Edge of Sports

The Power of Gabby Douglas

By Dave Zirin
The Nation
August 2, 2012

http://www.thenation.com/blog/169216/power-gabby-douglas

There are two kinds of political athletes. The first,
and most memorable, are athletes who engage in the
explicit politics of protest. This tradition is marked
by Muhammad Ali saying, "I ain't got no quarrel with
them Vietcong." It's Billie Jean King marching for Title
IX. It's Curt Flood saying he refused to be a "well paid
slave." It's John Carlos and Tommie Smith raising their
fists in the name of civil and human rights. But then
there is a different kind of athletic politics: the
politics of representation. That's Jackie Robinson the
moment he took the field to break baseball's color line.
That's Martina Navratilova, all ropey muscles, forcing
the world to confront a more powerful kind of woman
athlete. That's Compton's Serena and Venus Williams
dominating their country club sport.

Whether or not these athletes embraced the burden, they
carried the aspirations and expectations of countless
others. We can now add Gabby Douglas to their ranks. The
16-year-old from Virginia Beach is now the first
African-American woman as well as the first person of
color to win gold in the gymnastics individual all-
around competition. She is also the first US gymnast in
history to win both individual and team gold at the same
Olympics.

Douglas's journey is as unique as her triumph: one
marked by having to navigate the racial segregation that
defines so much of the United States. At 14, Douglas
left her mother, three siblings and working-class
Virginia Beach community to move to West Des Moines,
Iowa, so she could train with renowned Chinese coach
Liang Chow.

In Iowa, Douglas lived with a host family of strangers
in a nearly all-white community and thought she might be
the only black person in the state. In the very white
world of gymnastics, Douglas also stood out. At most
meets she would be the only person of color performing.
Douglas was home-schooled in Des Moines by her host
family, adding to this sense of isolation. Homesickness
meant crying herself to sleep and calling her mother in
Virginia Beach, floating the idea of coming home.

But Douglas was indomitable and developed a reputation
for the ability to actually seem like she was flying on
the uneven bars, earning the rather unfortunate nickname
"The Flying Squirrel." She also had a reputation as
someone with potential, but a cut beneath the best
gymnasts in the world. Marta Karolyi, the grim US
national team coordinator who bestowed the "Flying
Squirrel" nickname on Douglas, saw her as "an average
good gymnast." Douglas, however, wouldn't be
discouraged. Her sense of comfort and confidence is
visible in her smile, which is as striking as one of her
dismounts. Anyone watching women's gymnastics sees that
many of the contestants look like hostages to screaming
parents, rage-aholic coaches and their own unhappiness.
Gabby Douglas actually looks happy to be there and
through force of personality is congenitally unable to
be invisible. This also has political repercussions,
powerful enough that the largely sheltered 16-year-old
seems to sense what she could mean.

As she said to the New York Times in June, "I have an
advantage because I'm the underdog and I'm black and no
one thinks I'd ever win. Well, I'm going to inspire so
many people. Everybody will be talking about, how did
she come up so fast? But I'm ready to shine." Shine she
did.

Dominique Dawes, the great African-American gymnast who
won team gold in 1996, told USA Today's Christine
Brennan, "I am such a nervous ninny. I feel like Gabby
is my child or something. I am so anxious for her to
win. I know it will have an enormous impact on
encouraging African-Americans and other minorities to go
into the sport of gymnastics."

This is certainly possible. But far more important is
the impact Gabby Douglas could have in making people not
feel defeated by racism, segregation or even something
as simple as loneliness. Now all she needs is a better
nickname. This is no one's Flying Squirrel. With
apologies to Paul Pierce, Gabby Douglas is "the Truth."

[Dave Zirin is the author of "The John Carlos Story"
(Haymarket). Receive his column every week by emailing
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