Gabby Douglas To Oprah: I Endured Racial Slurs During Gymnastics Training in Virginia
Gabby Douglas, who told Oprah Winfrey she prefers to be called Gabrielle on her show "Oprah's Next Chapter" on Sunday, had to overcome many hurdles in her short 16 years. She not only defeated her competition to make Olympic history by becoming the first African-American woman to win all-around gold medals, but also had to trounce racism in order to do so.
"I felt I was being bullied and isolated from the group and they treated me not how they would treat their other teammates," Douglas told Winfrey during the interview. "I definitely felt isolated. I felt like, why am I deserving this?"
"Is it because I'm black? Like, those thoughts would go through my mind."
Gabby revealed a few of her teammates from her hometown Virginia Beach, Va., would taunt her with various racial slurs, and opted to share just one hateful comment with the TV mogul.
"One of my teammates was like, 'Could you scrape the bar?'" she recalled. "And they were like, 'Why doesn't Gabby do it, she's our slave?'"
When Douglas' mother Natalie Hawkins joined the chat, she revealed to Oprah that while Gabby told her about the bullying, she kept certain aspects of it from her because she knew she would react unfavorably.
"There were some things that were going on that she was sharing with me and some things that she wasn't because she knew how I would react," said Hawkins.
The Olympian even had thoughts of quitting the sport because of the constant bullying. "She said, 'I'd rather quit. If I can't move and train and get another coach, I'd rather quit the sport,'" Hawkins continued.
We think you'll all agree that it's a good thing Gabby moved to Iowa at just 14, and found renowned Olympics coach, Liang Chow.
Chow once said he was concerned about Gabby's "mental toughness," before the competitions began, it wouldn't be a stretch to say her deficiency was a result of years of bullying.
Chow now believes that the young Olympian "can handle the toughest jobs."
The conversation soon veered towards Gabby's hair controversy. The bubbly teenager was just flabbergasted by the intense focus on her competition updo.
"Where's this coming from? Are you kidding me? What's this about my hair," she told the Daily News. "I gel it up, put some clips in it and put it in a bun. People shouldn't be worried about that."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves, Gabby (Gabrielle).