The University of Connecticut Undergraduate Student Government welcomed Olympic champion Gabby Douglas to a conversation about her career and overcoming challenges on Tuesday. The event took place in the Student Union ballroom.
Anyone was welcome to attend, and the event was from 6 to 7 p.m. Douglas was interviewed on topics from her past accomplishments to her future plans for her career.
Douglas explained that the reason she loves gymnastics is because it challenges her.
“Gymnastics is a very hard sport, but I loved it. I loved to challenge my mind, loved to challenge my body,” Douglas said.
In making two Olympic teams, one in 2012 and the other in 2016, Douglas has won three Olympic gold medals: an individual all-around medal in 2012 and two team gold medals, one from 2012 and the other from 2016.
In looking back at her accomplishments, Douglas said that it still hasn’t really hit her.
“It’s honestly still sinking in. That process was long and grueling but also it was very enjoyable. In that moment, I just thought about all the blood, sweat, tears and everything that I put into the sport, my family put into the sport and like it finally paid off. I’m still realizing the impact I made within the sport of gymnastics,” Douglas said.
Douglas has been doing gymnastics since she was six years old, having started after watching her sister do the sport.
“I’m the youngest in my family. When I was three years old, I saw my sister doing gymnastics. I was like, ‘Oh, this looks pretty cool. I want to try it.’ So, she was teaching me gymnastic skills, and by the end of the week, I was teaching myself cartwheels,” Douglas said.
As for her Olympic dream, it was something that was always in the back of her mind, according to Douglas. She said she was inspired by the gymnasts who came before her, including another American Olympic individual all-around champion.
“When I was nine, I watched the 2004 Olympics, and I saw a gymnast named Carly Patterson doing this skill called a giant on the bars. I was just learning how to do a giant at the time, and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. Like I could go there, potentially do that.’ So, the Olympics was always something that was in the back of mind,” Douglas said.
Despite Douglas’s immense success, her career has not come without its challenges.
One of the hardest things she ever had to do was move away from her family at the age of 14 to go and train with another coach in order to prepare for the Olympics, according to Douglas. She moved from Virginia Beach to Iowa to train with Liang Chow, the coach of Olympian Shawn Johnson.
“I had moved away from my home to pursue my career. That was one of the biggest challenges for me because I was in a new environment, with a new coach. I had to make new friends, and I didn’t live with my family,” Douglas said. “I lived with the host family, so just getting accustomed to a new atmosphere was definitely challenging.”
When leaving the sport in 2016, Douglas found it difficult to find things she liked and realized she did not know herself. According to Douglas, by the end of her 2016 run, she was very burnt out and needed to take time to get to know herself.
“It was very hard. I had come from being in the gym six days a week, and training. My life was centered around this goal that was the Olympics, and it was very hard to just stop all of that. When I achieved my dream, I was like, what else is next? Like, what do I do now? Who am I apart from an athlete,” Douglas said.
As for the future, Douglas said she is not done yet. Over the past few years, she had been training for a bid at the 2024 Olympics but fell short after an injury at the USA Gymnastics Core Hydration Classic in May of 2024.
Soon after, Douglas announced that she does not plan on quitting and is aiming for the 2028 Olympics.
As for how her training has changed, Douglas says that as she has gotten older, she has taken more control of her training.
“I will say it’s better being an adult, because I can decide my own program, versus being a child. I didn’t know any better, and so, the coach would determine more. Now I can come with my own schedule and training program, and it’s definitely different from when I was younger,” Douglas said.
The event concluded with a Q&A section from those attending. This event is a part of USG’s celebration of women’s history month and is just one of many events apart of their HERstory in Motion series, according to the USG Instagram.
Feautred photo by Eugene Lim/Unsplash