She may have won over America with her dazzling smile, and two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, but people haven't always been so kind to Gabrielle Douglas. Known as Gabby to her fans, when Douglas appeared on Sunday evening's episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter" on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network, she divulged that at one time in her career she was the target of racist bullying at the gym where she trained.

The Virginia gym, Excalibur Gymnastics, has since fired back, strongly denying the allegations.

Douglas eventually moved to Iowa to train with Shawn Johnson's Olympic coach. The Olympian told Winfrey in the interview that the girls at the Virginia gym called her a "slave."

Douglas recalled, "One of my teammates was like, 'Can you scrape the bar?' And they were like, 'Why doesn't Gabby do it, she's our slave?'" She added, "I definitely felt isolated, I felt 'Why am I deserving this? Is it because I'm black?'"

The 16-year-old said she finally left the gym when she was 14. "I was scared at my old gym to show my potential... I was just holding back."

The ill treatment got so bad, Douglas' mom Natalie Hawkins told Winfrey, that Douglas almost threatened to quit the sport altogether if she couldn't be transferred to work with another coach.

Randy Stageburg, a former senior international elite gymnast who trained at Excalibur, responded on the site Gymnewstics.com. "The accusations that are being made against the gymnasts and coaches are just sickening."

Stageburg added, "Gabby was never a victim. In fact, many would say she was one of the favorites. I am not saying that she never felt bullied, because when you are in a sport with a bunch of girls, it is bound to happen. However, anything that she may have felt was never about race, and I can assure you everyone at some point has felt bullied. I never once heard her complain about girls being mean -- funny how it is just now coming up."

Excalibur Gymnastics CEO Gustavo Maure said in a statement to E! News ththat he thins Douglas is outright lying. "Is Gabrielle a credible person just because she is an Olympic champion? She is not giving any names or dates, leading us to believe that the accusation is fake," he said. "This wouldn't be the first time that the media has made up a story. Thousands of gymnasts and families have supported our good conduct and our professionalism during the last 30 years."

Kim Hedeland, the mother of one of Douglas' former teammates, argues that the kind of bullying Douglas is describing simply didn't exist."I don't claim to know everything that happened in the situation with the gym and its gymnast who is now an Olympic athlete, but I do know that my daughter loved her like a sister for 7 years," she wrote on the gym's Facebook page.

"They were often partnered during training and slept in the same room during travel meets. They attended birthday parties and sleepovers together ... My daughter says that she was one of her best friends at the gym was very sad when she left."

Douglas, who is the first African-American to win the all-around gold medal in women's gymnastics, withstood critiques about her hairstyle, a ponytail, during the competition. The snarky remarks, Winfrey pointed out, had come from African-American women.

The talk show host ranted to the teen, "You know why it sickens me? We're the only ones who would care to notice, because the whole world is looking at your athletic prowess, and there are a few naysayers -- haters -- who are on talking about your hair."

Winfrey added, "I thought your hair was cute. I thought, 'Oh gee, everyone's doing the same hairdo.'"