Collegiate Times

American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes was in Squires Student Center last night talking at a Black Student Alliance event about her Olympic story and finding life's passion.

Dawes, one of the "Magnificent Seven" which took the team gold at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, was also was a member of the 1992 and 2000 gymnastics squad. Dawes was also the first African-American gymnast to take home an individual medal.

Since retiring from the sport of gymnastics, Dawes received a degree in communication from the University of Maryland in 2002. Dawes has performed on Broadway, and appeared in music videos from artists Prince and Missy Elliott. Dawes was in Beijing with Yahoo! Sports for the 2008 Summer Olympics, covering men's and women's gymnastics for the Web site. Dawes now spends her time working as a motivational speaker and as a spokeswoman for a number of different charities.

Before she presented, Dawes sat down with Gordon Block, reporter for the Collegiate Times, to talk about her life, the 2008 Summer Olympics, and role models within the female and African-American communities.

Q: For someone who hasn't been keeping up with you, what's new with Dominique Dawes?

A: I'm retired from the sport of gymnastics, which is a surprise for some people to know that. I moved on, and I do a lot of work with motivational speaking. I'm not doing so much corporate work anymore, I'm now focusing on young audiences, ages 15 to believe it or not I consider 35 young, when you're 31 you would too. It's all about motivating people to find the passion in their life.

Q: What led you to get involved in motivational speaking?

A: My first speech was in 1996, right after I won a gold at the Olympic games, and I had an opportunity to speak at the headquarters of Coca-Cola, just some brief remarks. It was a 10-minute speech, I had an endorsement with a number of companies. So I had to go on and speak about my Olympic journey, which was terrifying, especially coming from an introvert. I'm the biggest introvert you'll ever know. I was someone who was very quiet and shy in school. I did a number of speeches, enjoyed it, but I didn't think I'd make a career out of this.

I was actually terrified at first. I just developed it over a number of years, and realized it was my passion in 2002. I realized that out of all the careers that I've tried, from anything in the entertainment industry or the sports industry or the media, I enjoyed motivational speaking the most.

Q: One of the big things that came up during the 2008 Summer Olympics was the age controversy surrounding the Chinese women's gymnastics team. What did you observe from that situation?

A: As a former Olympian myself it wasn't a surprise. During my Olympic games there was controversy about gymnasts being underage.

So when it was brought up at these Olympic games I was not surprised. It was unfortunate that it's still talked about and that they still might be considered underage, that things are passing through the system.

However I was happy to see that the FIG (Federation of International Gymnasts) and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) did an investigation and found that they were legit; however, the 2000 team was still in question, and I think about two of those young girls were quoted as saying they were underage then, so my teammates and I are waiting for our bronze medals to be shipped through the mail.

Q: You were 19 when you won your gold medal in 1996; do you think there is an advantage of being a younger competitor for gymnastics competition?

A: I don't think there's an advantage or disadvantage. My first Olympic games I was 15 years old, and I was just as terrified as when I was 19 or 23. It's not as if when you're younger you don't feel the pressure, you do feel the pressure. You're representing your country, and there's millions of people, or, if you're from China, billions of people pulling for them.

Honestly, for the sport of gymnastics, there should not be an age limit. If there's someone who's 14 years old and they can qualify for an Olympic games and they're already training nearly 40 hours a week, and they've committed their whole childhood to make it to the Olympics, if they're good enough at 14 they should be given a shot.

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