Before there was Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, or even Dominique Dawes, there was Dianne Durham. Dianne Durham, the first Black senior national gymnastics champion, will finally get her due. This year, the trailblazer is being inducted into the Gymnastics Hall of Fame, announced USA Gymnastics on Friday.
Durham, who died in February at the age of 52, was known for grace, artistry and power. She was the last gymnast to beat Mary Lou Retton, a white gymnast who dominated the 1984 Olympics. Durham was kept off of that team due to injuries.
Durham was crowned a junior national champion in both 1981 and 1982.
At the age of 15, Dianne Durham’s 1983 performance at the senior national championship not only gained her the fame that she deserved but launched the public careers of her coaches, Bela and Martha Karolyi.
“People said, you’re the first Black — I’m using ‘Black’ because ‘African American’ wasn’t a term in my era — national champion. Do you know that didn’t go through my head one time?” Durham told ESPN last summer.
After her path to the Olympics was cut short, Durham first worked as a coach in Houston, Texas, with the Karolyis. Later, she moved to Chicago and opened her own gymnastics training center. She also became a national-level judge and coach.
“While our community continues to mourn Dianne’s passing, her trailblazing legacy lives on each day in gyms across the country,” USA Gymnastics president Li Li Leung told ESPN in a statement.
Though many people may not have known of Durham, her influence as a Black gymnast can be witnessed in the talents we’ve seen in athletes such as Simon Biles, now the most decorated World Champion American gymnast.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Dianne Durham and four others, plus the 2004 Olympics men’s team, will occur on June 26 in St. Louis, Missouri.
