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Gabrielle Victoria Douglas

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You saw her at the London 2012 Olympics and just recently at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas is an American artistic gymnast who has won 8 gold medals and 1 silver. She was born in Newport, Virginia on New Year’s Eve of the year 1995. Little did they know, that day Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins brought home a future Olympic champion. It all started when she was six when her mom signed her up at Gymstrada. From there her love of gymnastics just grew. She would train all day and night, full of determination. 8-year-old Gabby won all-around gold at the Virginia State Championships competing level 4. In 2008, the whole country got to see Douglas in Houston, Texas at the US Classic. She received tenth place and went on to the Visa Championships in Massachusetts getting sixteenth place. …show more content…

Although she won the uneven bars at the Pan American Games, and placed fifth overall, she had fractured her wrist the year before. Also, after the Pan American Games, she moved in with the Parton’s away from home to train with Liang Chow in Des Moines, Iowa but strained her hamstring and injured her hip in July that year. In my opinion, Gabby really stepped up her game at this time. Coach Chow even taught her an Amanar vault in just one day. That’s a round off back handspring onto the vault and two and a half twists with a back tuck off the vault. The harder she worked, the more skills she learned. She competed in so many competitions and at the U.S. National Championships she won gold on bars, silver all around and bronze on floor. That’s a lot of medals at just 17, but it all came down the 2012 Olympic Games. She was part of the “Fierce Five” and together, they won gold. As an individual, Douglas was the only one to compete on all four events, and even became the all-around individual champion of the London 2012 Olympic

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