Celebrating the women athletes and sharing inspiration at Urban Faith:
The Olympics gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the sacrifice of our bodies. As I watch the video clips, commercials, and performances of gold-medal Olympic athletes like gymnast Gabby Douglas or swimmer Missy Franklin, I’m reminded of how difficult physical training is, and I’m steadily drawn back to my youth.
I can’t remember not being an athlete. From the time that I could walk, I participated in sports and extracurricular activities. During my earliest years of life, I danced. I did gymnastics for several more years, though I wasn’t good at it. (I was too tall and flimsy to control my body.) By the time I was 11, I started racing competitively, and that’s where I found my niche. I was fast and strong with nearly a perfect hurdle technique. I worked hard. I won often. I grew confident.
As I reflect on those small wins in life, I think about the women Olympians I looked up to over the years … gymnasts like Dominique Dawes and Mary Lou Retton. (As a young girl, I actually met Mary Lou at a “Healthy Mind, Healthy Body Winning Without Drugs” event.) I looked up to track stars like Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the late Florence Griffith-Joyner (“Flo Jo”), and of course the star hurdler, Gail Devers.
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A SISTA'S JOURNEY 