So Dawes, alongside her husband and kids, couldn’t tear her eyes away—even though it was dinnertime. Afterward, her daughters told her they wanted to be like those players. “I thought, Wow, that’s cool because I was in those shoes at one point, planting seeds of inspiration. Now these young women are trailblazers,” she says.
In 1992, Dawes became one of the first two Black women to compete on the US women’s gymnastics Olympic team. “There were so many little boys and girls of color looking at me and striving to be like me,” she says. And now, she says it’s beautiful to see the sport embrace diversity, whether it’s race, ethnicity, or body type. “They’re not only competing, but they’re dominating, and they’ve changed the sport of gymnastics.”
Athletes are extending their careers too. Dawes jokes that, at age 23, she was the “grandma” of the 2000 gymnastics team. Now, Miller notes that more gymnasts move between collegiate and elite gymnastics, something that wasn’t really done during her career, largely because it meant athletes would have to forgo lucrative post-Olympics sponsorship opportunities. They’re competing on different equipment now too, which “lead to more safety and longevity for athletes,” Miller says.
Many athletes are also prioritizing their health and well-being. “They have a lot more control these days over their training. They listen to their bodies. They listen to their minds. They make decisions. They’re smart,” Dawes says. It’s progress but it’s still a work in progress.
As elite athletes, Miller, Dawes, and Moceanu have always given their heart and soul inside and outside of the gym and the competition arena. They fell in love with the sport and its big skills as kids and want the next generation to love it too. But they also want young gymnasts to thrive, which means building a culture that doesn’t just pay lip service to routing out abusive practices, but one that truly cares about athletes as whole people—before, during, and after their athletic careers.
“This advocacy that I had fought for over a decade will be something that will remain in history forever, as well as that gold medal,” Moceanu says, “but I’m hoping that this made an even larger impact on people’s lives and the future of our sport.”
Photography: Nadya Wasylko. Creative direction: Amber Venerable. Wardrobe styling: Dione Davis. Hair: Hiro + Mari. Makeup: Shaina Ehrlich. Prop styling: Elaine Winter. Production: Melissa Kramer. Editor in chief: Rachel Wilkerson Miller. Research director: Yulia Khabinksy.