Famously, after the vault fall Dawes's coach Kelli Hill exhorted her to be proud of her performance anyway, stating: "When did you ever think you would be in that position? You have to be happy with yourself. Come on. Be happy. Stand up and wave". Dawes did so and earned a standing ovation from the crowd. After this disappointment she rebounded in the event finals, winning two silver medals on bars and beam.
Dawes was competing as a junior elite by the age of She placed 17th in the all-around junior division at her first U. National Championships in In , at the age of 12, she was sent to Australia to compete in her first international meet, the Konica Grand Prix. By the early s, Dawes was achieving success both nationally and internationally. She placed 3rd in the all-around in the junior division at the U. National Championships. Dominique Margaux Dawes born November 20, is a retired American artistic gymnast.
Known in the gymnastics community as 'Awesome Dawesome,' she was a year member of the U. Dawes is also notable as being the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics, and the first black person of any nationality or gender to win an Olympic-gold-medal in gymnastics.
She is also one of only three female American gymnasts, along with Muriel Grossfeld and Linda Metheny-Mulvihill, to compete in three Olympics and was part of their medal-winning teams: Barcelona bronze , Atlanta gold , and Sydney bronze. She is also the Olympic bronze medalist on floor exercise from the Atlanta games.
Dawes is the first female gymnast to be a part of three Olympic-medal-winning teams since Ludmilla Tourischeva won gold in Mexico City , Munich , and Montreal Since Dawes, Svetlana Khorkina is the only gymnast to accomplish this feat, winning silver in Atlanta and Sydney , and bronze in Athens She enrolled in gymnastics at age 6 with coach Kelli Hill and won her first competition at age 9. In high school, she moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland to be closer to her coach's gym.
Dawes would finish her year on a positive note, however. She dominated the National Championships placing first in the all-around and all four event finals at the expense of rival Shannon Miller. It was the first year since that a gymnast had swept the competition.
She went on to lead the American team to a silver medal at the World Team Championships in Dortmund, Germany posting the third highest all-around score in the process.
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Jenny Watwood Model. Report Post « » Your Name:. Your Email:. Tell us why do you think this post is inappropriate and shouldn't be here:. Cancel Report. November 20 , Thanks in part to Dawes' outstanding performance, the U. Dawes had been hoping to win an individual gold medal as well, and was devastated when a step out of bounds and a fall during her floor routine placed her out of medal contention during the all-around competition.
She did win an individual bronze medal for her floor performance, however, which made her the first African American to win an individual medal in women's gymnastics. In , Dawes came out of retirement to make the U. At the Olympic Games in Sydney, the team placed fourth. But when a Chinese competitor was later found to be underage, China lost its team medal, moving the U.
This also made Dawes the first U. Dominique Dawes retired from gymnastics for good after the Olympics. Outside of competition, Dawes' career has varied from motivational speaking to a one-time stint on Broadway, appearing as Patty Simcox in Grease.
She has worked to encourage young people to be active, serving as president of the Women's Sports Foundation and as part of Michelle Obama's "Let's Move Active Schools" campaign. Dawes remained involved in gymnastics by providing coverage for the and Olympic Games.
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