London Olympic gold medalist, Gabby Douglas, told Oprah Winfrey that bullying and racism almost drove her to end her career on Sunday's episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter."
Douglas, who prefers to be called Gabrielle, won two gold medals in gymnastics earlier this month at the London 2012 Olympic Games. The award-winning gymnast told Winfrey that she was bullied by teammates at her Virginia Beach home gym.
She described one incident involving scrapping the bars where teammates used racism to bully her. "They're like, 'Why doesn't Gabby do it? She's our slave.'" Douglas continued, "I felt [I was] being bullied."
The bullying eventually led Douglas to tell her mother that she wanted to quite the sport all together. Natalie Hawkins, Douglas' mother, told Winfrey that her daughter first mentioned moving away at 11 but then threatened to quit at 14. "She said, 'I'd rather quit. If I can't move and train and get another coach, I'd rather quit the sport," Hawkins said.
"I definitely felt isolated. I felt, 'Why am I deserving this? Is it because I'm black?' Those thoughts would go through my mind," the gymnast told Winfrey.
Douglas and her mother would later move to Iowa, where the gymnast blossomed to become a two-time Olympic gold medalist.
The sixteen-year-old gymnast, who is the first African American to win an all-around gold medal in gymnastics, is no stranger to controversy. Her hair became a popular topic of discussion during the Olympics.
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