SPECIAL EVENTS

2004 Keynote Speaker: Dominique Dawes

US Gymnastics Member and Olympic Gold Medalist

At just age six, the year she started gymnastics, Olympic great Dominique Dawes was on her way.

When she turned 10, the intensely competitive and hard-working youngster, known by her coach and teammates as "Awesome Dawesome," had her mind set on one goal for herself: the Olympics. In 1992, Dominique's dream came true as she made it to the Olympics in Barcelona and was awarded the Olympic Bronze Medal with her teammates.

Two years later in the 1994 National Championships, Dominique truly came into her own when she garnered USA Gymnastics' Sportsperson of the Year Award. She swept all four events and won the all-around title, becoming the first gymnast to accomplish this feat since Joyce Tanac Schroeder at the 1969 AAU National Championships.

Dawes went on to win the 1996 Olympic Trials and all four events at the 1996 National Championships. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Dominique was part of the U.S. women's squad that won the gold, and Dominique became the first African-American to win an individual event medal by taking bronze in the floor exercise. An Olympic Bronze Medallist and a four-time World Championships Medallist, Dominique has won more national championships (15) since 1963 than any other athlete, male or female.

Dominique's other honors include the 1995 Arch McDonald Award, presented by the Touchdown Club of Washington, D.C. and the 1995 Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Award, presented annually to two outstanding athletes who have demonstrated good citizenship. Dominique was also a finalist for the 1994 AAU Sullivan Award, which recognizes the USA's top amateur athlete.

Since her Olympic glory, Dominique hasn't rested on her laurels. She recently graduated fron the University of Maryland and has performed in the bit Broadway musical Grease. Dominique is active in Sports United Against Drugs, a program of the American Sports Education Institute and has joined President Clinton and ABC News anchor Peter Jennings in an anti-drug radio broadcast.