Gabby's Dad Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Douglas

[befree1619]

As for her her dad, Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Douglas (who's been stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq), he wasn't able to attend the London games but he did fly to California see her during the trials on June 29. 

She said, "I'm like, 'Who's calling my name?' And then I look up. It was my dad and his friend, and I haven't seen him in a while. They were holding up the flag. And I almost felt like bawling. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, Dad!"

Gabby's parents are divorcing, but they are completely united in support of their daughter.  Timothy (shown above at the trials in June) said,

    'We knew (gymnastics) was in her heart because one day she came home from the gym and she had a 102-degree temperature. She went to bed, slept it off and woke up and got back in the gym the next day. That’s when we knew she had a winner’s attitude, a winner’s spirit.'
     

[befree1619]

Gabby Douglas' proud airman father has watched her from afar




While Gabby Douglas has been preparing to capture American hearts in the London Olympics, her father has been serving in the Air Force.

The 4-foot-11, 16-year-old gymnast nicknamed the “Flying Squirrel” made history Thursday when she won the gold medal in the women’s all-around competition. Her father, Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Douglas, who has served multiple deployments throughout her childhood, was not on hand. But he first saw in June what the world has witnessed this week in his talented and charismatic daughter.

    "I just missed her so much."

- Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Douglas, father of gold medalist Gabby Douglas

“There’s an exuberance,” Douglas told the Des Moines Register in late June, after surprising his daughter at the Olympic Trials in San Jose. “There’s a feeling that you can’t describe.”

For much of the last several years, Douglas, who has done three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has made do with YouTube videos of his daughter’s routines as he served with the 203rd Red Horse civil engineering squadron, either in Virginia Beach or in Kandahar. Although his last tour ended in October of 2011, when he showed up to see her qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, it was one of the rare times he has seen Gabby compete in person.

Gabby, who began training at age six, was just nine when her father was first called up. Two years ago, she moved from her family in Virginia Beach to live with a sponsoring family in Des Moines, Iowa, where she trained with Liang Chow, who previously coached Shawn Johnson, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist. But the girl who did perfect cartwheels at age 3 says praying for her father’s safety has been a regular part of her life, almost like her training regimen.

"I just had to pray to God just to keep him safe and tell the angels to keep my dad safe and come home," she told NBC.

On Thursday, Gabby tallied 62.232 points to win the all-around gold medal, besting Russian Viktoria Komova, who scored 61.973 points to win the silver. Earlier in the games, Douglas played a major role in helping Team USA clinch its first team gold medal in women's gymnastics since the 1996 games in Atlanta.

Even if Sgt. Douglas couldn’t see Gabby win the gold in person, the surprise visit to the trials, which marked the first time he’d seen her in nearly two years, resulted in a joyful reunion. Douglas held up an American flag with "Go Gabby Douglas, Love, Dad" on the front and his daughter had no idea he was in the crowd.

"I'm like, 'Who's calling my name?' And then I look up,” she told the Des Moines Register. “It was my dad and his friend, and I haven't seen him in a while," Gabby said later. "They were holding up the flag. And I almost felt like bawling. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, Dad!"

"I just missed her so much," Timothy Douglas told the paper. "It's just so thrilling what's going on."

Douglas’ mother, Natalie Hawkins, is in the process of divorcing Timothy Douglas. But both parents have supported the plucky superstar, helping to pay for her training and travel.

"I'm so happy for her, so thrilled," Hawkins told reporters in London after her daughter’s second gold performance. "I love her and I'm so proud of her."

As her father no doubt watched from afar and Gabby took her place atop the podium, her own feelings of national pride were stoked.
"That was awesome, seeing the flag raised and you're on top and the national anthem just playing," Douglas told reporters. "You feel like you’re in a concert. All these flashes ... I'm living on Cloud Nine."

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[missd28339]

how nice.. hopefully he is being a responsible father..

[SaintKameron]

Glad to hear this. The media has been framing it as if Gabby came from a broken home headed by a poor,struggling single mom.

[jenab48]

Glad to hear this. The media has been framing it as if Gabby came from a broken home headed by a poor,struggling single mom.

Of course they did.  You see how many times they ran that story on the black male in gymnastics who wanted so badly to win the gold to help his family get out the bronx?  They love to cast us in that light.  We (black) are not the only people who divorce or have struggles.  They had to make it appear as well that the Caucasion women had to come to the rescue. Her second mom.  Yeah right!

Update...Now they have dug into moms past and making a big deal that she filed for bankruptcy!!!!  All these white people that do this daily to hang onto their assets her mon in being ostracised for filing.  Trying to make "white lady" appear to have come to her rescue...ooooh these Haters!!!

[befree1619]

I hate to post this, but since I posted the other one..


Why is the media digging so deep into their business? Reporting the mom's Bankruptcy, making a big deal about some comments on twitter... Talking about her dad and child support...giving all this credit to the white host family



Gabby Douglas' Father, Timothy Douglas, Blamed For Losing Performance

According to the New York Post, Douglas slammed her Air Force father as a deadbeat yesterday, blaming him for her mom, Natalie Hawkins', financial woes.

“It was really hard for us growing up — my dad had left us, so he wasn’t really in the picture anymore,” Douglas reportedly said. "So my mom had to front all these bills. My dad didn’t really pay the child support. He was short [on money]. It was definitely hard on her part, and she had to take care of me and the rest of my siblings."

In an interview with NBC News last week, however, Douglas described her father's absence more favorably. "I just had to pray to God just to keep him safe and tell the angels to keep my dad safe and come home," she said of her dad, an Air Force Staff Sgt. stationed in Afghanistan as part of the Air National Guard, 203rd Red Horse Squadron.

Prior to the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, Douglas had not seen her father since 2010, USA Today reports. "There's an exuberance. There's a feeling that you can't describe," Timothy Douglas told the paper of seeing his 16-year-old daughter in person for the first time in nearly two years. "Sometimes, when she had a rough time, I'd tell her to hang in there. 'You know what it takes to be a winner, you know what your goals are. You just keep on your goals.' Some things that I tell her I have to remind myself. Those are all things we can all abide by," he said.

Though Douglas and Hawkins are still in the process of divorcing, Douglas was deployed to the Middle East when his daughter was just 9.

Despite the separation, both of Douglas' parents have been supportive of her Olympic dreams. According to the New York Daily News, Douglas said he provided advice to his daughter via Skype, encouraging his daughter to never give up on her dreams of a gold medal.

In regards to her less-than-peak performance on the uneven bars yesterday, Douglas told the New York Post: “Toward the end of the Olympics, you get physically tired and drained. And no matter how much rest you have, your body is tired,” she said. “I made a little mistake, but I’m human . . . I don’t know, you just get to mentally, you’re just so tired."

[gurrlplease]

I remember during the trials one the announcers said something about him not sitting with the family, but I told y'all NBC was slick like that.  And this war has been going on long enough Alibaba and dem need to solve their own problems

[bonbles jackSUN]

i don't like that they're making her bad mouth daddy like this..
although i don't know the entire family dynamic it just smacks of bad taste.

[petisali]

i am both proud and sorry for this young lady.
the media savages have no discretion.
the distinguishing line between tabloid a la tmz and professional journalism is irrevocably blurred.