Olympic Gold-Medal Gymnastics: The Midas Touch in West Des Moines

Liang Chow is rapidly becoming the go-to coach for Olympic gold.

Two gymnasts from his West Des Moines gym not only won gold, but the hearts of fans around the world. And Chow, who smiled and hugged his star students through back-to-back Olympiads, is earning a place in their hearts as well.

In the Beijing 2008 Olympics, West Des Moines native Shawn Johnson won four medals, including the gold on the balance beam. Four years later at the London 2012 Olympics, Gabby Douglas burst onto the women’s gymnastics scene, dazzling the world with a gold-medal-winning performance in the women’s all-around comeptition after first stealing their hearts in the gold-medal team performance.

“I don’t ever recall anybody this quickly rising from an average good gymnast to a fantastic one,” Martha Karolyl, the coordinator of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team, told ESPN after Douglas’s stunning performance in the women’s all-around finals.

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Chow burst onto the scene, too, as the go-to coach for Olympic gold medals. He seems to take it in stride. “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, bringing up more gymnasts,” he said modestly at a news conference Saturday before a gala  for Olympians with Iowa ties.

There’s no denying, though, that the attention has changed not only the culture of Chow’s gym, but others across the country as young gymnasts dream of becoming the next Gabby or the next Shawn – or the next Danell Leyva, a member of the U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Team who won a bronze medal in London in the men’s all-around.

“Oh My Gosh, There’s Shawn”

“It’s a great thing for gyms all over the country and for our field,” said Chow, who moved to Iowa in 1991 to work on his Ph.D at the University of Iowa, where he became part of the men’s and women’s gymnastics coaching staff.

He and his wife, Liwen Zhuang, moved to West Des Moines and opened  on Aug. 23, 1998, catering to young students, whose bodies are more flexible than the older gymnasts he’d coached in Iowa City and who are open to new techniques. Zhuang coaches gymnasts on the balance beam and floor.

“Girls and boys everywhere are inspired by the performances,” said Chow, who grew up in Beijing and was a medal-winning member of China’s national gymnastics team for more than a decade, but never made it to the Olympics as a competitor.

Douglas, who convinced her mother to allow her to move halfway across the country to train with Chow, said, “I realized that if I wanted to make this dream come true, I had to get better coaching.”

The first person she brushed up against when she arrived in West Des Moines was Johnson.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s Shawn. I touched her,’” Douglas said. “Having her with me has been amazing. When I had a bad day, she was very helpful, being that big sister with tips. She’s definitely the mentor I needed.”

Johnson, who retired from gymnastics this year after an injury, was still hoping to qualify for the Olympics when she met Douglas. She recognized immediately the younger gymnast had the “it factor” – a combination of power, grace and quickness – that, if put together – that could turn Olympic judges’ heads.

Chow helped her develop consistency, to pull her skills together.

“Chow shaped me up,” Douglas said.

Both Johnson and Douglas – and increasingly, their coach – are known for dazzling smiles.

“It comes from Chow and Li,” Johnson said.

A Bucket List at 16

After Johnson won her four medals in Beijing, Chow expanded his facilities. He says it’s “pretty much booked,” both with central Iowa children and children of families who have moved to the area to train there as a result of Johnson’s and Douglas’s successes, but he has no immediate plans to expand.

That’s bad news for legions of young people inspired by Douglas and Johnson.

“I feel so honored and touched to be considered a role model,” Douglas said. “When I was younger, I was looking up at Dominique Dawes as my role model.”

When she and her mother were talking about her move to Iowa and what might be accomplished from it beyond individual achievement, they talked about how her successes could “inspire a nation” and a generation of young gymnasts.

Douglas said she’s just now coming to grips with the reality that she’s a role model.

“I can check that off my bucket list,” she laughed, then grew serious. “It means so much, and it’s such an honor. I get teary-eyed and can’t believe it’s true.”

She hopes the take-away for a growing fan base will be this: “If Gabby can do it, so can I. I can be the best in the world.

“You really can do anything, and nothing is impossible,” she said. “Don’t let anything stop you. The only person who can stop you is you.”

For now, Douglas is reveling in the moment.

She’s making the late-night talk show circuit, appearing on Leno, Letterman, and "Rock Center," among others, and talk show queen Oprah Winfrey traveled to Iowa to tape a segment of “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” which will be aired at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

“I’m getting a little sleep here and there,” Douglas said. “It’s been a fun, amazing ride.”

Between appearances, she’s back in Iowa – a state that she adopted and that adopted her. Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed proclamation making her an honorary Iowan Saturday.

“Iowans have been so loving toward me,” Douglas said, stretching her 4-foot, 11-inch muscle-packed frame to reach a reporter’s microphone at the news conference before Saturday's celebration, where an estimated 3,500 Iowans gave her two standing ovations.

“I couldn’t have done it without their love and support, and I want to say thank you,” she said. “It’s a second home to me and I love it so much – the atmosphere, the people, everything about it.”

The Harder the Break, the Longer the Comeback

She wants to compete in more national and international competitions, but she’s definitely aiming for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

“I’ll take it day by day, step by step, and continue training,” she said.

Douglas said she knows she has ground to gain, particularly in developing consistency. As for missteps that foiled her chances to medal in the uneven bars and balance beam, she said:

“We are human and we all make mistakes,” she said, adding that mistakes define the araes where she needs to improve.

How far can Douglas go?

The sky – and this is not just hyperbole for a gymnast nicknamed the “Flying Squirrel” for her aerial performances on the uneven bars – is the limit.

“She demonstrated that she was the best gymnast in the world, and she still hasn’t reached her full potential,” Chow said. “Dedication and commitment will be the key.”

For Douglas to make it to Rio, she will need to work “very, very hard,” he said. “You can’t take a long break. For that kind of high-level performance requires every day. The longer the break, the harder the comeback.”