11.30.12
The United States Sports Academy’s Male and Female 2012 Athlete of the Year nominees: Gabrielle Douglas
Voting for the United States Sports Academy’s Male and Female Athlete of the Year has begun and Gabrielle Douglas is on the ballot! You can decide the United States Sports Academy’s Male and Female 2012 Athlete of the Year.
For the 28th consecutive year, the Academy is conducting worldwide online voting. Voting starts Dec. 1 and runs through Dec. 21. The Academy will announce the winners of this prestigious award, which is being done in conjunction with NBC Sports, on Dec. 25, Christmas Day.
Visit https://www.ussa.edu/ballots/athlete-of-the-year/ to submit your vote! (read more)
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11.27.12
Examiner
Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough delivered a “fierce” and “flawless” freestyle according to Bruno Tonioli on the “Dancing With The Stars: All Stars” finale Monday.
Including Olympic medalists like Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney and Jordyn Weber in the performance, the final three pair impressed the entire panel of judges.
“That was super fun and sensational,” said Carrie Ann Inaba. “I mean the fab five and you. We’ve been waiting for this and you do not disappoint.”
Calling the performance “unexpected,” Len Goodman loved the variety of “dance moves.”
“In freestyle you’ve got to expect the unexpected and this was totally unexpected. So many different dance moves. Gold medal I tell you. That was a Gold medal performance,” said Goodman. (read more)
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11.27.12
Time
When she flipped and tumbled her way to two gold medals at the London Olympic Games, 16-year-old Gabby Douglas checked off a number of firsts: she became the first U.S. gymnast to win both the all-around and team golds in a single Games and the first African-American gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title. But another accomplishment meant just as much to her as standing on top of the podium: she was able to become an Olympic champion who captivated her home country despite, she says, being the victim of bullying early in her career. (read more)
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11.26.12
USA Today
The Fierce Five scored gold on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ helping Shawn Johnson in her quest for the disco ball.
The Fierce Five almost stole the spotlight at Monday night’s Dancing With the Stars finals.
The five gold-medal gymnasts — Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber — showed up big time to support fellow gymnast Shawn Johnson on the dance floor.
As Johnson looked to take her second mirror-ball trophy, this time against fellow All-Stars Melissa Rycroft and Kelly Monaco, her gymnast friends joined the fray. They helped to earn Johnson and partner Derek Hough a perfect score in the freestyle dance and rallied a lot of support from voters across the USA.
“I’m a bit emotional tonight,” Johnson told USA TODAY afterward. “But it means the world to me to have them out here.”
Johnson tearfully explained how she had planned to make it to the London Olympic games but was derailed by a career-ending injury. “I trained with them for three years to share a moment with them on the biggest stage in the world. And not being able to do that,” Johnson said before trailing off, caught in emotion.
“Having them come out here to support me, really touched me,” she added. “The comeback I didn’t get, I got tonight.” (read more)
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11.20.12
Sports Illustrated
SI writer Phil Taylor explains why Gabby Douglas should win the award this year.
In order to win the Olympic gold medal in the women’s all-around last summer, gymnast Gabby Douglas merely had to give up … everything.
Two years before she took our breath away in London, she left behind all the people and things that made her feel safe and secure and loved. She walked away from her home in Virginia Beach, from her mother and three siblings, from her two dogs, Zoe and Chandler, who used to climb into bed with her at night, and from the beach, where she used to ride the waves on her boogie board.
If that seems like a huge sacrifice to you, consider how enormous it must have seemed to Douglas, who was only 14 at the time. She knew her best chance to become more than just a member of the U.S. national team, to become the best in the world, was to pack up and move, alone, to West Des Moines, Iowa, where she would live with strangers. Gabby and her sisters convinced their mother to let her move 1,200 miles away so a demanding coach from China she’d never met could push her to her physical limit daily while trying to transform her into something extraordinary. (read more)
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