During her teenage years, in the mid 1990s, Dominique Dawes captured the Olympic spotlight, becoming the first female African-American gymnast to win an individual medal in her sport at the Games.
After devoting 18 years to gymnastics, she retired, and then worked on Broadway and for TV news.
In 2010, President Obama appointed her as co-chair of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition where she now focuses on combating something that First Lady Michelle Obama is passionate about: childhood obesity and educating women on cardiovascular disease. She recently partnered with Sweet’N Low to raise awareness on diabetes, which affects more than 25 million Americans, including some of her family members.
In an interview with Tell Me More host Michel Martin, Dawes says she’s just an everyday person: “When I retired from the sport at 23 years old, I was no longer training the five to seven hours a day in the gym for six days a week; and like everyone, I put on the 15 or 20 pounds during my freshman year in college.”
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She says she no longer strives for an “Olympic physique,” and now, at age 38, she loves her body and understands the importance of regular exercise to maintain physical and emotional health.
In her current role, her mission is to engage, educate, and empower all Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and good nutrition.
Throughout her career, she has won more National Championship medals than any other athlete, male or female, since 1963, as well as numerous World Championship medals. One of her greatest feats came when she swept all four events and won the All Around title at the 1994 National Championships. As a multiple medal Olympic winner, Dawes says she didn’t realize the impact of her achievement — particularly on communities of color — when it happened.
“I didn’t get it until Halle Berry won the Oscar. And I don’t remember what year it was, but I was home. I remember sitting in my living room bawling, because I thought about the impact that her achievement was going to make on her race and on young people that were seeing that — ‘Oh, if she can do it, I can do it to,’ ” says Dawes. “That’s when the light bulb went on, and I was like, ‘Oh! I get it.’ That’s why people would come up to me and bawl and cry to me, and be like, ‘Oh thank you for all that you’ve done.’ “
“So my situation is very unique, but I would say for those young gymnasts today that are considering or contemplating going professional, make sure you have a trusted network of people — a small support system of people that are going to advise you truthfully and not tell you maybe either what you want to hear or sounds good. Though it worked for me, it may not work for others,” she says.
