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Nine years retired from a historic gymnastics career that spanned three Olympic Games, Dominique Dawes still knows how to entertain a crowd.
The 32-year-old United States Olympic Committee Hall-of-Fame inductee arrived at the University of Maine Saturday morning despite weather complications to serve as the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Women’s Symposium, presented by the Division of Student Affairs.
“Awesome Dawesome” used humor and recalled life experiences as she spoke to a crowd of approximately one hundred in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union about the importance of goal-setting and perseverance. Women’s Symposium vice president Christina Soyden, and secretary Kelsey O’Neill agreed Dawes was “by far” the biggest name to speak in the event’s history.
In 1992, Dawes became the first black female to compete in the Olympic Games since the initiation of the Olympic Trials, and in 1996 was the first black female gymnast to win a medal. She won the Bronze medal in the team competition in 1992 in Barcelona, and in 1996 in Atlanta won Gold in the team competition and Bronze in the individual floor exercise. She also won more National Championships than any athlete, male or female, since 1963, according to her personal Web site.
Soyden had the opportunity to pick Dawes up from the airport Friday night and take her to Woodman’s restaurant in downtown Orono for some authentic Maine seafood.
“She was your average person, and very down to Earth,” Soyden said.
It was Dawes’ second visit to Maine. She recalled coming to the state several years ago as part of a touring gymnastics show.
Since retiring from competitive gymnastics, Dawes found a passion in motivational speaking, and now travels across the country to speak to a variety of groups. She also provides motivational coaching to youth athletes through her personal Web site, hosts gymnastics clinics and has begun a broadcasting career, recently serving as a gymnastics analyst for Yahoo Sports during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She said she finds her pursuits after retirement more fulfilling than the athletic oursuits she is better known for.
“I have more passion today in the work that I do than I did as an athlete,” Dawes said. “It was very fulfilling for me of course to achieve what I achieved, but I know the work that I do today is much more fulfilling because it’s not just about me. I’m able to lead people. I’m able to guide people. I’m able to nurture people. I work with people on a regular basis. I think when you take the emphasis off of yourself, and the emphasis is more on giving and gifting to others, then I think life becomes a lot more fulfilling, and that’s why I truly do love what I do.”
Dawes’ hour-long speech was outlined by the acronym “ENVISION,” which emphasizes passion, planning and perseverance as the main points. She described the challenge of recovering from a fall in the floor exercise during the team competition at the 1996 Atlanta Games to win the Bronze medal in the same event in the individual competition.
“I think each audience member is going take away something a little different, but I really just hope that I planted the seed of envisioning,” Dawes said. “It’s important to, I think, pursue your passions in life, and being that they’re in college, they’re still young enough to direct their lives right now.”
Dawes mentioned that although she does not have children of her own, she is working in cooperation with the Surgeon General on an initiative focused on combating childhood obesity.
“My work with the Surgeon General is to ensure that people are living a healthy lifestyle. It starts with the parents, and then it will trickle down to the kids,” Dawes said. “I think education is also key too, because many people are not knowledgeable of how many calories, and fat grams, and sodium, and what that does to their body.”
