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Dianne Durham, first Black national gymnastics champion, dies at 52
Dianne Durham, the first African American senior national gymnastics champion and a trailblazer in the sport, has died after a short illness, according to her husband, Tom Drahozal. Durham died at a Chicago hospital, with Drahozal and her sister, Alice Durham, at her side. She was 52. "She passed peacefully," Known for her combination of grace, artistry and power, as well as her joyful personality, Durham and her teammate, Mary Lou Retton, pulled the sport of gymnastics into an era dominated by power tumbling and fast-paced progression. The last gymnast to beat Retton in all-around competition, in the lead-up to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Durham was deprived of a spot on the team due to a combination of injuries and politics. But it is her achievement as 1983 senior national champion, which launched not only Durham but her coaches, Bela and Martha Karolyi, onto the national stage, for which Durham is most remembered. For Durham, that win, although hard-fought, was simply one step on her path toward the Olympics. When that path was cut short after the 1984 Olympic trials, Durham took a job coaching with the Karolyis in Houston before eventually relocating to Chicago, where she met Drahozal and became a gym owner, a national-level judge and a coach.
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Dianne Durham, the first African American senior national gymnastics champion and a trailblazer in the sport, has died after a short illness, according to her husband, Tom Drahozal. Durham died at a Chicago hospital, with Drahozal and her sister, Alice Durham, at her side. She was 52. "She passed peacefully," Known for her combination of grace, artistry and power, as well as her joyful personality, Durham and her teammate, Mary Lou Retton, pulled the sport of gymnastics into an era dominated by power tumbling and fast-paced progression. The last gymnast to beat Retton in all-around competition, in the lead-up to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Durham was deprived of a spot on the team due to a combination of injuries and politics. But it is her achievement as 1983 senior national champion, which launched not only Durham but her coaches, Bela and Martha Karolyi, onto the national stage, for which Durham is most remembered. For Durham, that win, although hard-fought, was simply one step on her path toward the Olympics. When that path was cut short after the 1984 Olympic trials, Durham took a job coaching with the Karolyis in Houston before eventually relocating to Chicago, where she met Drahozal and became a gym owner, a national-level judge and a coach.
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