Dominique Dawes, Olympian and Catholic convert, delivers powerful message at WOW Festival Baltimore

Three-time Olympian and Hall of Fame gymnast Dominique Dawes headlined the WOW – Women of the World Festival Baltimore held April 5 at the Rita Rossi Colwell Center in downtown Baltimore. Hosted for a third year by Notre Dame of Maryland University, the event highlighted the achievements of women and girls while examining the challenges confronting them.

“Women are the cornerstone of thriving communities,” said NDMU President Dr. Marylou Yam in her welcome. “They design our cities, advocate tirelessly, nurture our neighborhoods and express our shared stories. Today we gather to honor their strength, creativity and compassion, and to amplify their voices.”

The WOW festival was founded in 2010 by Jude Kelly of the United Kingdom, who flew in for the event. Kelly is an internationally acclaimed pioneer for social progress and master of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. WOW Baltimore is part of the global WOW movement that has brought together more than 5 million people at more than 150 festivals and events across six continents.

Dawes was presented with NDMU’s Go Beyond Excellence Award for her achievements that transcend sports. They include offering gymnastics for children in an empowering environment, motivational speaking, advocacy for small businesses, broadcasting and more.

During a cozy on-stage interview with WJZ CBS News Baltimore anchor Denise Koch, Dawes spoke very candidly about the importance of gymnastics and the toxic culture that has plagued the sport. That culture prompted the founding of her Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy that offers children a safe, fun and supportive environment for honing their physical skills and building confidence rather than future Olympians.

It was breaking news, too, when Dawes announced that new leases had just been signed to establish two additional academies, one in Ashburn, Va., and another in her hometown of Silver Spring, Md. They will join her existing three Maryland locations in Clarksburg (opened in 2020 during the global pandemic), Rockville (2023) and Columbia (2024).

Dawes and husband Jeff Thompson started the academy, she said, “because we want to do things the right way” as a result of “the enormous amount of abuse that I went through in the sport for 18 years: physical abuse, emotional abuse, … and for a number of my teammates, sexual abuse.

“Many of you may remember the name Larry Nassar,” she continued. “People tell me, don’t bring up his name, but I have to bring it up because he was … someone that I knew for 10 years of my childhood, and that monster … saw the pain that many of us were going through” to achieve perfection, “and he took advantage of it.” From 1996 to 2014, Nassar was the team doctor of United States Women’s National Gymnastics. He remains in federal prison following convictions for crimes against more than 500 victims.

Dawes described her own childhood as being “a very difficult one, a very volatile one.” As such, her parents decided she could go live with her coach.

Directing her comments to parents in the audience at that point, Dawes said passionately, “Do not let your children move away and live with their coaches! You birthed them, you raise them.”

When asked if she missed the glory days of the Olympics and winning world championships, Dawes flashed her famous “Awesome Dawesome” smile and answered, “That door is closed.” It is more important now for all of us to “stay active, enjoying the love of movement.”

Today, the 48-year-old wife and mother of four – the youngest a set of twins, a boy and a girl, plus two older girls – is focused on them being able to enjoy their childhood. The hardest thing in her life thus far, she told Koch, wasn’t missteps in competitions, but the miscarriage of their first set of twins at 11 weeks.

Raising her children “is not about getting them on top of the Olympic podium to win this piece of hardware that I brought for … you all to see,” she said, passing around her Olympic gold medal that her team won during the historic 1996 Atlanta games. “It’s more important to me as a mom for them to be champions in life.” This formula, she admitted unapologetically, most likely will not produce Olympians because the training is too grueling.

A Catholic convert

After her third Olympic Games, Dominique Dawes found herself drawn not to the spotlight, but to silence.

“I sat in Catholic churches. They are always open,” she said in response to a question from the Catholic Review about her Catholic faith. “And I would sit in the church and instead of listening to the noise of the world, I would sit in complete silence and wait to hear from him (Christ).”

Those quiet moments became a turning point. What began as a place of refuge soon became something deeper – a path toward a faith that now anchors every part of her life.

Dawes said Catholicism is “truly everything to me.”

“I was raised in a Baptist family,” she said. “My grandmother, who is no longer here, was Catholic, and … not allowed to practice her faith.

“I always felt a yearning and a draw to the Catholic faith because of my grandmother,” Dawes shared.

Her connection to the Church deepened not just through prayer, but through a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“That really is what opened my heart to being led to convert to Catholicism, and also the love of Mother Mary. I always yearned for a mother. I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t yearn for a mother, and I found that completeness in her. …

“That is really what has saved me throughout this 48-year journey in life, and that is what our utmost priority is in our household,” she said.

Despite her Olympic legacy, Dawes keeps the focus on her faith, not her accolades.

“When you come into our house,” she said, “there’s no Olympic gold medal on the wall” or other memorabilia like signed leotards. “These are all tucked away in storage.” Life for her family today is “about our faith, because, at the end of the day, those are the things I can hold onto.”

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