"At four or five she was running around like the Road Runner," Don Dawes told
People. Because Dawes had so much energy, her parents enrolled her in gymnastics classes at age six. "I also took tap dancing and ballet, but gymnastics was more enjoyable," Dawes recalled in Southern Living. "Tumbling was my specialty when I started. Now I do most everything." She added in Seventeen, "I had no technique at first, but I was good because I could bounce really high."
The young gymnast has always been a competitor. When Dawes was nine, she wrote the word determination over and over again on her bedroom mirror. "I was amazed that she even knew how to spell it, but it worked," her father explained in People. Kelli Hill, the only coach Dawes has ever had, noticed something unique about the athlete. "There are other people with God-given ability, but it takes a very special person to pursue it day after day," Hill stated in People. Dawes was bowlegged and had to do special exercises to get her toes to point straight during her routines.
Olympian
Dawes started competing in national and international events at age 12. In 1990 she finished third in the junior all-around competition at the U.S.
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