LONDON – Millions of people will watch U.S. gymnast Gabby Douglas chase Olympic gold over the next 10 days.
Jeff Roberson, AP
Gabby Douglas with her coach, Liang Chow. Douglas moved to Chow's gym in the fall of 2010.
But none will feel a greater mixture of emotions than Dena Walker.
Walker is the coach that Douglas left behind in her native Virginia, moving to West Des Moines two years ago, she said, in search of more advanced training and a better shot at getting into the Games.
Now that her moment has arrived — under coach Liang Chow, Douglas won the U.S. team trials and is a strong contender to win the Olympic all-around title — Walker said she's still not sure what happened in the fall of 2010, just a month after Douglas made the national team.
"It's kind of disheartening because I love the kid, I love Gabby to death. Gabby would come home with us, she'd eat dinner with us," Walker said. "I never assumed she would leave. I never saw that coming."
Walker, whose Excalibur gym has produced 11 national team members but no Olympians, remains convinced that Douglas would have gotten to London without having to leave Virginia Beach.
But Douglas reiterated Thursday that she doesn't believe that's the case.
"I don't think so," she said. "I'm not trying to put bad on them, but you know … I just want to thank them, too, because they took me so far."
Douglas just wasn't convinced it would be far enough.
"That's why I moved. Something clicked in my head that said, if I really want to make this happen I need to get better coaching," she said.
Legendary coach Bela Karolyi, whose wife Martha is the U.S. national team coordinator, also has said as much, telling the Register in June: "She needed better coaching, a proper instructor."
The transition began when Chow was invited by Walker to give an instructional clinic at her gym. Douglas said she was impressed by how much he improved her vault in that short time.
Chow said he noticed that Douglas had tremendous power, but he wasn't paying much attention to her because there were hundreds of kids at the clinic. He certainly wasn't expecting that one day she would arrive on his doorstep asking that he make an Olympian out of her in just 21 months.
"My first reaction was I wasn't sure if I wanted to take her," he said. "I know she's a talented athlete, and I know as I talk to her mom (Natalie Hawkins), I'm not sure if I can make it, because they've only given me less than two years to work with. We've got a lot of work to do. And I said, I can give you my best shot, but I really don't know how far I can push her through this."
None of this is easy for Walker to hear, and she remains skeptical that it's the entire story of why Douglas left. She started training Douglas when the gymnast was 8, and she claims that for the last couple of years she was doing so for free with the understanding that the money would be repaid once she made the national team. Walker said the family owes her $20,000 - which Hawkins denies - but that she isn't going to press the issue until after the Olympics so as not be a distraction to Douglas.
Walker said she went to a wedding in Maine one weekend and upon her return discovered that Hawkins had cleaned out Douglas' locker at Excalibur.
"That was our parting. I never heard from Gabby," Walker said. "I know she left my daughter (Chase) a note in her locker saying she would always be one of her closest friends and would love her forever."
Walker said the only time she's seen Douglas since was at the U.S. Classic in Chicago in May. Walker said they hugged.
But it is difficult for Walker to see the outpouring of media attention that Douglas is receiving and not recall the little girl that arrived in her gym eight years ago, that she traveled with to dozens of competitions, and taught how to swim in her backyard pool.
"She was more like family than just an athlete," Walker said. "We wish the best for Gabby, but there's still an ego there that says, what happened? She used to be here."
Now, as Douglas takes the world stage with gymnastics competition beginning Sunday, Walker said she if she could, she would deliver one simple message to her former pupil:
"Make us proud, because, if anything, we don't want all of our work to go in vain. We all worked together for this. Let's finish it."
days 
...She'd know TONS more about her history to have her on 
right now man. Chill the fukk out with your bullshyt.
I need to see video of this shyt.
i'm gonna youtube this. u cant be serious
