Who are the Fierce Five? Know more about the team with Gabby Douglas that won the Gold medal at the 2012 Olympics
The “Fierce Five” consisted of Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross, and Jordyn Wieber. The gymnasts represented America at the 2012 London Olympics, and won gold in the team event — a first for the country on international soil.
The team was originally nicknamed the “Fab Five” by the media. However, “Fab Five” had already been used for the 1991 Michigan State basketball team, prompting Maroney and Weiber to come up with a unique name for themselves.
The youngsters decided to search the internet for adjectives starting with “F” and settled on fierce as they felt it was the perfect description of the team's floor routines.
At the Olympics, the "Fierce Five" advanced to the finals in first place. In the qualification, Wieber, Douglas, and Raisman competed on all four events, while Ross performed on the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise, and Maroney tackled the vault.
The finals were a show of absolute dominance by the young gymnasts. Maroney, Douglas, and Wieber got things going by achieving the three highest scores on vault, and giving the United States a big lead. From there, the team was untouchable, scoring a 183.596 to clinch gold. The "Fierce Five" beat silver medalists Russia by a margin of 5.066 points — a feat previously unheard of.
The team also put up impressive individual performances, with three of the five clinching individual medals. Gabby Douglas was the star of the show, winning the all-around to become the first African-American woman to achieve the feat.
Maroney, the 2011 World Champion in the vault, finished with a silver in the event, while Raisman won gold on the floor and a bronze on the balance beam.
Where is Gabby Douglas now?
After the London Olympics, Gabby Douglas went on to win gold and silver at the 2015 World Championships, before claiming another team gold at the Rio Games. The American subsequently stepped out of the spotlight, and stopped competing without announcing her retirement.
Rumors of Douglas making her way back to elite gymnastics began in late 2022, and were later confirmed by her coach early the next year. The Olympic Champion herself announced her comeback to the sport in July 2023, with an intention to make it to the 2024 Games.
Douglas, 28, was slated to make a return to competition at the upcoming 2024 Winter Cup, but was forced to pull out of the event at the last minute when she contracted COVID-19.