Gabby Douglas

Gabby Douglas: The Amazing Athlete

Biography By: Camille

Did you know that Gabby Douglas was the first African American to win the individual, all-around gold medal in the London Olympics in 2012? She was only sixteen when she did it! Gabby has gotten a lot of shiny awesome gold medals! Her personal life was also was also very interesting!

Gabby's full name is Gabrielle Cristina Victoria Douglas. Her nickname is "The Flying Squirrel." I think that's an AWESOME nickname! A legendary coach named Martha Karoli gave her the nickname. Gabby was born on December 31, 1995 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Gabby's parents are Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins Douglas. Now she's 21. Gabby has three siblings; Arielle, Joyelle, and John. Did you know Gabby started gymnastics when she was only six?

In October 2002, She began training at Gym Strada when her sister, Arielle, convinced her mom to have Gabby take formal gymnastics classes. Her sister quit gymnastics so Gabby could do it because it was too expensive. Gabby was poor in her childhood. Her family almost had to get on food stamps. (Were the government helps pay for your food.) When Gabby was fourteen, she moved to West Des Maines, Iowa to train with Liang Chow. (A LEGENDARY coach.) Her host family was Travis and Missy Parton, who had four other daughters. One of them was a student of Chow. Gabby has said many interesting quotes, too.

Once she said, "I just want people to know it took a lot. It took a lot of hard days in the gym, determination, passion, and drive. Gold metals are made out of sweat, blood, tears, effort in the gym, and sacrificing a lot." She also said, "I'm not ready for a relationship. My boyfriend's name is Jim... Nastics!" Another thing she said is, "When I leave the gym and spend time with my family, I'm just a normal teenager." As you just heard, Gabby has said many interesting quotes.

I think Gabrielle Douglas is an amazing person. She is ambitious and very cheerful! I look up to Gabby. Over all, she is AWESOME!!!

Sources:

"Main Page." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Apr. 2017. Web. 24 Apr.

2017.Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Gabby Douglas. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
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Presentation Notes:

"Hi! It's so nice to meet you! I'm super excited because I just got back from one of my competitions! I won a medal! after this I'm going back to my hometown, Virginia, to meet up with my family for dinner! I haven't seen them in awhile because I've been busy with gymnastics. So do you have any questions?"