At Twenty: To Gabby

Posted by on Aug 15, 2016 in This was on my mind | No Comments

At Twenty

At 20, I had neither the talent nor the perseverance, the dedication nor the ability to be among the top 10 people in the world at anything.

At 20, I could not have borne the pressure of coming back from being the best in the world at 16, trained, worked and waited for four years and tried to do it again.

At 20, I did not have the magnanimity to embrace, without jealously, a new 16 year-old who would step into my arena and dominate the sport I once did in a way I never managed.

At 20, I would not have been able to maintain my composure when criticized for my inability keep the natural state of my hair from emerging around the edges of my head while I did some of the most difficult things in the world.

At 20, when I failed to do my best and lost the chance to revisit the possibility of getting any medal in an arena in which I won gold four years ago, I would have been visibly distraught. (When it happened to Jordyn Wieber, she cried right then and there. I would have, too).

GABBY DOUGLAS IS A CHAMPION.

Did a hint of disappointment surface on her face while the cameras followed her non-stop at one of the toughest moments of her life, yep. Did she put her hand over her heart at the National Anthem? Nope, not every body does.

GABBY DOUGLAS IS A HUMAN BEING.

We saw extremely small snippets of the entire competition. And from those minuscule moments people have bullied that young woman mercilessly.

GABBY DOUGLAS IS TWENTY

What were you doing at twenty?

GABBY DOUGLAS …. A CHAMPION …. A CLASS ACT

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