Congratulations Gabby Douglass.
From the NYT...
To become the Olympic champion in the individual all-around event, Gabby Douglas first had to leave everything she knew best.
She had to pack up her bedroom in Virginia Beach, where she lived with her mother, two sisters and brother. She had to say goodbye to her two dogs and bid farewell to the beach, where she loved to ride waves on her boogie board. But it was time to take the leap, however heartbreaking and awkward it would be. Even at 14, Douglas knew that.
So off she went about 1,200 miles to West Des Moines, Iowa, to train with a coach from China and live with a white family she had never met. Douglas remembers thinking when she arrived that she must be the only black person in the state...
...But on Thursday, as Douglas was going to the Olympic arena, her mother called and said, “I believe in you, baby.” Douglas said, “I believe, too.”
That was all Douglas needed to have the night of her life. She landed a huge vault to start off and never relinquished the lead. In the stands nearby, her family — including her mother and her stand-in parents — huddled together and beamed.
No comments:
Post a Comment