When Gabby Douglas won her historic gymnastics gold, her mother wept, her siblings screamed — and her father was stationed somewhere in Afghanistan.
The 16-year-old’s dramatic ascent to the top of her sport came despite her parents’ crumbling marriage and a long-distance relationship with her father, Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Timothy Douglas.
Gabby hadn’t seen her dad in two years when he surprised the teen by popping into the U.S. Olympic trials in late June.
And he was far from London when the teen known as the “Flying Squirrel” vaulted into America’s hearts with a second gold medal by winning the all-around title.
Timothy Douglas is stationed in Afghanistan as part of the Air National Guard, 203rd Red Horse Squadron.
While he couldn’t make it to the London Games, Douglas did fly into San Jose, Calif., to watch his daughter earn her spot on the U.S. team earlier in the summer.
At the time, Gabby recalled hearing her name coming down from the crowd at the trials. She looked up to see her father waving a U.S. flag with her name written across the stripes.
“There’s a feeling that you can’t describe,” the elder Douglas told the Des Moines Register after the reunion. “I just missed her so much.”
Douglas said he provided advice from afar, encouraging his daughter to never give up on her dreams of a gold medal. The pair kept in touch via Skype.
Gabby Douglas credited the surprise visit for giving her a huge boost in the qualifying competition.
“I was like, ‘OK, you’ve got to get it together,’” she recalled. “Seeing him made my night, actually.”
But she didn’t see him in London, and won’t be seeing him at home. Douglas and wife Natalie Hawkins split up before the Olympics, and are in the process of getting a divorce.
He was deployed seven years ago, leaving Hawkins to raise four children as a single parent.
Hawkins had her own geographic separation from the gymnast after sending Gabby to West Des Moines, Iowa, for training in 2010.
The family lived in Virginia, and Hawkins wondered whether she had done the right thing by shipping her daughter away — right up until the London medal ceremony.
“I must have lost my marbles,” Hawkins said afterward. “But she wanted this more than anything.”
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