Dianne Durham

Dianne Patrice Durham (June 17, 1968 – February 4, 2021) was an American artistic gymnast.

Dianne Patrice Durham was born June 17, 1968, in Gary, Indiana, to parents Ural and Calvinita.

Calvinita Durham was a schoolteacher, and Ural director of industrial relations at a steel mill.

Dianne, who had one sister (Alice), began gymnastics at the age of four, to get the children "to stop wrecking the house."

She received her early training under Wanda Tommasi-Mohoi in Merrillville, Indiana.

Durham began gymnastics at a young age and at nine years old was included in Ebony Jr! magazine in an article titled “Look Out For These Shining Stars”.

On her first gymnastics team, the Hoosierettes, her coaches, Wanda Tommasi and Richard Del Gallo, described Durham as “Olympic material”.

At 11, she attempted to retire from gymnastics in a letter to her parents.

However, she remained in the sport and later became the youngest member of the Károlyis team at age 14.

In 1981, after winning the junior elite all-around title at the US National Championships, she moved to Houston, Texas, to be coached by Béla and Márta Károlyi.

She initially went for a try-out, but packed with no intention of returning.

Tommasi encouraged the move, telling Durham's mother she was an Olympic-caliber gymnast and needed elite facilities to realize her potential.

One of six initial gymnasts the Károlyis selected for their training program, Durham became their first elite gymnast in the United States.

They had defected from Romania in 1981 and though they had trained the star of the 1976 Olympic gymnastics competition, Nadia Comăneci, they faced their doubts about whether they could succeed outside Romania's state-supported program.

Durham's success quickly made them a presence at major competitions again.

Initially Durham lived with the Károlyis in Houston, then with a host family.

Her mother joined her but her father stayed in Gary so her sister could finish high school.

Years on USA Junior National Team- 1981-1982

Gymnastics Training Background- (Gyms trained at and primary coaches) Wanda's School of Gymnastic's, Primary Coach- Wanda Mohai, 7 Years.

Durham successfully defended her junior national all-around title in 1982, and had a breakout performance at the United States Gymnastics Federation international invitation, tying for the all-around title with teammate Kathy Johnson in Durham's first major international meet.

In 1983, she won the all-around senior title at the women's US National Championships, becoming the first African American athlete to do so.

She was Béla and Márta Károlyi's first elite athlete in the United States, helping establish their coaching credentials outside of the state-sponsored program of their native Romania, and trained with Mary Lou Retton, who called Durham her "best competition".

In 1983 she won the senior all-around title at the US National Championships, the first African American in women's gymnastics to take this title.

She also won the individual titles for bars, floor and vault, becoming the first American woman to execute a full-twisting layout Tsukahara on vault.

Durham said later that despite these historic achievements, she was most concerned with them as part of her road to the Olympics, her ultimate goal.

Later that year Durham won the all-around title at the McDonalds International Gymnastics Championships, beating Mary Lou Retton, who was also coached by the Károlyis.

The two were friends, but Retton also described Durham as her "best competition".

Injuries prevented Durham from competing in the 1983 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

She only learned later that she was ineligible because she had not competed at the 1983 World Championship, and expressed regret no one had told her that finishing the trials on an injured ankle was her only route to the Olympics.

Károlyi objected to denying the prior year's national champion a slot on the team: "She was the first Black kid to ever make it to a national title. This is a pretty big injustice to not have Durham on the Olympic team. The team needs her, the country needs her."

But he did not succeed in persuading the USA Gymnastics Federation.

Years on USA Senior National Team- 1983-1985

After injuries and competition stipulations prevented her from competing in the 1984 Summer Olympics, Durham retired from competition in 1985.

She later ran the Skyline Gymnastics school in Chicago.

When she returned from rehabbing her injuries, she felt cast aside at the gym and in February 1984, Durham left the Károlyi program to train with Scott Krause in Fort Worth, Texas.

But after a weak showing at the US Nationals, Károlyi approached her with an invitation to return, which she accepted in the run-up to the Olympic trials.

At the US team trials for the 1984 Summer Olympics, Durham was in sixth place after the first day.

Competing for one of seven slots, she was expected to make the team and become the first Black gymnast to compete for the United States at the Olympics, as Luci Collins had made the team but did not have the chance to compete due to the US boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games.

However Durham injured her ankle on vault and withdrew from the competition, on the expectation she would to be petitioned onto the Olympic team.

Durham retired from competition in 1985 at 16 years old.