Known in the gymnastics community as 'Awesome Dawesome', she was a 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior National Champion, a three-time Olympian, a World Championship silver and bronze medalist, and a member of the gold-medal-winning "Magnificent Seven" team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Dawes is the first female gymnast to be a part of three Olympic-medal-winning teams since Ludmilla Tourischeva won gold in Mexico City (1968), Munich (1972), and Montreal (1976).

[8] At the 1992 USA vs. Japan dual meet, the 15-year-old Dawes received a standing ovation, after an energetic floor routine in which she revived the back-to-back tumbling revolutionized by Soviet star Oksana Omelianchik.

Though she was not part of the 1991 World Championship team, Dawes continued to move up on the national and international scene throughout 1991 and 1992.

She also won over the crowd with a solid optional floor exercise routine and, with a mark of 9.925, tied with Kim Zmeskal for the highest score for the American team on the event.

[10] The team won bronze, and Dawes and teammate Betty Okino became the first African American females to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics.

[11][12] Famously, after the vault fall Dawes's coach Kelli Hill exhorted her to be proud of her performance anyway, stating: "When did you ever think you would be in that position?

She dominated the National Championships placing first in the all-around and all four event finals at the expense of rival Shannon Miller.

[11][16] At the 1996 U.S. National Championships Dawes swept all four event finals for the second time in her career making her the first gymnast ever to accomplish this feat twice.

[8] Dawes planned to attend Stanford University in fall 1995 but could not receive an athletic scholarship as she turned pro to train for the 1996 Olympics.

Along with Shannon Miller, Jaycie Phelps, Dominique Moceanu, Amanda Borden, Amy Chow and Kerri Strug, Dawes claimed her gold medal as part of the first American team to take the Olympic title.

[citation needed] Later in the week, however, Dawes lost yet another opportunity to win a major all-around title.

NBC cameras zoomed in on Dawes, sitting in tears as her score from floor exercise was announced (it was an even 9.000), which led to numerous boos from the audience.

She returned briefly in 1998 to participate in the Goodwill Games where she placed 19th in the Mixed Pairs event with Chainey Umphrey.

Dawes also briefly appeared on Broadway in a revival of the musical Grease, playing cheerleader Patty Simcox.

[26] Dawes, whose younger brother is autistic, has also supported events for autism awareness, such as the 2001 Power of One rally in Washington D.C.[27] She is presently on the Advisory Board of Sesame Workshop's "Healthy Habits for Life" program and also works as a motivational speaker, concentrating on youth issues.

From Wendy Hughes report "The claim was that if the hologram worked, the speed of the participants would increase, and it would show on the graph.

[31] Dawes appeared with gymnasts Nadia Comăneci and Simone Biles in a commercial for Tide called "The Evolution of Power" prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

[32][33] She is set to guest star as herself with Gabby Douglas and Laurie Hernandez in the episode "A Perfect 10" of the second season of the Disney+ animated series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, judging a gymnastics competition.