Gabby Olympic Gymnast: 16-Year-Old Champion - A Look Beyond The Gold Medals [DETAILS]

At the ripe young age of 16, Gabby Douglas has already made unprecedented Olympic history at the London Games 2012, as she became the very first U.S. gymnast to win the coveted gold in both individual all-around and team competitions at this year's festivities.

Besides some judgmental viewers who'd rather focus on rebuking the Olympian Champion's hair, most of us are wondering where and how the talented young gymnast got her start.

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Interestingly enough, it wasn't all peaches and cream for the athlete they call the Flying Squirrel, according to The Atlantic Wire.

The then gold medalist in the making had started gymnastics at the very early age of 6. The Virginia native went on to compete in 2008 as a 12 year-old in the junior national championship at an accelerated level of 10; which is just below an Olympic grade. Shockingly, she was already doing full-twist double back flips and outshining her peers.   

In early 2011, Douglas had finally made it on Team USA for a meet in Italy.  However, adversity struck during a beam dismount when she panicked and halted mid-move; which could have seriously injured her. Due to the circumstance, she was written off the national team by coordinator Marta Karolyi.

Graciously, Douglas ended up pushing through the setback, made the world championship team and went on to perform in the final meet. Unfortunately, she only ended up pulling out a fifth place finish.

In the early going of 2012, things really started to turn around for the 4 foot 11 gymnast as she received an opportunity to compete at the American Cup as an alternate (her score was not counted). 

Surprisingly, she ended up pulling an upset by beating out everyone that competed, including sensation Jordyn Wieber.

The rest is now recent history as Douglas has clearly achieved success on a world scale.

In lieu of her recent gold medal winning experience at the 2012 London Games, Douglas had the following to say, according to Fox News:

"That was awesome, seeing the flag raised and you're on top and the national anthem just playing," Douglas told reporters. "You feel like you're in a concert. All these flashes ... I'm living on Cloud Nine."