Like Miller, Dawes was an expereinced Olympian when she made the Atlanta team. Having won the team bronze in 1992 for Barcelona, Dawes and her teammate Betty Okino became the first African American females to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics. Dawes gave solid performances in Atlanta and was the only team member to have all eight of her scores count toward the team total. she competed in the All-Around, but a step out of bounds on her floor routine cost her greatly and she finished 17th overall. However, that year she took home a bronze in the Floor Exercise finals. Dawes eventually went on to compete in her third Olympics in 2000 where the American women took home bronze.