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Gabby Douglas Almost Gave Up Her Olympic Dream For A Job In The Fast Food Industry

Kaitlan Collins Contributor
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Gabby Douglas once considered quitting gymnastics to take a job in the fast food industry.

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

Before she won two gold medals at the Summer Games in London in 2012, the 20-year-old gymnast was so homesick while preparing that she almost gave up and moved home so she could be with her family and live a normal life.

“I can get a job at Chick-Fil-A in Virginia Beach and live off the 14-grand I just won at World Championships,”  Douglas said she thought at the time. “I just want to be a normal teenage kid.”

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

“No one knew that about me, but yeah, I wanted to quit and try a different sport like track and field,” she revealed in a recent interview. “I was really homesick and wanted to go home.”

“My mom, my coach, my sister, my host family — everyone told me to keep fighting, that the Olympics were right around the corner.”

“And my brother John. He and I are so close in age, we are like two peas in a pod. He kept telling me to keep fighting and pushing along. A couple days later, I went back to the gym and was on fire. I was just determined to get back and give 100 percent.” (RELATED: Gabby Douglas Apologizes For Not Putting Hand Over Her Heart During National Anthem)

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

Douglas’s response to winning in 2012 went viral at the time.

“I give all the glory to God,” she said. “It’s kind of a win-win situation. The glory goes up to him and the blessings fall down on me.”

(Photo: Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters)

But Douglas said she had no idea that her response would be so powerful.

“It means so much to me, it gives me chills when you repeat it. I thought I could put together all those Scriptures that my mom kept sending me and that I kept reading, and God gave me that quote to say, because it is true: God gave me this amazing talent, and of course I want to represent him.”

(Photo: Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters)