Still, she was not yet a star. Douglas was 17th on floor and 16th in the all-around.

At the 2009 junior nationals, Douglas wasn't very confident on beam. But she could do some of the hardest tricks she performed in the Olympics, like her full-twisting back flip.

This routine scored well -- she placed fifth. But Douglas was only 31st in the all-around.

Here Douglas competes at a small competition held at her Virginia gym in 2010. This is what non-Olympic gymnastics is like: bad lighting, Party City decorations, cheering parents and bored siblings, all under the roof of what is usually a converted warehouse that might not have AC.

Things started picking up in 2010. Douglas was named to the national team. She got a silver on beam at junior nationals. After the Beijing Olympics, Douglas had begged her mom to let her move to Iowa to train at the same gym as Shawn Johnson, 2008 Olympic silver medalist in the all-around. In October 2010, mom relented.

In early 2011, Douglas got to represent the U.S. at a meet in Italy. She earned a silver on bars at at the U.S. Classic in Chicago. She had a chance to shine before a huge audience at the national championships that August, but she did not shine. As she started doing her beam dismount -- two back handsprings into a double back flip off -- she freaked out and stopped in the middle. Balking is a great way to hurt yourself:

She got back on the beam to try again, and balked again. She finally made it on the third try.

She was written off because national team coordinator Marta Karolyi does not trust gymnasts who freak out on beam. Yet somehow, after going to a few national training camps, Douglas was named to the world championship team. There she competed her bar routine, and made it to finals.

She tied for fifth after hitting her feet on the low bar. But Douglas was getting her confidence back. She placed fifth in the all-around in prelims, but wasn't able to compete in finals, because two of her American teammates qualified ahead of her. Only two per country were allowed to compete. (Sound familiar?)

In 2012, Douglas's first big meet was the American Cup, where she was the alternate, meaning she got to compete but her scores didn't count. (This was when The Atlantic Wire began holding Gabby watch parties.) But her unofficial score beat everyone -- including Jordyn Wieber.

One reason was her incredibly high tumbling -- look at her rebound on this double backflip, via Gymnastics GIFs:

This is when she really got momentum. She almost beat Wieber at nationals, despite falling on beam. Then at trials, she beat Wieber out right.

That was even with some big wobbles, even with doing a release move on bars almost one-handed. Watch how her right hand slips off and she just keeps going like it's nothing:

Then she went to the Olympics and was awesome.