<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"She&amp;apos;s one of the most celebrated athletes to come out of the recently concluded London Olympics, but Gabby Douglas languished and suffered as a young gymnast in her native Virginia Beach, Virginia -- where she was taunted by fellow gymnasts, sometimes even with racial slurs.\r\nNow 16 and in possession of two gold medals, Douglas (with mom Natalie Hawkins) told Oprah Winfrey on Sunday&amp;apos;s Oprah&amp;apos;s Next Chapter about the less-than-ideal atmosphere at a local gym. &amp;quot;One of my teammates was like, &amp;apos;Can you scrape the bar?&amp;apos; And they were like, &amp;apos;Why doesn&amp;apos;t Gabby do it, she&amp;apos;s our slave?&amp;apos;&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I definitely felt isolated, I felt why am I deserving this? Is it because I&amp;apos;m black? Those thoughts would go through my mind,&amp;quot; said the champ, who became the first-ever African-American to win the coveted All-Around trophy.  The teasing got so bad that, at age 14, Douglas threatened to quit the sport altogether if they couldn&amp;apos;t move away and find a new coach.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I felt like I was bullied and isolated from the group, and they treated me not how they would treat the other teammates,&amp;quot; Douglas admitted.\r\nIndeed, Douglas eventually did move to Des Moines, Iowa, in order to train at Liang Chow&amp;apos;s gym, where fellow Olympic champ Shawn Johnson trained.\r\n\r\nWinfrey visited with Douglas at the famed facility -- and tried out the balance beam routine!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/gabby-douglas-tells-oprah-i-was-bullied-called-slave-by-gymnasts-in-virginia-during-early-training-2012278>