When Dominique Dawes shared the news on Instagram that her father‑in‑law, Leonard Hugh Thompson, had been missing for five days, support flooded in on social media. “Please help my family. Find my father-in-law, Leonard Thompson,” the retired gymnast, posted. Unfortunately, the search ended in heartbreak. On December 20, Thompson was found deceased in Virginia.

His car had been discovered abandoned along Interstate 81 near Roanoke, with a flat tire and missing keys that first raised alarm. The Herndon Police Department confirmed the discovery following a multi-day search that ultimately concluded near Troutville, Virginia. For now, authorities have not released details about the cause of death.

Dawes confirmed the news on Facebook with a photo of Thompson holding his grandchild. Across the image, the words read: “Rest in peace, Papa T. We are holding on to the memories…”

In the caption, she wrote: “We take comfort in knowing that he is now with our Lord and Savior. Thank you all for the prayers and support during this very difficult time. Our last moment with him was accompanying him at mass and giving him a hug and my husband and I said, “Get home safely”…..Rest in Peace, Papa T.”

In the days leading up to the discovery, Dawes did everything she could to help locate her father-in-law. She made repeated pleas on social media, asking the public to assist police and her family. In one post, she explained that Thompson “May have possibly suffered a help episode and is more than likely disoriented and confused.”

She also shared that law enforcement believed a truck driver may have picked him up and was traveling south on Interstate 81. “We are desperately in need of your help and need national exposure because we do not know where he is,” Dawes wrote at the time.

The news of his passing is devastating, but it feels especially heavy in the days before Christmas. For a fiercely family-centered person like Dawes, who has long said she finds her truest victory not in medals but in her loved ones, it is a difficult time.

Dominique Dawes’ true victory is her family

Dominique Dawes made history when she helped Team USA win gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games as the first Black woman to do so. She also won a bronze in the floor exercise that year, as well as team bronzes from Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000. But for Dawes, those medals are just a part of her story. Today, her most proud role is that of a mother.

On May 25, 2013, she got married to Jeff Thompson, and they have four children: Kateri, born in 2014; Quinn in 2016; and twins Dakota and Lincoln, born in January 2018. And Dawes has been candid about the hitches along the way, including a miscarriage in 2017 before she had her twins.

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Her biggest accomplishment, she states, is motherhood. In 2021, she said that raising her children was “better than the gold” and that there is no greater achievement for her than helping her children become kind, strong, and positive people. She assured and encouraged fellow parents and said that they were all in this together. She believes that love, care, and guidance are more important than any trophy.

“As an athlete, my goal was always to qualify for the Olympics win a scholarship, or earn a gold medal,” she explained in 2016. “But as a mom my goal is to make sure I have happy, healthy children. It’s important for moms, but also dads, to recognize that they’re role models for their kids when it comes to physical health, working out, and nutrition.”

To Dawes, family is her ultimate triumph, and the affection that she is surrounded by in her children and husband is what makes her life have the most profound meaning.