A few days before the Olympics start in Paris, Silver Spring’s own gold medal-winning gymnast Dominique Dawes said she will be cheering on local athletes. She also shared her support for Simone Biles, the face of the U.S. gymnastics team, who been vocal about mental health within their sport.
While there are not any gymnasts from Montgomery County representing the United States in the 2024 games (Kayla DiCello from Boyds was injured during the Trials), there are several county athletes competing in the games. Dawes said she will be cheering for them every step of the way.
“Even if they don’t come home with an Olympic medal or Olympic gold medal the fact that they got there is pretty spectacular, they sacrificed much of their lives for this one moment,” Dawes said at an event Tuesday unveiling a sculpture of the Silver Spring native who competed in three Olympics and won four medals.
Dawes was the last American gymnast to compete in three Olympic games — a milestone Simone Biles will now reach as she competes in the 2024 games.
“I love more than anything that she cares about trying to ensure there’s a positive change in the sport of gymnastics, and knowing that there’s some changes that need to occur with regards to the culture,” Dawes said. “It’s been a very harsh, abusive culture.”
Like Biles, Dawes has been vocal about mental health and negative experiences within their sport — “the experience that I went through in the sport of gymnastics for 18 years is not an experience that a young girl should go through,” she told MCM last year when she opened her second Dominique Dawes Gymnastics and Ninja Academy.
That is why she started the academy, where she says the focus is on developing the whole child, through physical health, emotional health, mental health and social health. There are locations in Rockville and Clarksburg, and a third will open in Howard County.
