Gabby Douglas and Her Mother Profiled By Proctor and Gamble
A tenacious 16-year-old whose high flying gymnastic skills have captivated the country, is being profiled in a touching video alongside her mother. Gabby Douglas, the first black gymnast to win an individual all-around Olympic gold medal, was chosen by Proctor and Gamble to be featured in their ‘Raising an Olympian’ series along with her mother Natalie Hawkins.
In the short video, Hawkins describes the decision she made to let Gabby move over 3,000 miles away to train with Liang Chow, the trainer of Olympian Shaun Johnson. Along with training with Chow who’s based in Des Moines, Iowa, Gabby was taken in by the Partons, a white family who agreed to “host” her and care for her as their own.
“How do I send my youngest child away to a family that I don’t know? To a community that I don’t know?,” asks Hawkins in the video. “Letting go of Gabrielle was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, but it’s now one of the most rewarding things that I’ve gotten to experience in my life.”
Since moving to Iowa, Gabby’s excelled in her sport leading to the climax of her career Thursday, August 2, at the Olympic games. Check out Proctor and Gamble’s moving video on Gabby Douglas below. -danielle canada
