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When gymnast Gabby Douglas flipped her way to the top of the medal podium in London this summer, she instantly had the world at her fingertips. In one night, the 16-year-old Virginia Beach, Va., native became a bonafide superstar, with endorsement deals and sponsorship offers flying in faster than her uneven bars dismount. But what many people did not know is that Gabby’s history-making Olympic gold nearly didn’t happen. In January, facing exorbitant expenses, Natalie Hawkins, Gabby’s mom, applied for our Travel & Training Fund grant on behalf of Gabby. Before we selected the class of 2012 Travel & Training Fund grantees, Gabby competed and won big in London. She has since decided to give the funds back to the WSF so that another athlete has the chance to pursue her dreams. We sat down with Natalie to talk about her family’s journey and their life-changing experience in London.
The Women's Sports Foundation Annual Salute is so much more than an amazing night celebrating the achievements of awesome female athletes. It is even more than a reminder of the work left to be done creating opportunity for our ladies of youth. It is bigger than a wonderful chance to reconnect. The Gala has grown into all of this and more.
For the past ten days, we have been conducting our yearly Sportswoman of the Year voting, where we ask the fans to choose their favorite Individual Sport and Team Sports Athletes. We received thousands of votes, and while we won't reveal the winners until October 19 at our Annual Salute to Women in Sports, we do want to share with you some of the best Facebook comments on a handful of our 20 incredible finalists. Women’s sports fans were alive and well last week, and they definitely let their voice be heard.