Gabby Douglas, an Olympic champion, announces her return to gymnastics

Douglas last participated in the Olympics in 2016.

Douglas, 27, conveyed her joy at getting back into the sport in an emotional essay in which she explained why she had left the spotlight.

Douglas posted black-and-white pictures of her on the balancing beam with the message, “Hey guys long time no post.”

“As you all know, I stepped back from the socials and in that time, I did a lot of journaling, reflecting, and soul searching and found myself back where it all began,” she said. “Suppressing and avoiding facing darkness and fears is so simple.”

“For many years, I’ve had an aching in my heart,” wrote Douglas, “but I didn’t want to keep carrying wrath, anguish, sadness, or regret and through my tears and suffering, I’ve discovered peace. I wanted to rediscover my affection for the activity that I truly like.

Using the hashtag #2024—the year of the Paris Olympics—she expressed her thanks and teased her Olympic return.

I am incredibly thankful and thrilled to go back out on the floor, and even more appreciative for all of your support and love.

I know I have great work ahead of me. It actually means so lot, and there is so much to say, but let’s do this in 2024 for now, she remarked.

Aly Raisman, Douglas’ former teammate and captain, left Douglas a good luck message in the comments area.

“Good luck to you and I hope you succeed! I am supporting you! I am very excited to see you.” Raisman authored.

According to the official Olympics website, Douglas is now training at WOGA Gymnastics in Plano, Texas, which is co-owned by the father of 2008 Olympic winner Nastia Liukin.

It seems from Douglas’ tweet that she intends to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Douglas, who is presently 27 years old, would be the oldest woman to qualify for the American gymnastics team if she did.

Former Olympic champions Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee have resumed their training, according to the Olympics website.

Douglas has had a legendary career. She was the first Black woman to win gold in the individual all-around competition at the 2012 London Olympics.

The “Fierce Five” gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics won team gold with Douglas and her fellow competitors.

As a member of the Final Five team that won the team competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she last participated, Douglas earned his third gold medal.

After 2016, she took a break from training, and she skipped the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Douglas revealed in 2017 on Instagram that she had been assaulted by Larry Nassar, the former doctor for the national team.

For 18 years, Nassar worked as the USA Gymnastics team doctor. More than 160 women have come forward with allegations that the disgraced doctor sexually assaulted them while he was in office.

Nassar, who is now spending a lengthy term in a federal prison in Florida, was recently stabbed many times.

In her statement at the time, Douglas stated, “I didn’t publicly disclose my experiences as well as many other things because for years we were conditioned to be quiet and honestly some things were quite terrible.

“I firmly support my teammates’ decision to come forward and share what transpired to them,”

August 11, 2022, saw Douglas posting on Instagram about her experience at the 2016 Olympics.

She captioned the photo with the words “I know I don’t post a lot about gymnastics, but I have my reasons,” and an emoji representing heartache.

Douglas said, “Behind the scenes, there were so many horrible things that I went through on the way to my second game. “I experienced hell twice, losing my pleasure, my passion, my fire, my love, and eventually myself. Still, there are a lot of things that remain unknown. hidden.”

She thanked her followers and supporters for their encouragement and nice comments as she wrapped up her post.

Douglas said on Instagram a few days later that she would be “taking a step back” from social media in order to concentrate on her mental health.