Gabby Douglas and Liang Chow

[mshan]

I've done some google searches on Gabby Douglas to read about her performances at the Olympics, but better articles about Gabby show up if you search for her coach, Liang Chow (google news articles).

With so much politic rheoric on tv, it's very much a feel good story that puts a smile on your face, hopefully irrespective of party affiliation or ideology.

And this Time article on Chow is also pretty good: http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/26...hing-journey-from-beijing-to-west-des-moines/

 

[Rainsford]

I think it's pretty cool he got to coach one incredible gymnast to almost getting a gold medal and then followed it up at the next Olympics finally reaching that goal with another incredible gymnast. The athletes get the credit and glory (which they should), but that's got to feel pretty good for Liang Chow...

 

[mshan]

Gabby says she didn't even now how good a gymnast she could be, but now she realizes that Chow just unlocked the natural talent she always had, and who along with Martha Karoly, got her to truly believe in her own abilities and to just trust all of the blood, sweat, and tears she put in at the gym.

If you google for Gabby Douglas, you seem to get a lot of fluff pieces that just seem like putting quotes into cookie cutter article template, but googling for Liang Chow gives you what seems like much more researched articles, with better quotes from Gabby herself, about her transformation into Olympic champion.

 

[Bowfinger]

I think it's pretty cool he got to coach one incredible gymnast to almost getting a gold medal and then followed it up at the next Olympics finally reaching that goal with another incredible gymnast. The athletes get the credit and glory (which they should), but that's got to feel pretty good for Liang Chow...

Shawn Johnson (Chow's first Olympic athlete) did win a gold in one of the individual apparatus events (balance beam, I imagine, since it was her forte). She "only" won a silver, in the all-around, however. She won two or three other silvers too, IIRC.

Douglas' win has created a tremendous buzz for Chow's gym. They are reportedly getting calls from around the world from Olympic hopefuls wanting to train there.

 

[mshan]

Looks like a little bit of Gabby - mania / Linsanity have no fear / no regrets type mania is taking hold among some of the youngsters:

"In dove Missy Franklin, age 17, obliterating the field to win the 200-meter backstroke, set a world record and earn her fourth medal (and third gold) of these Olympics. And in dove Katie Ledecky, at 15 America's youngest Olympian, roaring out of relative nowhere to win the 800 freestyle and break Janet Evans' 23-year-old American record.

Ledecky is a classic Phelps Generation product. A resident of Bethesda, Md., not far from Phelps' hometown of Baltimore, she got his autograph on a swim cap in the parking lot of a meet at the University of Maryland – when she was 6 years old. Then she watched him take over the sport from 2004 until now, stretching the boundaries of what a single swimmer can do. She became a phenom herself as a teenager, setting national age-group records at age 14 and 15.

Then lo and behold, Ledecky is getting ready to swim the 800 free in the Olympic finals and there is her idol – fresh from winning his 21st career Olympic medal – offering her a high-five in the ready room and saying, "Have fun out there." So she swims out of her skin and earns a gold medal of her own, dropping nearly six seconds off her best time."

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympi...e-apparent-as-the-king-closes-his-career.html

Hopefully this bodes well for some amazing performances during second week of the Olympics.

 

[nyker96]

Sheryll CashinWashington DC
What a wonderful story about how we can all not only get along but love and support one another. It took two families, one black, one white, and an Asian coach, and one determined African-American girl, willing to move past her comfort zone, to create a world champion. Like others, yes, I agree, this story represents all that is good about America and what we can be together. Go Gabby, go USA!

I think this quote says it all