Gabby Douglas Nose Job

Olympics champion Gabby Douglas: I was told to get a nose job by staffer at old gym, Years before she won gold and became an American favorite, the comment by a staffer at Excalibur was ‘very hurtful’ to the young star.

Olympic gold-medal gymnast Gabrielle (Gabby) Douglas says that it was very tough for her as the only African-American at training gym Excalibur Gymnastics.

Gabby Douglas may be America’s Olympic golden-girl now, but long before she made gymnastic history, the 16-year-old was told by a staffer at her small-town gym that she should think about getting a nose job.

The comment came years before she won two Olympic golds, but this — and other comments about her appearance and heritage made before, during, and after this year’s games — show just how hard Douglas’s path to victory in London must have been.

The jab occurred at a party several years ago, Douglas recently told a Vanity Fair journalist.

There, one staff member from her old gym, Excalibur Gymnastics, approached Douglas and told her to consider reconstructive surgery, a comment the young gymnast said she found “very hurtful.”

Douglas’ nose was too flat, the staff member said, and surgery could supposedly make it less so.

This story was denied by Dena Walker, the Girls Team Director at Excalibur, who said the story was “a joke.”

Excalibur has trained many African-American gymnasts and Douglas did not report the incident at the time, Walker said.

This isn’t the first complaint Douglas has made about Excalibur. In a segment on “Oprah’s Next Chapter” that aired Sunday, Douglas said a peer at the gym once called her a “slave.”

“I was the only African-American at that gym,” Gabby said. “I definitely felt isolated. Why am I deserving this? Is it because I’m black? — those thoughts were going through my mind.”

BEFORE: GABBY DOUGLAS TELLS OPRAH SHE WAS 'BULLIED,' CALLED 'SLAVE' DURING EARLY GYMNASTICS TRAINING IN VIRGINIA

Natalie Hawkins, Douglas’ mother, told the magazine that the gymnast tends to keep to herself and only told her about the incidents recently.

“I was flabbergasted,” she said.

This summer, Douglas became the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same time and the first African-American to win the all-around individual title.