Dominique Dawes was born in Silver Spring, MD and grew up in this house on Ritchie Avenue in Silver Spring, MD 20910.  She attended Blair High School at the "old original" Blair Campus in Silver Spring on Wayne Avenue.

Dawes was a member of the 1996 Gold Medal Olympic Team where she also became the first African-American to win an individual event medal with her bronze on floor. She and her teammates appeared on the Wheaties cereal box and have also appeared on numerous television shows since their gold medal win. Dawes won all four events at the 1996 Coca-Cola National Championships making her third national vault, bars, beam and fourth floor exercise title in her career. Dawes is a 1992 Olympic Bronze Medalist and a four-time World Championships medalist. She swept the 1994 Coca-Cola National Championships, winning the all-around and all four event titles. She was the first gymnast to accomplish this feat since Joyce Tanac Schroeder won the all-around and all four events at the 1969 AAU National Championships. Dawes was the 1995 recipient of the Arch McDonald Award presented by the Touchdown Club of Washington, D.C. She also won the 1995 Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Award, presented annually to two outstanding athletes who have demonstrated good citizenship. She was named 1994 Sportsperson of the Year by USA Gymnastics and was a finalist for the 1994 Sullivan Awards, an honor given to the top amateur athlete in the country. Her coach and teammates call her "Awesome Dawesome."

Her father, Don Dawes only recently sold this house in the Fall of 2006.