GOOD MORNING AMERICA – 1996 Olympic gold medal winner Dominique Dawes is a guest on GOOD MORNING AMERICA, 8/8/16, airing on the Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Television Network. (Photo by Fred Lee/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
*The Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame has inducted Dominique Dawes as the first gymnast.
“Being born and raised in Maryland, it’s always been great to know that since I was a kid in the spotlight, Marylanders have always had my back and cheered me on. That always gave me a great sense of pride and consolation,” Dawes told MCM in a new interview.
The Silver Spring native was a “10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior National Champion, a three-time Olympian, a World Championship silver and bronze medalist, and a member of the gold-medal-winning “Magnificent Seven” team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta,” per Wiki.
“Life comes full circle sometimes, thus being inducted into the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame. The lists of former athletes are filled with legends and I’m honored to be amongst these great names. The best part for me now is that I get to share this honor with my four young kids,” Dawes added.
Dawes runs two gymnastics academies in Montgomery County and recently revealed on Instagram plans to open another branch of her Gymnastics & Ninja Academy in the Baltimore region.
“I am proud and humbled to share my induction into the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame, which comes after 18 years of sacrifice, hard work and dedication to the sport of gymnastics,” she wrote on IG.
“It’s been a long and rewarding journey that began when I qualified for the 1992 Olympics at the Baltimore Arena and this past week to be inducted in the Hall of Fame in the Baltimore region was a full circle moment for me. Today, the journey is much sweeter with my family by my side,” she continued
Dawes added, “I’m proud to be an owner and founder of the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academies in Rockville and Clarksburg, MD and I look forward to bringing to the Academy to the Baltimore region. Look out, B’more we plan to empower and nurture athletes in your area soon enough.”
Below is the Class of 2023 for the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame:
Dominique Dawes, gymnastics
Harold Solomon, tennis
Jermaine Lewis, football
Adrian Dantley, basketball
Northern Dancer. horse racing
Meanwhile, the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame commissioned a sculpture of Dawes that will open next year at the Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center.
, according to Source of the Spring.
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