DOMINIQUE DAWES
AGE: 20 DOB: 11/20/76
CAREER REVIEW Dominique Dawes began competing with the United States Senior National Team in 1991 and was a member of the 1992 Olympic Team that brought home the Bronze Medal from Barcelona. At the age of 15, Dawes was the first black person to represent the United States in women's gymnastics. In 1993, Dawes placed fourth in the all-around at the World Championships in Birmingham, Great Britain, while winning silver medals in the uneven bars and balance beam. In 1994, Dominique swept the Coca-Cola National Championships, winning the all-around crown and all four event titles. She was the first gymnast to accomplish this feat since Joyce Tanac Schroeder won the all-around and all four events at the 1969 AAU National Championships. Dawes appeared ready to surpass Shannon Miller as the United States' number one gymnast, but she suffered a setback in 1995. Dominique was forced to sit out of the World Championships in Sabae, Japan, due to a stress fracture in her right wrist. Her coach since childhood, Kelli Hill, believes that the injury might have been a blessing in disguise because it forced Dominique to rest and helped her to recover from some other minor but hard to heal injuries such as tendinitis in her knee. Dawes was able to reap the benefits of her time off at the 1996 U.S. National Championships. She again won all four individual event finals. Even though the top four competitors from the all-around competition sat out of the event finals, Dawes' finish was noteworthy because no other female gymnast ever swept the finals twice. She earned her third national vault, bars and beam and fourth floor exercise title of her career. In Dominique's second Olympic bid, she earned two medals in Atlanta last summer. In addition to being part of the Gold Medal Team, Dominique also won the Bronze Medal in the floor exercise. She became the first African-American female gymnast to win an individual Olympic gymnastics medal. Dawes was also in contention for the Gold Medal in the individual all-around competition until she accidently stepped out of bounds during her floor exercise routine...Dominique is known for her powerful and dynamic tumbling. Her signature move is an up and back tumbling pass which crosses from one corner of the mat to the other and back without stopping. The pass originated when coaches posed the challenge of tumbling back and forth in her tiny gym without hitting a wall. PERSONAL Dominique Dawes became involved in gymnastics when she was six years old. She loved to flip around the house, tumbling over furniture and swinging from doorways, so Dawes' parents thought that a gym might be a good way for her to burn off some of her energy. Dominique remembers, "I had a lot of energy around the house, so my parents thought it would be good to put me in a gym so I wouldn't ruin things in the house." Dominique's parents brought her to Hill's Gymnastics in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where she has been training with coach, Kelli Hill, ever since...Dominique has a very close relationship with Hill. The year before the Barcelona Olympics, Dawes moved in with Hill in Gaithersburg. She spent the weekdays at Hill's home to eliminate the 40-minute commute from her family's home in Silver Spring to the Gaithersburg gym where she practiced twice a day. This arrangement persisted until Dawes got her own apartment with four other girls in the fall of 1995 while she was enrolled in courses at the University of Maryland...Dominique was the was the queen of her senior prom at Gaithersburg High School...Dominique was accepted at Stanford in the spring of 1994 but twice deferred enrollment for competitive reasons. She plans to begin college in the fall but has not yet decided where she will attend...Dawes played the role of Patty Simcox, the bouncing, high-kicking high school cheerleader in "Grease" on Broadway during a break from her gymnastics touring schedule in December. To get in shape for her first thespian endeavor, Dawes had only five days of rehearsals, although each was a rigorous six to eight hour session. She was invited to audition for the part after she mentioned that she was considering a major in drama during an appearance on the David Letterman Show...Dominique rubbed elbows with designer Tommy Hilfiger, standing at his side in New York as he unveiled his Tommy Girl fragrance...In November, Dominique made her debut in an MTV video. She appeared as a background dancer in the remake version of the old Motown standard "Betcha By Golly Wow!" done by The Artist (the singer formerly known as Prince). At one point during the shoot, Dawes told The Artist that she liked the glitter in his hair. The Artist responded that he was given the idea after seeing Dawes wear it in her hair during competitions...Dominique has enjoyed the opportunity to tour with the other members of the Gold Medal Olympic Team. She explains, "This is great, because this allows us to really get to know each other, to know each other's personalities. At the Olympics, we were physically close, but at the same time, we had a job to focus on and we were never really able to get that close. Now, we can go out, relax, have fun and learn about the likes and dislikes of each other outside of gymnastics."...During her free time, Dominique enjoys cooking, going to the movies and singing.
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