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.
Early life 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.""Olympic Gymnast Gabrielle Douglas Says Faith Is Her Foundation" . Charisma. (December 21, 2012). Retrieved on August 8, 2016. 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.
Junior career 2008–2009 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.
2010 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."
Senior career 2011 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.
2012
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.
2012 Summer Olympics
At the 2012 Summer Olympics at the O2 Arena (North Greenwich Arena) in London, Douglas and her teammates (nicknamed the "Fierce Five") advanced to the team final in first place. Additionally, Douglas advanced to the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam finals. They won the team event gold medal with Douglas contributing on all four apparatuses. They were the first American team to do so since the "Magnificent Seven" won at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.Rexrode, Joe. "With Fab Five , U.S. gymnasts pick Fierce Five" . USA Today. June 9, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
Douglas won the gold medal in the all-around final with a total score of 62.232. She became the first African American woman,Clarke, Liz. "Gymnast Gabby Douglas soars to women's all-around gold". The Washington Post. August 2, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2012. as well as the first woman of color of any nationality, to win the event. She also became the fourth American woman to win Olympic all-around gold as well as the third straight to do so after Mary Lou Retton in Los Angeles in 1984, Carly Patterson in Athens in 2004 and Nastia Liukin in Beijing in 2008, all of whom were at the venue and watched Douglas equal their feat. She also became the first American gymnast ever to win both the team and individual all-around gold at the same Olympics.
Douglas finished eighth in the uneven bars final, and seventh in the balance beam final after making mistakes in both. She was the first all-around champion to fail to medal in an individual event since women's gymnastics was added to the Olympics in 1952.
2013–2014 In 2013, Douglas left West Des Moines, Iowa, and moved to Los Angeles to be with her family. Although she was no longer training with Liang Chow, she said she was still preparing to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics. In mid-April 2014, Douglas returned to Iowa to train once more with Chow. However, in mid-July, it was announced that Douglas had once again left Chow. In August, news broke that Douglas would train under Kittia Carpenter at Buckeye Gymnastics in Columbus, Ohio. Carpenter announced that Douglas would not aim to return to competition during the 2014 season, as previously planned, but she did attend two national team training camps. Douglas was added back to the U.S. national team on November 25, 2014.
2015 In March, Douglas returned to international competition at the City of Jesolo Trophy. She helped the American team win gold and also placed fourth in the all-around behind defending World Champion Simone Biles, newcomer Bailie Key, and Olympic teammate Aly Raisman. In July, she competed at the U.S. Classic and won the silver medal in the all-around behind Biles, improving her all-around total from Jesolo by nearly two points. She also won silver medals on the uneven bars and floor exercise and a bronze medal on the balance beam."2015 Secret U.S. Classic" . USA Gymnastics. July 25, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015. At the U.S. Championships, she finished fifth in the all-around and was named to the national team.
On October 8, 2015, Douglas was selected to compete at the 2015 World Championships alongside Biles, Raisman, Brenna Dowell, Madison Kocian, Maggie Nichols, and MyKayla Skinner. Douglas helped the U.S. team successfully defend their World title. Douglas then won the silver medal in the all-around behind Biles, becoming the first reigning Olympic all-around champion to return to the sport and win a World championships medal since Yelena Davydova in 1981. She also qualified for the uneven bars final and finished fifth and was 0.233 points away from the four-way tie for the gold medal.
On November 13, 2015, The Columbus Dispatch revealed that Douglas would participate in the 2016 American Cup, in Newark, New Jersey. This was confirmed by USA Gymnastics on December 17, 2015.
2016