Olympic Hopeful Gabrielle Douglas Confident She’ll Conquer The Vault This Weekend [Video]

Gabrielle Douglas is confident that she’ll earn a spot on the US Gymnastics team, but in order to do so, she’ll have to conquer the vault this weekend at the National Championships.

According to the Indy Star, Douglas has struggled with the event since she sprained her ankle last March at the Pacific Rim Championships. Douglas skipped the event at the U.S. Classic in Chicago last month but she won’t have that luxury this weekend.

But Gabby Douglas, 16, isn’t looking at the Vault as an obstacle. She’s looking at it as an opportunity.

The young woman said:

“I’m here to prove to you guys that I can do it, and I have my mental confidence up. I want to show you guys on Friday and Sunday what I’m capable of doing.”

Her coach, Liang Chow, who also coached the recently retired Shawn Johnson, was also confident about Douglas’ performance on the vault.

“She has every reason to be confident in herself, This is the year for the Olympics. We’ve got nothing to lose, but showing her strength, showing her gracefulness, showing her fans what she can deliver. I have faith in her. This is it. It’s show time.”

Martha Karolyi, who will pick the US Olympic Gymnastics team, said that Douglas has a difficult routine and is capable of grabbing great scores.

Karolyi said:

“As we think about her start values and possible scores that she can get, they are very high, absolutely. So now what we want to see, she handles the situations and she’s able to perform those routines and, as she is successful and performs repeatedly, then her confidence level will be bigger and bigger.”

Of course, Douglas isn’t the only person fighting for a spot on the US Olympic team. Nastia Liukin, who won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as well as several other young gymnasts will be looking to impress Martha this weekend.