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Viral and vital, college gymnasts finding their voice
The social justice movement in college athletics has popped up in most unusual place: gymnastics. From UCLA to Pittsburgh, Black gymnasts and the programs they represent are using their platform to empower and uplift. Her experience at Arkansas was simply reflective of the culture at large in the sport at the time. From Pittsburgh to California, female gymnasts are using their platform to empower, educate and bring light to causes they believe in. “Personally I would say (gymnastics) is a predominantly white sport,” Ward said.
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Durham, first Black US women's gymnastics champion, dies
Durham, the first Black woman to win a USA Gymnastics national championship, died on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, She was 52. (AP Photo/Lisa Genesen, File)Dianne Durham, the first Black woman to win a USA Gymnastics national championship, died Thursday in Chicago following a short illness, her husband said. Her victory in the all-around at the 1983 national championships as a teenager was the first by a Black woman in the organization's history. “People said, you’re the first Black — I’m using Black because African American wasn’t a term in my era — national champion. Her husband said he hopes USA Gymnastics will honor her by inducting her into the organization's Hall of Fame.