she is no longer training with Chow, she said that she is still preparing to compete in the 2016 Olympics.
Douglas had a small acting role on the Disney XD series Kickin It in the episode "Gabby's Gold", which aired on August 12, 2013.
Douglas was a nominee for the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year. In June 2013, Douglas received two BET Awards for her accomplishments.
In December, the Associated Press named her the Female Athlete of the Year. Douglas became the fourth gymnast to receive the honor. On September 4, Douglas led the Pledge of Allegiance at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. The night before the election, Douglas appeared at President Barack Obama's campaign rally in Norfolk, Virginia, where she introduced Stevie Wonder and Olympic track and field gold medalist Francena McCorory
courtesy of wikipedia.com
return to (s)Hero profiles