Dominique Dawes - 1996 Olympics AA - Balance Beam

[YMCB53014]

luv this vid

[teachmehowtostewie]

i remember watching the 96 Olympics and thinking "this girl is my hero!"

[tbeyah]

glad i was there..........

[teachmehowtostewie]

@tbeyah jealous

[NikkiJTheMkupArtist]

I have never seen anything so perfect?! gymnasts now have Nothing on Dominique I swear she is underrated

[tbeyah]

my boyhood crush

loved her

[LDV434]

Brings back memories of my childhood where me and my mom would sit down and watch her routines, hoping she would bring home the gold

[natescovers]

FANNNNNNNN=TASTIC !!!!!

[hatelizwebber]

I wonder if Dominique's bow legs ever gave her trouble? She has the opposite of Rebecca Bross knocked knees.

[shawndell14111]

damnnnn thats a big big dismount, i wish we can see more of these dismounts these days

[blu3violet]

damn shes good lol

[thezoeyfactor]

she is super good!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[ramie018me]

all yuh'll racist assholes need to go home, if dominique was friggin white in her time she would have been appreciated more, if u could belong to a minority and make it to the olympics + win medals then talk, if you can;t put a sock in it!!!!!!!!!

[jukodebu]

@ramie018me your statement is racist in itself think deeper

[meganjerai]

i remember this!

[kindadreamer]

Wow greatness

[ValeriesGal]

I grew up watching Dominique as a young girl and I wished I had the guts to have pushed my family to get me lessons. Gymnastics was something I've always wanted to do.

[dalmationham]

one word: ALTITUDE. No one gets as much air as her on their layouts, leaps, or dismounts. Not shannon. Moceanu. No one.

[earforvocals]

One word Haters, they never judged her right.

[djkj4eve]

what was her score??

[TheZoRetro]

INSAAAAANE!!!!

[qgreen100]

I used to have a crush on her

[wowkidme23]

That beam series is a monster.

[lee2tre]

There were very racist. If you haven't noticed they did not compliment her once. Dominique was the best gymnast on the team and sadly was not recognized for her hard work

[GymGoneWrong]

@lee2tre Maybe she was the best gymnast on the 96 team in your head but she wasn't in reality. Dominique Dawes would be just another gymnast if she wasn't black. The black community has embraced Dominique who in the real world is just another gymnast since the success of Nastia and Shawn. Now bring on the you are a racist whine but if you opened your eyes you would see what I said is fact.

[dmann3g]

@GymGoneWrong - I think ur absolutely wrong about that. Dawes' medal record may not stand up to Liukin and Johnson's, but if it wasn't for Dawes and Miller, US gymnastics wouldn't have laid the groundwork for the later girls to improve upon with increased difficulty and execution. But she was by far the best gymnast on the US team, who just didn't happen to have the best feet and bowed legs.

[brennabacardi]

@GymGoneWrong i comepletely agree with dmann3g. she is a legend. the 1996 team was a dream team. there isnt one gymnast who doesnt know who dominique dawes is.

[criminaljournalism]

@GymGoneWrong If you opened your eyes you would see that Dawes had a high level of difficulty on most of her routines and was a crucial member of the 96 team. Dawes is a three time olympian and medaled at all three olypmics. There are not many athletes in gymnastics or other sports that are three time olympians, so she deserves respect. It's odd that whenever a black person receives any type of accolades there is alway someone who is not not black who says the black person is undeserving.

[emmyjo720]

@GymGoneWrong Dominique Dawes was so close to winning the AA in 1993, she had the whole world on her side, Shannon just had Americans on hers. She may have been ungainly in places but she had great work and was so unlucky not to win on beam that year too, and should have. I am not black either but their would have been something amazing about a black girl winning the AA in Atlanta, it was sad to see her fail. And you are a racist.

[samuelflower]

I watched the World Gymnastics 2010 competition and man was it sloppy and boring! The team called 'The Magnificant Seven' in 1996 was so awesome compared to today's US team! Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Amy Chow and the other girls were so on fire, entertaining and just damn GOOD! These girls should go into coaching the current US team because what I saw today at the 2010 competition was horrible! None of the girls stuck their landings and half of them were wobbly!

[bbhouk1]

why does everyone go on and on about Dawes' "incredible" power? she did her full-in dismount from two back-handsprings while both Shannon Miller and Lilia Podkopayeva did their full-in dismounts from round-offs, which is much more difficult.

[dmann3g]

@bbhouk1 For obvious reasons...neither of them, while amazing gymns, were as powerful as Dawes. It's ok, u can like them more, but lets not sit and pretend like this girl wasn't a walking powerhouse.

[bbhouk1]

@dmann3g

well at least you were nice about it, ive been cussed out before for making a similar comment

[MATG66690]

gymnastics has gone down the drain now. back in dominique and shannons time the moves were better and the routines were too. now the moves are simple and the routines are dull

[jay55also]

I noticed that the girls now seem to have problems making the landings after their routines,I wonder why?

[artcar8]

bowleg or not she's awesome. i remember wanting to be a gymnast when I was 5(when this aired) I almost cried when I saw the U.S. team finally get the medals they deserved. I loved her then and i'm 19 now and it brings back good memories, she's awesome :)

[spershall]

One of my all-time favorite gymnasts! She was so amazing!

[jomc03]

this is insane still loving Dawes she is the best!!!

[gymnast768]

i HATE how she does this beast mode backhandspring x2 full in dismount that is 10x better than shawn johnson, yet when shawn does it tim dagget orgasams, whata douche

[dmann3g]

@gymnast768 Tim never has anything to say during Dawes' routines..aside from ub. He hasn't been into her since she won all of the golds at 94 Nats

[dmann3g]

'WO-OAH'...I know every1 hates her but I love Elfi...go Dawes for that sick dismount.

[37tonya]

I really wished Dawes could have medaled in the AA in 1996 but at least she gets another medal from 2000. USA gymnastics should have a medal ceremony and not just mail them their medals.

[brittshitdinklburgha]

something bugs me about her backhandsprings.. like her legs are seperated and toes arent pointed. shes awesome but those just bug me.

[Mikizzle15]

She's bowlegged. If you look at recent pics of her you can see it more. Especially if you type in "Magnificent seven interview" and there is a recent interview with the mag7 and they are walking in the Georgia dome and Dominique looks like she limps a little when she walks in heels. Her coach said that Dom had to do exercises to help her point her toes because she couldn't naturally point them. I totally see what you're sayin though, but that's the main reason why her form is off.

[gilgamesh777amg]

@Mikizzle15 Her bowleggedness is sexy. Anyhow, I think it may've added to her power. I don't believe in point shaving because of the way a person's genetic makeup. Besides, her routine was still the best. She had the power, Miller had the grace, Mocieaunu had the charisma.

[Mikizzle15]

@gilgamesh777amg I was responding to, brittshitdinklgurgha's comment. They said that something bugged them about her legs and I was giving a theory as to why it probably bugs them. lol.

[FlipFlibbo]

She was the main part of the golden age of when our team was cool!

[mmoran3]

when Dawes was on fire she was on fire and this routine was on fire

[justinmjb]

@mmoran3 is yo crotch on fire?

[mowhit1]

She always got ripped off on her scores. She had the best moves. The 1996 team should start coaching our womens team from now on.  They have looked a mess. No style or anything. It is embarrassing.

[tide32athlete]

That mostly has to do with the code of points. Dominique had two big skills in the interior of her routine. Today she would have to have a lot more which would give her less time for choreography.

[luv4cookie1]

@mowhit1 i dont agree that domi had the best moves, the only thing i liked were her thee layouts, which she preformed hideousley, shannon miller preformed the best beam set in these olympics. in terms of originality form, and difficulty

[dmann3g]

@luv4cookie1 Did Dominique Dawes steal ur BF? Its perfectly fine that u like Miller more, but going around youtube blaming Dawes for Communism, the war in Iraq, and everything thats wrong in gymnastics wont bring him back...

[audie83]

I just remember my disbelief that once again she made a major mistake while leading in the AA-like she did at two Worlds. I was in shock-and Shannon didn't help my sinking feeling nor Moceanu. I wanted all 3 of them on the podium with along with Lilia-not the Romanians. :(

[ApolloJordan]

You got that right. 3 mistakes away from titles that would have made her HISTORIC!  Oh well.... It happened.

Its cool seeing 3 winners get medals from the same country with with flags like in 2000 with the Romanians. I was happy for them after seeing the fluff and the aerial view of that whole Romanian town praying for the girls and seeing thousands of people hold candles.

[audie83]

True-it happened and judging from an interview Dominique recently did-she is doing wonderfully well. I think sometimes fans grieve maybe a bit longer than champions themselves. For many years I could not bare to watch the 1996 AA-except for Lilia's routines-It hurt too much to see the Americans falter after such a great team victory-and although I love them I really do I really could not bare to see 3 Romanians with so little artistry on the medal stand-I'm over it now.

[raichmaneuvers]

I think Amanar was the best of the 3 Romanians. She maybe didnt have the artistry but she had amazing power on vault and floor, very good form. If she hadnt had a big deduction for not doing the required double turn on floor she would have outscored Gogean and Milo by alot and been closer to Lilia.

Remember not only the Americans faltered, but all 3 Russian AAers who were all serious contenders each faltered too, plus the very talented little Mo- the best gymnast to never win a big AA title.

[audie83]

Btw-I too was happy for the Romanians. It is sad their happiness was dimmed with the drug scandal for Raducan-but for one shining moment they had swept Team gold and the AA podium-deservedly so apart from the vault fiasco which ruined so many dreams of the other top competitors. I will always believe they should have voided the AA results and just held it all over again.

[dragu88]

fantastic

[dcumr]

No meaning the compilsory score is what kept her out of the EF. This routine could have challenged Miller there.

[dcumr]

this was the best beat routine of the games...I wish I could have put her in the beam finals and matched Miller with this. She would have won. Damn those compulsaries....

[dmann3g]

@dcumr No..Dawes was great..but there was no beating Shannon on beam..w the Chinese girls out. Dawes is a bigger AA talent, but Shannon owned the beam when she hit.

[rfillangi]

My alltime favorite gymnast. A great moment for her...Sadly we all know what came next.

[emachine79]

I am sorry this more than ten years ago....please remind me of what happened next.

[rfillangi]

She went into the 3rd rotation in 1st place...She fell on her second pass on the floor scored a 9.000 and ended up finnishing in 17th place.

[sirgio]

I'm shocked at the score she received for this routine. What was up with the judging on this event? I thought atleast a very high 9.8 or better was appropriate.

[dmann3g]

She got a 9.825 if I remember correctly.

[sirgio]

Yeah, I know that. I said high 9.8's. Something like a 9.862 like a Miller or Lilia. This was one of the best beam routines of the games.

[dcumr]

Yeah and Lilia didnt even stick her dismount.. Definitly one of the best beam sets of the entire games.