Olympian Dominique Dawes Answers Gymnastics Questions From Twitter

@rexlapz asked, What is at the bottom of the foam pit?

I need answers.

Trampoline is at the bottom of the foam pit.

Hi, I'm Olympic gold medalist

and three-time Olympic gymnast, Dominique Dawes.

I'm here on Twitter to answer your questions.

This is Gymnastics Support

[upbeat music]

@charliwest_ asked, Why do men and women

have different events in gymnastics?

Like uneven bars and beam for girls

and rings and pommel horse for boys?

That is a very good question, Charlie.

I just remember stepping in the gymnastics gym

when I was young and just knowing the vault, the bars,

and the beam, and the floor were for women

and the other six apparatus,

such as rings, pommel horse, parallel bars,

high bar, vault and floor were for the men,

and I really never questioned why.

But when I think about it,

it probably has to do with the strengths

that each of us bring to the table.

On the balance beam,

we can be graceful and have a lot of control and balance

where you would not wanna see a male gymnast

on a balance beam.

It would be pretty scary.

Our floor routines are performed to music,

men's floor teams or not.

Though, I think it would be quite entertaining

if they could perform to music to tell you the truth,

but they are powerhouses on the floor.

However, the female gymnast today,

what I'm seeing them do triple doubles, it's insane.

So we are really raising the bar when it comes to gymnastics

and competing versus the men.

@_lisakinnear asked,

I don't understand how some gymnasts of Olympic level

don't wear grips, how could they hold onto the bar?

The grips that elite level athletes do wear are dowel grips.

This is the dowel.

It will bend and it'll allow the athlete

to have a better grip on the bar.

American gymnast tend to use grips.

Why? Because we can afford them and they don't last long,

so we can buy new ones.

Some international gymnast that don't have a supply of grips

readily available to them,

they will just swing on bare hands.

I don't know how they do it.

@klvnh asked, Anyone watching gymnastics?

Why is there a bottle of honey in the chalk tub?

I've never noticed this.

That might be something new these days.

However, back in the day,

a number of Russian athletes

used to use a combination of sugar and water

so that they would have better grip,

better traction on the uneven parallel bars.

Many of them tend to be on the podium for bar finals,

so it seems to work very well for them.

But their hands tend to be a lot more calloused,

so I think maybe everyone's upgraded and gone to honey.

Most Americans, and other athletes as well,

will primarily stick with chalk

and just use water, chalk and have that paste that way

versus the honey.

@matt0999 asked, For that floor routine thing

they do in gymnastics,

I don't get why they each don't like to do

four tumbling passes and they call it done.

Why dance around and do all that other useless stuff?

#gymnastics

Matt, it's not useless stuff.

The dance, and the choreography, and the artistry

is a very important part of gymnastics.

If not, we'd be called tumbling.

@StarskyGym asked, Do you remember that time

that Olympic gold medalist and three-time Olympian,

Dominique Dawes, coach Missy Elliott to a gold medal

over the Stick It cast. I do. #WeRunThis

Now, that was a fun experience,

having an opportunity to meet Missy Elliott,

who is one of the greatest producers out there.

I did love that movie Stick It.

It was a very entertaining, especially for a former gymnast.

I know at one point they wanted me

to actually be the body double and do the gymnastics,

but I don't remember what age I was,

but I remember being like,

I'm not doing gymnastics anymore.

So I got to actually play the very serious coach

that just stood on the sideline

and kept giving her looks is what my role was.

@D_kees asked, How do they do all them crazy flips?

#gymnastics

I don't know.

I think we learn those crazy flips when we're young

and we just keep doing it until we're older.

@Colleeeeeen23 asked,

Seriously, how did you perform so well

with those 90s curled bangs? #guiltyofthemtoo

Colleen, we loved the 90s bangs back then

and didn't we love using the hairspray as well.

It's always great to look back at my Olympic games

because everyone had that same 90s curled bangs.

And the interesting thing is

even when we were bolting or flipping,

they would always pop back into perfect place,

so it's just a look back then and I hope they come back.

@gripgymnastics asked,

Did you know that every member of the Magnificent Seven

has a gymnastics move named after her?

Have a great weekend everyone!

I didn't know that.

That's pretty exciting to know that.

But I did have a move called the Dawes named after me

on the uneven parallel bars,

and that is a one and a half pirouette on the bars.

As you do a giant move and you twist one and a half times

holding onto the bar and then you swing after it.

The Magnificent Seven was comprised of myself,

Dominique Dawes, also Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps,

Amanda Borden, Shannon Miller, Amy Chow, and Kerri Strug.

And those, where I always like to say,

six of the most talented, hardworking girls

that I'd ever competed with, or even against,

my entire gymnastics career.

They were amazing,

and it's tough to think it's been 25 years

since we made history.

@ErinSpradlinn asked,

Also @dominiquedawes competed in three Olympics?

Record Setting.

I think it was record setting back in the day.

However, I could see Simone Biles beating my record

and actually competing in many more

and dominating in many more.

I just don't understand the physics behind gymnastics.

How do they not die on vault?

Or crack their pubic symphysis on beam?

Or dislocate a shoulder on bars? Always speechless.

Now, Sarah, yes, I did concern myself and worry,

and I was terrified of the vault,

especially the old vault back in the day.

Today's vault is so much safer.

Back in the day, the vault that I used to train on

was 12 inches, so when you would reach backwards

to go blindly to reach for the vault,

you had to aim for a vault that you could barely see.

Today, the vault, when they reach back, it's three feet,

so it's almost as if you're tumbling off the floor,

which is nice, much safer.

And that change should have been made much sooner.

@mccuskerights asked,

What's your guys' favorite gymnastics skill of all time?

I think mine is a double-double on floor.

I don't know. That's a very good question.

I love release moves on the bars,

especially when they're done extremely well

with a great deal of amplitude.

So maybe like a Hindorff,

but I've seen a laid out Hindorff over the bar,

which is pretty phenomenal to see.

I would say Simone Biles is vault.

Anything Simone Biles does is pretty awesome.

And so her, Yurchenko double pike was very impressive.

You know, when someone does something exceptionally well,

that's my favorite trick.

It's not one particular trick,

but it's when it's done exceptionally well.

@feverspell asked, Is Simone Biles, even human?

How does she do what she does?

I've been watching gymnastics since I was a kid,

always jealous that they could do things I can't,

but I've never seen anyone do

what she seemingly does with ease.

Now @feverspell, you are 100% on point.

What Simone is doing is unreal,

but not for Simone because she's that exceptional.

I never thought in my lifetime,

I would see some female gymnast do some of the things

that she's doing today and do it so effortlessly.

Yes, she's human. She does make mistakes.

But the thing is because she's that talented,

even if she makes mistakes,

she's still gonna end up on top

because she's that talented.

@carolinekovesi asked, How many #gymnasts get to move

from #championships #USChampionships to #OlympicTrials?

Thanks!

#USGymnatics #USAGymnastics #Gymnastics

Wow with the hashtags there.

What's going to comprise the Olympic team is Simone,

as long as she stays healthy,

and then what we're looking for to fill the team spot

would be two to three additional other athletes.

And then there's going to be specialists as well.

This is different than what I am accustomed to

from being an athlete of the 90s,

and even at the 2000 Olympic games

where we had this huge team of people

and not everyone competed.

However, they will bring alternates that will travel with,

and they may even stay near Tokyo

just in case there is an injury

prior to the start of the Olympic games

and they can bring in an alternate very quickly.

@Jarebear81787 asked, I don't know what's more terrifying?

The rings or the vault? #gymnastics

Since I have not done the ring,

I will have to say the vault.

I fell on the vault at two, column two,

back-to-back World championships,

where I could have been on top of the podium.

So the vault and me were not friends.

@KaylaNaab asked, I had a Dominic Dawes Barbie

and she was my absolute favorite.

Her elbows and knees bent,

which wasn't common for my Barbies then.

She had a gym bag and she was cool as hell.

I wish I still had her.

Well, Kayla, I wish I still had her too.

I actually saved that Barbie to give to my little kids

and I did.

And they actually took her head off and ruin the clothing.

And unfortunately, I don't even know where she's at now.

So I don't have that Barbie either

and I wish I could find one,

but thank you for sending that photo.

It's wonderful to see

that you saved something from 25 years ago.

I appreciate it.

So those are all the questions for today.

Some were awesome. Some were so not awesome.

But I'm glad I was able to answer them anyway.

Thanks for watching Gymnastics Support.