When Dominique Dawes was growing up in gymnastics, even her bow legs became something coaches wanted to change. Her coaches would sit on her legs and bounce on them to try to hyperextend them, while her heels were placed on a high mat. For Dawes, this was part of a harsh gymnastics environment that she later described as “physical, verbal and emotional abuse.” Years later, she wanted to make sure other young gymnasts would not have to go through the same experience. That is why the three-time Olympian is opening another gymnastics academy, where she hopes children can have a more positive experience in the sport.

On September 19, Dawes opened the ninth location of her gymnastics academy in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey. For, Dawes, the Mount Laurel location is part of her broader effort to create a healthier culture within the sport. “It’s more of a compassionate and empathetic environment, which is quite different from what I experienced in my childhood,” Dawes said. “I’m a mother of four kids, and this is what I want for my young son as well as my three daughters.”

The Mount Laurel facility is Dawes’ first location in the Northeast. Its grand opening brought hundreds of children and families to the new gym. Among those at the opening was 3-year-old Amira. Her mother, Niaisa Wise, said, “I just wanted her to get a good atmosphere, and start to learn how to move her body more,” Wise said.

Dawes’ goal of creating a different kind of gymnastics environment goes back to the opening of her first academy in July 2020 in Clarksburg, Maryland. Looking back on why she started the academy, Dawes said she wanted to break away from the experience she had as a young gymnast.

“I would say that we’re focusing on creating a healthy culture in the sport of gymnastics. I was in the sport for nearly 18 years of my childhood….I did not want my children to go down the path that I went through in the sport of gymnastics,” Dawes said.

She further added, “It was full of a great deal of physical, verbal, emotional abuse. It’s not for, I would say, any child if there is an abusive environment. And so when we opened our first academy in July 2020 in the midst of a global pandemic, it was really about changing the culture of the sport of gymnastics, rebranding it in a sense and making sure there are coaches on the floor that have empathy, compassion, that are positive role models themselves and truly care about working with each and every kid that walks through the doors.”

And this perspective led her to approach more and more academies. Her second location opened in Rockville, Maryland, in April 2023. Since then, the academy has continued to expand across several states, with locations in Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and Texas. The opening in Mount Laurel now marks the ninth location in Dawes’ growing academy network. But long before she became an academy owner, Dawes was a young girl discovering gymnastics for the first time.

Dawes’ road to Olympic glory was far from easy

Dawes was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, in 1976, and her introduction to gymnastics came when she was just 6 years old. Her parents noticed that she was always flipping around the house, swinging from doorways and tumbling over furniture, so they enrolled her at Hill’s Gymnastics Training Center in Gaithersburg, Maryland. There, she met Kelli Hill, who would go on to coach her throughout her gymnastics career.

By the age of 9, Dawes was competing, and she quickly began making a name for herself. At only 15, she made her first Olympic team for the 1992 Barcelona Games, where the U.S. women won the team bronze medal. It was the first of three Olympic appearances for Dawes, but getting there meant years of hard work and demanding training. Dawes then went on to compete at the Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics. She won bronze in floor exercise in Atlanta, and another team bronze in Sydney. 

But reaching the top required an intense commitment from a very young age. Even while studying at the University of Maryland, Dawes continued training at Hill’s Gymnastics Training Center for around 36 to 40 hours a week. Her life revolved around practice and competition, leaving little room for anything outside gymnastics. And as she got older, the pressure was not only about how well she performed.

Dawes was being criticized for her slightly bowed legs and flat feet by coaches and even judges. She recalled judges taking points away because of the appearance of her legs. Those physical experiences were only part of what Dawes says she went through. She has described the gymnastics environment of her childhood as involving physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse, and has spoken about the fear and pressure that surrounded elite gymnastics. Despite everything, she kept competing and continued to reach the highest levels of the sport.

Looking back years later, Dawes began to see her career in a different way. The medals and Olympic moments were part of her story, but so were the experiences that made her question the culture she had grown up in. And that became one of the reasons she wanted to give young gymnasts something different.