Gabby Douglas

Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995 ) is an American artistic gymnast.

In October 2002, she 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, she 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, she lived with Travis and Missy Parton and their four daughters, one of whom also trained at Chow's gym.

However, Douglas struggled to fit in because of the separation from her family and hometown.

Douglas is 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 when she was younger her "family practiced some of the Jewish traditions", including attending a Conservative Jewish synagogue, keeping kosher, and celebrating Hanukah.

In October, at age 14, Douglas moved into the home of Missy Parton in West Des Moines, Iowa, to train under Liang Chow, the former coach of 2007 World Champion and 2008 Summer Olympics gold medalist Shawn Johnson.

Douglas made her international debut in 2008 at the US Classic in Houston, Texas, where she placed 10th place in the all-around rankings.

She went on to compete at the 2008 Visa Championships in Boston, Massachusetts.

Placing 16th in that competition, Douglas was not eligible for the 2008 Junior Women's National Team.

In 2009, Douglas suffered a fracture in the growth plate of her wrist.

Due to this injury, she was not able to compete and missed the 2009 Covergirl US Classic.

While she competed at the 2009 Visa Championships in Dallas, Texas, Douglas was unable to perform her full routines and competed only on balance beam and floor exercise.

Douglas competed at the 2010 Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup, a televised Level 10 meet held in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she placed fourth all-around.

Her first elite meet was the 2010 CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois, where Douglas placed third on balance beam, 6th on vault, and 9th all-around in the junior division.

At the 2010 U.S. Junior National Championships, Douglas won the silver medal on balance beam, placed fourth all-around and on vault, and tied for eighth on floor exercise.

At the 2010 Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico, Douglas won the uneven bars title, and she won a share of the U.S. team gold medal.

She also placed fifth all-around.

She was also a member of the gold-winning American teams at the 2011 and the 2015 World Championships.

Douglas is the first African American to become the Olympic 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 is the 2012 Olympic all-around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist.

She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 2012 and the 2016 Summer Olympics, dubbed the "Fierce Five" and the "Final Five" by the media, respectively.

Although Douglas' former coach, Walker, stated in 2012 that she was convinced Douglas could have made it to the Olympics if she had remained in Virginia Beach, Douglas said, "Something clicked in my head that said, if I really want to make this happen I need to get better coaching."

The impetus for Douglas' move to Iowa was when Walker had invited Chow to teach a clinic at her gym, Excalibur.

Douglas was impressed when Chow was able to teach her how to perform the Amanar vault in a single afternoon.

Douglas considered a move to Texas to train with a renowned coach there, but after that coach declined to train her out of loyalty to Walker, Douglas selected Chow.

Chow was initially skeptical, since Douglas had been just one of hundreds of children at the clinic in Virginia Beach.

However, Chow subsequently informed Douglas's Excalibur coaches that he had agreed to train her, but pointed out that he did not recruit her, saying, "I would never recruit anybody to my program."

Later on, Douglas suffered from a hamstring strain and a hip flexor injury in July.

She couldn't do much during this time, but this allowed her to improve her bar skills.

At the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy, Douglas was part of the US team that won gold.

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.

As of July 2023, Douglas is training with the goal of making the 2024 Olympic team.

Douglas was born in Newport News, Virginia and grew up in nearby Virginia Beach, to parents Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins-Douglas.

She has two older sisters, Arielle and Joyelle, and one older brother, Johnathan.

She began training in gymnastics at age six when her sister convinced their mother to enroll her in classes.

She was also the 2016 AT&T American Cup all-around champion.