Dear Commons Community,

Gabrielle Douglas became the first African- American woman to win the Olympics all-around gymnastics title.  Read her story or as the New York Times described her journey to Olympics immortality.

“..she had to pack up her bedroom in Virginia Beach, where she lived with her mother, two sisters and brother. She had to say goodbye to her two dogs, who used to sleep in her bed, and bid farewell to the beach, where she loved to ride… waves on her boogie board.

But it was time to take the leap, however heartbreaking and awkward it would be. Even at 14, Douglas knew that.

So off she went about 1,200 miles to West Des Moines, Iowa, to train with a coach from China and live with a white family she had never met. Douglas remembers thinking when she arrived that she must be the only black person in the state.”

Yesterday on the Olympics stage, she was the undisputed gold medal champion.

Tony