Four-time Olympian Doris Brause admires gymnasts of today, remembers her gymnastics career

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - "What's gymnastics? I don't know. What's gymnastics?" asked 74-year-old Doris Brause playfully.

The four-time Olympian stumbled upon gymnastics in the '50s, at the Catholic Youth Organization in upstate New York. 

"I was accidentally going upstairs to get a ride home from diving, and I end up in gymnastics,” she said.

She made the US Olympic Team in 1956, but there was an issue. The German teen was not a United States citizen.

“Through a special act of Congress, I was naturalized by President Eisenhower,” said Brause. The 15-year-old then competed in Melbourne, Australia. That wasn't her only Olympics, either. 

"I just loved the sport and just wanted to get good at it and stayed at it,” Brause said.

She made Team USA for Rome in 1960, Tokyo in 1964 and Mexico City in 1968. Four Olympics in total.

"Just a really great experience,” said Brause.

Brause never won an Olympic medal, but she did earn gold medals at Pan Am. She landed upside down on the cover of Life Magazine, and there's a move on the uneven bars named after her called "The Brause."

"I'm so proud of the team. I mean, they did so awesome,” said Brause.

Now, her love for gymnastics plays out on TV, as she watches today's Olympic stars tumble and twirl, like she used to four decades ago.