Gabby's grandparents reflect on London

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - A golden performance by a teen from Virginia Beach had the world and her family cheering. Gabby Douglas' grandparents sat down with WAVY News 10's Andy Fox to talk about their golden girl and reflect on their trip to the London Olympics.

Gabby Douglas led her team to a gold medal then took home the top prize in the individual all-around competition. Rayfield and May Douglas of Virginia Beach credit God for Gabby's gold. Their prayers for Gabby's health and a solid performance were answered again and again.

Gabby Douglas's family is deeply religious. Her grandparents are a guiding influence in her spiritual development that they say led to her talent development.

"The talent comes from God Almighty. That talent is raw and undeveloped; you have to do something with it, and Gabby has," said Rayfield Douglas. There is no doubt over her 16 years she has developed that raw talent into who she is today.

"When she won first place she gave thanks to God. That tells me she had not forgotten her roots," May Douglas said.

Gabby's road to gold has not always been smooth traveling.

"Unless you know the truth, you should keep your mouth closed because you might be damaging the person you are injuring with these wild comments," said Rayfield.

Gabby has been quoted saying that her father, Timothy, who was in the Air Force, and is now a reservist, was an absentee dad and didn't provide proper child support. Mr. Douglas responded to that: "The first thing I would like to say is my son is not an absentee dad. His military service has caused him to be away from his family. His wife received support through the military from him."

Rayfield and May traveled to London to celebrate 50 years of marriage and to watch Gabby compete. They never got tickets, though and instead watched her performances from their hotel room and the local mall.

"The bitter part is when we went to London," May explained.

"We don't know how many tickets were given, and how they were given, we only know they were not given to us. it was disappointing could not get a ticket," Rayfield said.

Ironically, what happened to Gabby fulfilled a prophetic prediction from a minister many years ago: There would be greatness coming to a Douglas grandchild.

"We didn't know who it was going to come through, but we knew some greatness would come, and when I saw this happen it had come true," May Douglas said.

We wanted to talk to Gabby's dad, Timothy, about some of these other issues, but he did not show up at the interview with the grandparents. It's been two years since any of them have seen Gabby before she went to train and live in Iowa.

The grandparents are grounded in the big picture. The great spectacular news for Gabby Douglas certainly outweighs any of the distracting negative news. The Douglas's are proud of their son, and their precious Gabby they call "Bree."