Olympic Gold Medalist Gabby Douglas: ‘Don’t be Afraid to be Great’

Gabby Douglas talked recently with ESPNW host Robin Roberts in Season 2 of “The Game” and talked about being homeless, about telling her absentee father to take a hike and her decision to move to West Des Moines to tran with Coach Liang Chow, whose protege Shawn Johnson inspired Douglas’s Olympic dreams.

WATCH THE VIDEO >>>

The West Des Moines-trained gymnast won the gold medal in the all-around competition at the London 2012 Olympics and is back in West Des Moines to train at Chow’s Institute of Gymnastics and Dance.

Douglas said that if she was considered an underdog in the London, where she became the first person of color from any country to win women’s gymnastics’ top prize, expectations will be high if she makes it to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“I think I am just going to go out there and have fun and do my best,” she said.

Host Roberts called Douglas “a  sheer force of nature and a sheer delight” and ribbed her a bit when Douglas said she likes to talk to young people because at 17, Douglas is hardly old.

Correcting herself, Douglas said she enjoys talking with groups of all ages.

One message: “Don’t be afraid to be great.”

After becoming an overnight sensation as the all-around winner and a member of Team USA, Douglas was thrust into an international spotlight. She credited her family and friends with keeping her authentic and grounded.

“If my head got too big, they kept me grounded,” she said.