Gabby Douglas returns to Iowa to train for 2016 Olympics
theGRIO REPORT - Can Gabby Douglas repeat her gold-medal glory from London in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio? She's going to give it a shot...
Can Gabby Douglas repeat her gold-medal glory from London in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio?
She’s going to give it a shot.
On Monday, Douglas reunited with her longtime gymnastics coach Liang Chow at his gym in West Des Moines, Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.
Douglas told reporter John Naughton:
Coming back was just very exciting. I definitely missed my team sisters.
Since capturing the individual all-around gold medal and team gold at the 2012 Olympics in London, Douglas has written books, made cameos on TV shows and walked countless red carpets. She even executive produced her own biopic. In August, she left Chow and her training base in Iowa to move to Los Angeles and be closer to her family.
At the time, Chow and his wife Liwen Zhuang thought that was the last time they would coach the now-18-year-old Douglas. Nearly eight months later, Douglas is back:
“I was a little bit nervous before I saw her, because there were so many questions,” Chow told Naughton. “I feel like I know what I’m doing and what we need to do for the next steps.”
Douglas told BET.com’s Ronke Idowu Reeves this week that competing in the 2016 Olympics is her “main goal and focus.”
Check out what Douglas told theGrio.com’s Todd Johnson back in 2012. In the midst of her first book signing tour, Douglas said she was “definitely looking forward to Rio.” Her reunion with her former coach makes that statement sound stronger than ever.
[theplatform media=”xxYLrPR2Oawx” player=”zvEuDLunqxuD” width=640 height=360]
Follow theGrio.com’s Todd Johnson on Twitter @rantoddj