Background and career
Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all-around gold medalist 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. She was also a member of the gold-winning American teams at the 2011 and the 2015 World Championships. Additionally, she is the 2012 U.S. champion on the uneven bars and the 2016 American Cup all-around champion. Douglas is the first African American to win an Olympic individual all-around title, and the first U.S. gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympic Games. With a total of six Olympic and World Championship medals, she is the 11th most decorated U.S. female gymnast of all time. Douglas's gymnastics successes have led to her life story adaptation in the 2014 Lifetime biopic film, The Gabby Douglas Story, as well as her own reality television series, Douglas Family Gold. She is the author of two books: Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith and Raising the Bar. In 2021, she won the first season of The Masked Dancer.
Douglas was born on December 31, 1995, to parents Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins-Douglas, in Newport News, Virginia, and grew up in nearby Virginia Beach. She has two older sisters, Arielle and Joyelle, and one older brother, Johnathan. She began training in gymnastics at age six when Arielle convinced their mother to enroll Gabby in classes. Her first gym was Excalibur Gymnastics in Virginia Beach. 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 was raised Christian, stating in a 2012 interview, "[My faith] always plays a big role in my life. I don't know where I'd be without it today." 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 Hanukkah.
Douglas qualified for elite gymnastics, the highest competitive level in gymnastics in the U.S., in 2008. She made her elite debut at the U.S. Classic in Houston, Texas, where she tied for tenth place in the all-around rankings. She went on to compete at the 2008 U.S. Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, and finished 16th in the all-around. She was not selected for the 2008 junior U.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 at the 2009 U.S. Classic. She did compete at the 2009 U.S. Championships in Dallas, Texas, but she hurt her knee on a double Arabian on the floor exercise. She only competed on the balance beam on the second day of competition and finished fifth on that apparatus. She, once again, was not selected for the junior national team.
Douglas competed at the 2010 Nastia Liukin Cup, a televised Level 10 meet held in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she placed fourth all-around. Her first elite meet of the year was the U.S. Classic in Chicago. She finished ninth in the all-around, but won a bronze medal on the balance beam behind Kyla Ross and Katelyn Ohashi. At the U.S. Championships, she finished fourth in the all-around competition after hitting her feet on the floor on a Pak salto on the uneven bars. She did win the silver medal on the balance beam behind Ross and was added to the junior national team for the first time. She was then selected to make her international debut at the 2010 Pan American Championships. She and teammates Ross, Sabrina Vega, McKayla Maroney, Brenna Dowell, and Sarah Finnegan won the team gold medal by nearly 20 points. The next day, she won a gold medal in the uneven bars final. 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. Prior to the move, Chow taught clinic at her club, and 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 Excalibur's coaches, 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."
Douglas became age-eligible for senior-level competitions in 2011 because of her birthdate: December 31, 1995. Had she been born on January 1, 1996, she would not have been senior-level eligible until 2012. She made her senior debut at the City of Jesolo Trophy and helped the American team win the gold medal. Additionally, she tied with Sabrina Vega for the bronze medal on the balance beam and also won a floor exercise bronze medal. She only competed on the uneven bars at the U.S. Classic and won the silver medal behind Jordyn Wieber. At the 2011 U.S. Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota, Douglas fell on the balance beam and floor exercise on the first day of competition. She fell on her balance beam dismount on the second day of competition and finished seventh in the all-around. She tied with Anna Li for the bronze medal on the uneven bars. Douglas was selected to compete at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo alongside Wieber, Vega, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, and Alicia Sacramone. She competed on the uneven bars in the team final to help the team win the gold medal by over four points ahead of silver-medalists Russia. She qualified for the uneven bars final and tied with Asuka Teramoto for fifth place.
Douglas competed as a guest competitor at the American Cup held at Madison Square Garden. She had the highest total all-around score, but she was not eligible for the gold medal as a guest competitor. Later that month, she was part of the gold-winning U.S. team at the Pacific Rim Championships. During the competition, Douglas attempted the Amanar vault, but her hand slipped off the vaulting table, causing her to fall. She tweaked her ankle and withdrew from competing on the floor exercise. She still competed on the uneven bars and won the gold medal. Douglas competed at the U.S. Classic and won the uneven bars title. She also finished seventh on the balance beam after grabbing the beam on her acrobatic series, and she won a bronze medal on the floor exercise. She did not compete on the vault due to continued struggles with the Amanar. At the 2012 U.S. Championships, she finished second to Jordyn Wieber in the all-around after falling off the balance beam on the second day of competition. She won the national uneven bars title and also won a bronze medal on the floor exercise. Douglas won the all-around title at the Olympic Trials and won the one guaranteed Olympic team spot. She was named to the Olympic team alongside Wieber, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, and Kyla Ross.
