Olympians talk faith, mental challenges of the Games

Olympian Dominique Dawes is a four-time Olympic medalist and was part of the “Magnificent Seven” gymnasts in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Photo by Hamil Harris.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retired gold medalist Dominique Dawes, 44, remembers sitting alone in an empty Catholic church to keep her sanity at a time when it felt like her shoulders carried the weight of the world. It was the best of times and worst of times. 

Publicly, Dawes was one of the “magnificent seven” gymnasts who performed during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics under thousands of lights, camera flashes, cheers and hollers. Privately, she retreated into the silence of Catholic cathedrals to pray, before converting to Catholicism in 2013 to wed her husband.

“My grandmother is part of the Piscataway Conoy tribe, and for many years, I would go into the Catholic church to connect with Mother Mary,” Dawes told ReligionUnplugged. “Just feeling that sense of wholeness and peace, and there were no crowds cheering.”

“That silence is a beautiful thing. It was something that I lacked in my life,” she added. Today she is raising her children in the Catholic church.

After Simone Biles, the world’s most decorated gymnast and Team USA’s champion, withdrew from the Tokyo Games this week over mental health challenges and vertigo-like symptoms, Russian gymnasts won gold in the women’s team gymnastics competition. The Americans placed second. Biles also withdrew from the individual all-around competition. Dawes, who was the first Black woman gymnast to win an individual Olympic medal, spoke up to support Biles.  

“When I look at Simone Biles’ career, I know that she will be OK because I know that she has the love of the Lord in her heart, and she has a mom and dad who's there, and she has a sister who is beautiful,” Dawes said.

Biles described her Catholic faith in a 2016 autobiography, “Courage to Soar,” saying that receiving the sacrament of confirmation reminded her of a medal ceremony, only the prize was far superior to any gold, silver or bronze. Biles’ patron saint, St. Sebastian, is often called upon by athletes to help recover from injuries.

Biles was adopted by her grandparents because her mother struggled with drug abuse and had  legal issues when she was young. During the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Biles carried a white rosary that her grandmother gave her. 

In terms of reaching out to Biles, Dawes said she had mixed feelings. “I will reach out to say that I am there for her with a hug if she needs it,” Dawes said.

Biles is also believed to be the only gymnast at the Tokyo Olympics who suffered sexual abuse under the long-time Team USA doctor Larry Nassar, accused of sexually abusing at least 265 girls and women during his 18-year position and now in prison for 10 counts of sexual assault.

Rochelle Stevens outside her family’s church. Photo provided by Stevens.

Though Dawes relied on Nassar, he did not abuse her, she says. When she learned about the sexual abuse of her colleagues, she began speaking out about reforming gymnastics culture.

Rochelle Stevens, who won the gold medal on the 4x400 relay team in the 1996 Olympic teams, said she is praying for Biles and that “she did the right thing by stepping away from Olympic competition.”

Stevens is active in the ministry at the Word of Life Healing Ministry in Memphis, where her mother, Apostle Beatrice Holloway Davis, was also her track coach as a young woman.

“I talked to them a lot about the Lord and life in general,” Holloway-Davis told ReligionUnplugged. “I tried to prepare them for life, the disappointments and the victories.”

Stevens said when training for the Olympics, the family went to church on Sunday and asked for prayer.

“After the service, we asked [the pastor] to pray for Rochelle that she would just make the Olympics, but he said not only is she going to make the Olympics, but she is going to get the gold medal,” Holloway-Davis said.

As it turned, the 4x400 team did win the gold medal that year, but in 1992, Stevens won a silver medal, and in 1988, she missed qualifying for the team by a few seconds. “They always say this game is 10% physical and 90% mental,” Stevens said.

Track and field athlete Terry Dendy earned a silver medal as an alternate during the 1988 Olympic games and won a gold medal running on the 1993 World Championship U.S. team. This year she will be watching her nephew Marcus Dendy who is long jumping on the 2021 USA Olympic team. He graduated from Middletown High School in Delaware and the University of Florida.

“I am tremendously proud of him, and I know that he is excited to make his mark in history, and I wish him all the best,” said Terry, adding that all athletes focus on what they could have done better. She still thinks about her own performances.

Today, she’s a track coach and athletic director at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Md.

“I tell athletes you need to figure out your end game,” said Dendy. “It all stems back to how the coach makes the athletes feel. Have them buy into the process.”

Senior contributor Hamil Harris is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland College Park and has been a lecturer at Morgan State University. Harris is minister at the Glenarden Church of Christ and a police chaplain. A longtime reporter at The Washington Post, Harris was on the team of Post reporters that published the series “Being a Black Man.” He also was the reporter on the video project that accompanied the series that won two Emmy Awards, the Casey Medal and the Peabody Award. In addition to writing for ReligionUnplugged, Harris contributes to outlets such as The Washington Post, USA Today, The Christian Chronicle and the Washington Informer.