Log 5 - Grace, Gold, and Glory My Leap of Faith PDF

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Chosen Theme: Ambition Text: Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith Text Type: Novel Word Count: 850 This novel is an autobiography about double Olympic gold medalist and gymnast, Gabrielle Douglas. It is clear that she had incredible ambition to succeed from a very young age. I saw this when she left home at just 14 to pursue her olympic dream. This is an extremely difficult task to do at such a young age, but it shows me as a reader how much Gabby wants to compete at the Olympics and be the successful, inspiring gymnast that she is now. I was impressed when I read that Gabby left home at just 14. For Gabrielle it was clear that her family were in huge support of her dream and to be able to move away from them showed me that she was willing to sacrifice being with the people close to her in order to be successful. As she says so herself "When I fall, it’s my family who picks me up." This made me see how we can achieve anything with hard work and ambition. If we want to be successful as much as Gabrielle did then we will be willing to make sacrifices and put the work in to do it. However, after Gabby had moved away she wanted to quit gymnastics because she became homesick. If it wasn’t for her brother she would have. He told her “quitting is not an option”. This again reinforced how important the role that Gabby’s family played during her journey to the olympics. It showed me the importance of having people in support of our goals and how significantly they drive us and keep us going. It was her sister who made her mum put Gabrielle into gymnastics and her brother who told her to stay when all she wanted to do was quit and come home. This also made me see how important ambition was for Gabby because she was able to continue with her gymnastics when she really didn’t want to. She was able to continue to work hard and create results, even when she was alone. As a reader this showed me that quitting is not an option, and it is not a solution. This novel changed my thinking about the theme of ambition. I now understand that ambition does not just come from the athlete alone, but also from family, team mates, coaches and friends. Without help from Gabby’s siblings in particular, she would have never started gymnastics or would not have competed at the level and for the amount of time that she did. She certainly would not have been the first U.S. gymnast to win a gold medal in a team and individual in the same Olympics. This inspired me because it made me realise that a lot of Gabby’s ambition was also inspired by her siblings. Her brother helped her to see that, “So many times in life we're faced with a choice: when a task becomes super difficult, will we flip out and quit, or will we stay focused and keep fighting?" After some guidance from her family, Gabby makes it clear what she has decided. She is a fighter. This reinforced my thinking about the theme of ambition because it shows that for Gabby, quitting isn’t an option. As members of society we should learn from this. It taught me that quitting doesn’t solve our problems. It just makes them stop for a while. If she wants to succeed then persistence is key. This forced me to see the importance of being in support of family and friends in order to help them achieve their goals, just as Gabby’s brother and sister were encouraging and did not let her give up on her dream. She was the only athlete to come away from the Olympic Trials with a guaranteed position on the team. Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith made me consider how ambition like Gabby’s is seen in society today. She battled through 12 weeks of intense training before the Olympics. Ambition like this

showed me that Gabby was willing to put herself through extreme physical pain to be successful. She says "Gold medals are made out of your sweat, blood and tears and effort in the gym every day." It is obvious to me that Gabby understood how important hard work was to compete at the top level, and to be a champion. This made me consider how this is seen in society today where we see athletes who sacrifice their families, their friends or even their careers to chase their dreams. Gabby is a great example of this. She had to sacrifice her friends and family when she moved away from home to train because she knew that was what she had to do to get to the next level. It also made me realise the importance of supporting our friends and family in their goals and that quitting is never a solution. For Gabby, her brother and sister were a major part of her success and a large reason as to why she didn’t quit gymnastics before making it to the Olympics....