When Gabby Douglas won her ancestral gymnastics gold, her mom wept, her siblings screamed — and her father was stationed somewhere in Afghanistan.
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The 16-year-old’s thespian climb to a tip of her foe came notwithstanding her parents’ exploding matrimony and a long-distance attribute with her father, Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Timothy Douglas.
Timothy Douglas celebrates during a inhabitant anthem before a 2012 USA Gymnastics Olympic Team Trials (Kyle Terada/ US PRESSWIRE)
Gabby hadn’t seen her father in dual years when he astounded a teen by popping into a U.S. Olympic trials in late June.
And he was distant from London when a teen famous as a “Flying Squirrel” vaulted into America’s heart with a second bullion award by winning a all-around title.
Timothy Douglas is stationed in Afghanistan as partial of a Air National Guard, 203rd Red Horse Squadron.
Douglas has warranted a nicknake ‘The Flying Squirrel’ for a extraordinary tallness of her routines. (Getty Images)
While he couldn’t make it to a London games, Douglas did fly into San Jose, Calif., to watch his daughter acquire her mark on a U.S. group this summer.
At a time, Gabby removed conference her name entrance down from a throng during a trials. She looked adult to see her father fluttering a U.S. dwindle with her name created opposite a stripes.
“There’s a feeling that we can’t describe,” a elder Douglas told a Des Moines Register after a reunion. “I only missed her so much.”
Natalie Hawkins, a mom of US gymnast Gabrielle Douglas, smiles after her daughter won a artistic gymnastics women’s particular all-around final during a 02 North Greenwich Arena in London on Aug 2, 2012 during a London 2012 Olympic Games. Douglas won forward of Russia’s gymnasts Victoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina. (GettyImages)
Gabby Douglas credited a warn revisit for giving her a outrageous boost in a subordinate competition.
“I was like, ‘OK, you’ve got to get it together,’” she recalled. “Seeing him done my night, actually.”
Gabrielle Douglas performs on a building during a artistic gymnastics women’s particular all-around final during a Olympics. (GettyImages)
He was deployed 7 years ago, withdrawal Hawkins to lift 4 children as a singular parent.
Marta Karolyi, U.S. inhabitant women’s gymnastics group coordinator, right, hugs U.S. gymnast and bullion medallist Gabrielle Douglas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Hawkins had her possess geographic subdivision from a gymnast after promulgation Gabby to West Des Moines, Iowa, for training in 2010.
The family lived in Virginia, and Hawkins wondered either she did a right thing by shipping her daughter divided — right adult until a London award ceremony.
“I contingency have mislaid my marbles,” she pronounced afterward. “But she wanted this some-more than anything.”
lmcshane@nydailynews.com
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