-->

• Dominique Dawes is a retired Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast who competed in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, she won an individual bronze medal for her floor performance and a team gold medal.

  In May of 2009, the celebrity gossip blog TMZ posted a brief video interview with Dawes, in which she discusses her workout regimen to stay in shape. Dawes said she still works out "a little bit." The camera pans out to show a shot of the former athlete's muscular calves.TMZ.com: Olympic Gymnast -- In the Buff (May 26, 2009)

• Fast Facts

  1. Born: November 20, 1976
  2. Hometown: Silver Spring, Maryland
  3. Began taking gymnastics classes in 1983
  4. Olympics: 1992, 1996 and 2000 Games
  5. First African-American woman to represent U.S. in gymnastics
  6. One of only three female American gymnasts to compete in three Olympics
  7. Appeared in Prince's music video "Betcha By Golly Wow" and Missy Elliott's video "We Run This"
  8. Briefly played Patty Simcox in the Broadway musical Grease
  9. Attended the University of Maryland

• Achievements

  In 1992, Dawes became the first African-American woman to represent the United States in gymnastics at the Barcelona Olympics; she won a bronze medal as part of the U.S. team, another African-American female Olympic first. Dawes retired after the 2000 Games and is a motivational speaker and sports analyst.

• After the Olympics

  Following her Olympic career, Dawes served as president of the Women's Sports Federation from 2004 to 2006 and was the youngest president in the organization's history. In 2002, she was the first spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of America's "Uniquely Me" self-esteem campaign. Because her younger brother is autistic, Dawes is active in Autism awareness campaigns and gives motivational speeches focusing on youth issues. She worked as a journalist for [[Yahoo!]] Sports at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Mary Lou Retton | Kerri Strug | Shannon Miller | Olympic Gymnastics | Olympics | Dominique Moceanu | Summer Olympics | Summer Olympics 1996 | Summer Olympics 2000

Categories

• View History
• Discuss on the Message Board
• Embed this Page
• Share this page