This is so cool! 🤩
Olympic Gymnast Dominique Dawes recently appeared on EWTN News In Depth to discuss the Summer Olympic Games and her Catholic conversion story.
Now married with four children, the four-time Olympic champion became Catholic shortly after she retired from gymnastics.
In 2016, Dawes told the New York Times, "If I could choose to have dinner with somebody who has passed away, I would choose to dine with Mother Angelica."
Eight years later, Dawes tells EWTN host Catherine Hadro she "wants to be that fiery personality that [Mother Angelica] had and really set the world on fire and help inspire and empower people."
EWTN Priest Father John Paul Mary Blesses Dominique Dawes' Olympic Gold Medal
During Dawes' visit to the EWTN News studio in Washington D.C., Father John Paul Mary Zeller of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word had the opportunity to bless her Olympic Gold Medal.
The EWTN priest gave ChurchPOP the exclusive story about his experience:
"I remember watching the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and with particular interest, cheering for the Magnificent Seven– the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team. It could be said that those Seven Women were the greatest gymnastics team the United States has ever had. Although my family was on vacation in Ocean City, Md., we all sacrificed time laying on the beach to come watch the Magnificent Seven.
I was 20 years old at the time and a little over a year later, I had a conversion experience– God showed me in an instant how much he loved me. That encounter changed the course of my life. I wanted to live for God and God alone.
Here I am, 28 years later, wearing the 1996 Olympic Gold Medal from the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team. Who would have ever thought while watching the Magnificent Seven, that one day I'd be talking to her about the one person she desired to have dinner with, Mother Angelica, and then holding her Gold Medal in my hands and asking her, 'Dominique, have you ever asked a priest to bless your Olympic Gold Medal?' I'll never forget the look on her face– and then a small group of colleagues from EWTN News in D.C. went into our Chapel and I blessed her Olympic Gold Medal.
In a small way, I felt as if God was smiling at me. I watched Dominique receive that medal on television in 1996, and now in 2024, had the chance to hold that medal as a priest and call down the blessing of Almighty God on Dominique and her Olympic Gold Medal.
Watching her so many years ago, I never thought Dominique would be a part of 'my story.' Our stories are more connected than what we realize. Be open to God who desires to surprise you."