WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — The country is flipping with excitement for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, but gymnasts at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance in West Des Moines are particularly eager.
Partially because the gym’s Olympic history serves as a reminder that they, too, can achieve their dreams.
“For me, I just know that no matter what I do in my future, I would’ve brought all of the lessons that I learned from the gym,” said 16-year-old gymnast Claire Bailey.
In the 2008 and 2012 games, Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas brought home six Olympic medals, three gold and three silver. Both athletes trained under the guidance of Coach Liang Chow.
“I’m very proud to make a generation not [just] winning on the world stage, but as future leaders,” said Chow.
It’s been 16 years since his Olympic debut with Shawn Johnson, a West Des Moines native and four-time Olympic medalist, but one memory stands out for the legendary coach.
“After podium, she came over and said ‘thank you Chow for everything,’ you know we were in tears, because we know how hard we worked,” he said.