Before we start, a quick content note.

This episode contains accounts of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, eating disorders, racism, and death.

You'll also hear some swearing.

Previously on American Prodigies.

I stopped going to gym because I just couldn't handle it anymore.

I didn't want to do gymnastics no more after that.

I wanted to find my identity in something else and I didn't want people associating me

with gymnastics. It affected me really bad to the point where it still bothers me today.

And I'm 51 years old. I haven't been in gymnastics in years and just talking about it still affects me.

I wanted a voice. I wanted to speak out. I wanted to like be emotional and for it to be okay. I wanted, I wanted

freedom.

Hey, it's Amira. If you've called to share your memories about black girls in gymnastics, you're in the right place.

Who's the first black gymnast you remember?

I was about nine when I found out who Dominique Dawes was, and she was just everything to me.

For Americans of a certain age, there is only one answer to the question, who was the first

black gymnast you remember? The first black gymnast that comes to mind is Dominique Dawes.

Of course, it was the Olympics, and it was Dominique Dawes. Of course it was the Olympics and it was Dominique Dolls.

I wanted to be Dominique Dodds.

I never saw anyone who looked like me.

To finally see a black gymnast and someone who was so excellent at her craft and so grateful.

It was just, it was everything.

And, I mean, she was just magic, right?

...