The three-time Olympic champion Gabby Douglas withdrew from the U.S. Gymnastics Championship this weekend, ending her hopes of making the U.S. team for this summer’s Paris Games after an almost eight-year absence from competition. Douglas told ESPN she sustained an injury on her ankle during this week’s training. Her agent, Lowell Taub, declined further comment
“I spoke to her today,” said Chellsie Memmel, who is now USA Gymnastics women’s program technical lead but understands Douglas’ situation better than most, having attempted her comeback three years ago, a decade after her last competition.
“We had a really good talk. I was like, ‘I know how you’re feeling.’ When you come back as an older athlete, things feel a lot different in competition,” said Memmel, part of the U.S. team that won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics. “I’m bummed for her, but her body is her top priority and that’s smart.”
The announcement was not a surprise after Douglas’ rough outings in her first two competitions since the Rio Olympics. She fell twice on uneven bars, her signature event, at the American Classic on April 27. She looked better in training ahead of the U.S. Classic on May 18 but scratched after one event after again falling twice on bars.
The 28-year-old looked stone-faced as she came off the podium in Hartford, Connecticut, knowing what a steep climb it would be for her. Douglas needed to score a 51 or higher at the U.S. Classic to qualify to do the all-around at the national championships, and her 10.1 on bars would have made that difficult.
“I honestly didn’t do the best that I wanted,” Douglas said of the American Classic, which was her first competition since the Rio Olympics in 2016. “But I have to give myself a little grace because it’s been so long.”
Douglas had the third-highest score in qualifying in Rio, behind Simone Biles and Aly Raisman, but didn’t make the all-around final because of the two-per-country limit. She had the second-highest score for the United States on uneven bars in both qualifying and team finals, and that event effectively ended any hope Russia had of catching the Americans.
Though she didn’t officially retire, most assumed Douglas was done with the sport. But as she watched the national championships in 2022, she realized she missed gymnastics and wanted to end her career on her terms. Within a few months, there were rumors she was training at WOGA, the gym outside Dallas that’s owned by the parents of 2008 Olympic champion Nastia Liukin. Douglas confirmed it last July and began posting clips of herself in the gym.
“Regardless of the outcome, I want to make sure I end on love and joy instead of hating something that I love,” Douglas said.
Douglas has plans to continue training at the elite level with her eyes on the 2028 Games.
”I plan to continue to train for the L.A. 2028 Olympics,” she said to ESPN. ”It would be such an honor to represent the U.S. at a home Olympics.”
