Fisk University: the 1st HBCU with a women’s gymnastics team
The1st Black woman to qualify for the Olympic gymnastics team didn’t happen until 1980
Issue #119 Education August 24, 2022
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Fisk University is an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) that was founded in 1866, sponsored by the United Church of Christ, and is located in Nashville, Tennessee. Fisk has many famous alumni and former professors, including Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, Dr. John Hope Franklin, Judith Jamison, Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, Nikki Giovanni, Congressman John Lewis, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, chemist Dr. Saint Elmo Brady, and quantum physicist Dr. Elmer Samuel Imes.
Now Fisk University, the oldest institution of higher learning in Nashville, can claim another honor as the first HBCU to launch and host an intercollegiate women’s athletic gymnastic team. The first season will kick off in January 2023. The members will perform as an independent team at meets across the country under the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Prior to this new program, no HBCU had a current men’s or women’s gymnastics program.
The new Fisk women’s gymnastics team posted a video of one of their first practice on TikTok:
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The Legacy of Black American Women Artistic Gymnasts
In 1980, Luci Collins became the first Black elite gymnast to qualify for the Olympics. However, the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics that year, and no American athletes competed in the Games.
Dianne Dunham, the first Black woman to win the all-around title of the USA Gymnastics National Championship in 1983, qualified for the 1984 Games but withdrew before competing.
In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Betty Okino, the first Black woman to win multiple World Championship medals, won the bronze medal with the whole team.
Dominique Dawes won four medals at the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympics, becoming the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic medal and the first to win an Olympic gold medal for gymnastics. Overall, Dawes won four World Championship medals and nineteen National Championship medals.
Gabby Douglas started her Olympic training at six years of age, but by 2012 she had won the all-around gold and team gold at the London Olympic Games. She was featured on the Wheaties box and was the first gymnast to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Then came the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time), Simone Biles, who is the most decorated gymnast ever with a total of 30 World Championship and Olympic medals. She set a record for earning the most gold medals in women’s gymnastics in a single Olympics. In 2012, she was the first American female gymnast chosen by Team USA to be the flag bearer for the closing ceremonies. In 2018, Biles was named one of Time Magazine’s most influential persons.
All of these amazing Black women artistic gymnasts set the stage and are role models for the members of the first women’s gymnastics program and team at an HBCU. We will probably see some of them compete for a space on the 2024 U.S. Gymnastics Olympic team.
Are you a fan of women’s gymnastics? What do you remember about previous women gymnasts? Let us know in the comments!
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