Olympic all-around champ Gabby Douglas wins Sportswoman of Year
NEW YORK Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas has won Sportswoman of the Year honors from the Women's Sports Foundation.
The gymnast won the award Wednesday night, beating out Lindsey Vonn, London Olympians Serena Williams, Missy Franklin, Allyson Felix, and Paralympians Jessica Long and Tatyana McFadden. Douglas is the third gymnast to win the award, joining fellow Olympic gold medalists Mary Lou Retton (1984) and Nastia Liukin (2008). Liukin presented Douglas with the award, given to an individual athlete who exhibits exceptional performances.
Douglas won the all-around gold at the London Olympics, the fourth American — and first African-American — to win gymnastics' biggest prize. She also helped the U.S. women to the team title, their first since 1996 and second overall.
Douglas will describe her road to the 2012 London Games in an "inspirational memoir" to be published in December.
"Even before I competed in the Olympics, I always wanted to write a book," Douglas told People magazine last month. She said it will detail how much she and her family overcame to achieve her Olympic dream, including how she moved from Virginia to Iowa when she was 12 to train with coach Liang Chow.
The book is to be titled "Grace, Gold and Glory, My Leap of Faith."