Gabby Douglas's Former Coaches Should Stop Asking Her to Be Grateful
LatestOlympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas made headlines this week when she told Oprah that she had experienced racially motivated bullying while at Excalibur, the gym in Virginia Beach. She had trained there for over six years before making the move to Iowa and Liang Chow with whom she won the Olympic gold medal. In response, the gyms’ owners and former pupils lashed out, denying that Douglas was ever racially bullied.
You might be tempted to feel sympathetic towards the gym and its owners. After all, no one likes being called a racist. And if you watch the whole interview, she never accused the coaches or leadership of racist behavior. She merely stated that she, on occasion, experienced it from girls she worked out with. And since kids typically don’t make a habit of bullying others directly in front of adults lest they get caught and punished, it is probable that the Excalibur coaches did not know about their students’ misdeeds.
However, this is not the first time that the Excalibur coaches, Dena Walker and Gustavo Moure, have gone on the record with their disapproval of Douglas or her mother, Natalie Hawkins. The first shot was fired way back in March shortly after Douglas unofficially won the American Cup, outscoring defending world champion Jordyn Wieber. (She performed as a scored exhibition competitor since each country was only permitted two entrants. Based on their performances at the 2011 World Championships, Wieber and Aly Raisman earned invites ahead of Douglas.) It was at that meet that Douglas first indicated that she wasn’t just an uneven bars specialist but a legitimate all around threat.
In an interview with the Virginia Pilot, her former coaches seemed bitter that their top pupil left them for a different coach and demand what they deem is their fair share of the credit in her success.
“It’s sickening,” said one of the gym moms, Sandy Stageburg (whose daughter Randy was one of the first to publicly castigate Douglas for her description of racially motivated bullying at Excalibur). At the time, Stageburg was referring to her horror at the fact that the world will only see Chow should Douglas end up on the victory stand. “I know Gabby’s good,” Stageberg said, “but she wasn’t made by Chow. You don’t make an Olympian in a year and a half.”
And no one, not even Chow himself, has claimed this. He has openly acknowledged that Douglas received excellent instruction while at Excalibur. As the coach of 2008 Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, he’s fully aware that years and years of coaching and effort go into reaching the Olympic level. Yet it’s not his job to recite Douglas’ coaching history every time he is photographed near her.
However, the Excalibur coaches weren’t just seeking credit for Douglas’ gymnastics proficiency. They were after gratitude for any and all other kindnesses they performed on her behalf. They used this article and moment to reveal to reporters Douglas’ difficult family life. The Pilot reported:
“But what are coaches to do, they ask, when a star athlete’s mother is on long-term medical disability from a financial services company, her income is dramatically cut and she can’t pay for her daughter to compete, say, in Chicago or Philadelphia? What do you do when those issues are compounded by domestic strife that has led the mother to divorce the same man twice?”
As a result, the coaches claimed, they had to act as surrogate parents to Douglas and that Hawkins owes them thousands of dollars. Not only do they depict Hawkins as the sort of welfare queen popularized in the ‘90s-recipient of government largesse and a deadbeat who isn’t married to her daughter’s father-they had the gall to reveal aspects of their former pupil’s personal life to the press. What sort of decent teacher or coach does that to a student? If they really just wanted more credit, they could’ve merely praised Douglas. The headline instead could’ve read, “Local Coaches Congratulate Former Star Pupil.” This would’ve gotten them the recognition they craved without dragging Douglas down.
If there is indeed a financial dispute then this is a matter for courts and litigation. But as a 14-year-old at the time of the move, Douglas is not responsible for how her mother handled (or mishandled) her pecuniary matters. Nor is she responsible for the allegedly unstable nature of her own home. That her parents’ relationship was in turmoil is not a commentary on Douglas. The Excalibur coaches should’ve never invoked this in the media.