Olympic Gold Medalist Douglas' Mother Facing Bankruptcy

Some people give all they can to see their child succeed. That fact is true for the mother of Gabby Douglas, the recently decorated gold medal gymnast from the USA Olympics. Court records show that Mrs. Douglas ran out of funds when paying for her daughter’s Olympic training and filed for bankruptcy protection in January. The filing was reported by TMZ and show that Douglas’ mother wanted a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This method would give her time to reorganize her finances and get everything under control after the Olympics. She could then pay down debt over several years while eliminating pesky and stressful calls from creditors.

Natalie Hawkins’ choice to risk everything for her daughter’s sport has paid off. Gabby Douglas recently became the first African-American woman to win the all-around gold medal in gymnastics at the Olympics. Her graceful and professional performance and her big smile won over the hearts of millions of viewers. She will be taking home two gold medals after the London 2012 Olympics come to a close, and is now an international superstar. The gymnast has already had to deal with hundreds of e-mails from businesses and talk shows that want to feature her. She has already been slated to appear on the cover of a Corn Flakes cereal bx in the future. Chances are that she will be an instant millionaire after sorting out endorsement deals and appearing on talk shows all across the nation.

The young athlete has been training in Iowa for two years before the Olympics and says that she has not been home since then. At the moment, Natalie Hawkins’s bankruptcy filings says that she has about $163,700 in assets and lives in a townhouse in Virginia Beach. Hawkins filed saying that she had about $800,000 in debt that she couldn’t cover. Most of the debt was on her mortgage but $4,300 of it was a student loan that she couldn’t afford to repay. If Gabby’s success is any indication, chances are that Ms. Hawkins will be out of debt and into fortune in a few short months.