Gabby Douglas set to return to gymnastics after eight-year layoff

Published 9:23 am Friday, February 9, 2024

Gabby Douglas, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and trailblazer in gymnastics, is set to return to competition this month at the Winter Cup in Louisville, Kentucky.

Douglas, who hasn’t competed since the 2016 Olympics, publicly indicated last year that she had hopes of making the 2024 Olympic team, but her competitive return remained unclear until this week, when Douglas shared her plans on NBC News and USA Gymnastics released the roster of registered athletes for this Feb. 24 event.

As a 16-year-old, Douglas won the all-around gold at the 2012 London Games, becoming the first Black woman to win the Olympic title and inspiring numerous young girls of color to participate in the sport.

At her second Olympics in 2016, Douglas helped the U.S. women repeat as gold medalists in the team competition. She earned the third-best qualifying score but couldn’t advance to the all-around final, which is limited to two athletes per country.

Now 28, Douglas joins a deep pool of U.S. gymnasts that includes fellow Olympic all-around champions Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee. In recent years, some American gymnasts have opted to extend their careers into their 20s, creating a crowded field of contenders aiming for a spot on the five-member team in Paris. Biles and Lee are not slated to compete at the Winter Cup, which serves as a qualifying opportunity for the U.S. national championships.

Douglas told NBC News that watching U.S. nationals in 2022 sparked a realization that she missed competition. Around that time, Douglas wrote in a social media post: “My life has never been smooth or easy. I have carried a heavy weight on my back for quite some time, and it has weighed me down, physically, mentally and emotionally.”

She added that she planned to take a break from social media to focus on her mental health. A year later, in July 2023, Douglas announced her return to gymnastics and wrote: “I wanted to find the joy again for the sport that I absolutely love doing.”

Since then, Douglas has shared videos of several skills — including exquisite pirouetting elements on bars and a full-twisting back tuck on beam — but her performance at the Winter Cup will be the first public indicator of how she compares to the rest of the field.

Early in the season, some gymnasts choose to perform only on select apparatuses, rather than on all four, and Douglas’s plans are not yet clear. The path to Paris ramps up in May with the U.S. Classic, followed by nationals and the Olympic trials. Some gymnasts also will represent the United States at international competitions over the next few months.

At the Winter Cup, Douglas will compete against Tokyo Olympian Jordan Chiles and two-time world championships team member Skye Blakely, among others expected to be in the mix for the Olympic team. Trinity Thomas, previously a standout NCAA gymnast at Florida who last competed at the elite level in 2019, also is slated to compete.

In addition to the absences of Biles and Lee, several notable gymnasts are not on the Winter Cup roster, including two-time world championships all-around medalist Shilese Jones; Olympic floor champion Jade Carey, who’s competing for Oregon State through April; three-time worlds team member Leanne Wong, who’s also in the midst of the NCAA season at Florida; Olympics alternate Kayla DiCello; and Joscelyn Roberson, who competed at worlds last year but is working back from an ankle injury.