I was blundering around the internet reading various newspapers and ran into a photo gallery in the Denver Post of the USA Olympic team. The photos are magnificent in that each seems to capture some aspect of the athlete’s personality or in some cases what looks like a vulnerable moment. But, this picture more than any other caught my eye.
Gabrielle Douglas (Gabby) is this gymnast that seemed to come out of nowhere and just announced herself to the world. I always smile when I used that phrase because people struggle in the wilderness for years and then once they make it, other people call them overnight sensations.
What amazed me about Gabby outside of her gymnastic abilities on floor, balance beam, vault, and high flying parallel bars is that she had to give up a lot (like leaving her mother in Virginia Beach, Va. to move to Iowa and missing her father doing his third tour in Afghanistan) to achieve her goal. And then, when she thought she was ready and wasn’t by turning in a lackluster performance, it was then that she realized: “You have to fight for your dreams.”
But, let Gabby show you the result of all that work:
No matter where she scores at the Olympics Gabby has learned a valuable life lesson.