KATY, Texas — Gabby Douglas is officially back.
It remains to be seen whether the gymnastics star's return to competition will lead to the Paris Olympics.
Douglas, who won in London in 2012 and became the first black woman to win an Olympic individual all-around title, competed in the American Classic for the first time in eight years on Saturday.
The 28-year-old looked rusty in some areas but looked promising elsewhere, scoring 50.65 points in the individual all-around. Douglas has qualified in multiple events at next month's national championships in Fort Worth, Texas. She will have another chance to qualify for the individual all-around at the national championships when she competes in the U.S. Classic on May 18 in Hartford, Conn.
Douglas last competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he helped the U.S. team win a gold medal for the second consecutive year in the team event. Although she took an extended break from the sport, she never officially retired. Her itch to return was reignited while watching the 2022 U.S. Championships, and she has spent much of the past two years training in the Dallas area, joining the U.S. women's five-man team that is heavily favored to win gold. I have been aiming to create a. in Paris this summer.
However, her return is shrouded in mystery. She was scheduled to compete in the Winter Cup in February, but her positive coronavirus test forced her to withdraw from the tournament a few days ago. She has had limited press exposure and, unlike 2020 Olympic gold medalists Sunitha Lee and Jade Carey (both of whom competed in the American Classic), she has confirmed that she will not participate in Friday's podium training. Selected.
Douglas took to the floor about an hour before competition and showed what turned her into a star in London. Her double twist Yurchenko on vault had plenty of amplitude, and in her highest event, horizontal bars, she definitely had some of the routines to compete at an elite level.
Gabby Douglas performs a floor routine while competing in the American Classic on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Katy, Texas. Credit: AP/David J. Phillip
The challenge is finding a way to consistently combine all the elements.
Douglas fell off the bar twice, but her floor routine lacked the sharpness and stamina needed for someone hoping to make a serious bid for an Olympic team.
Douglas has time, but not a lot. The US Classic is in three weeks. There are only five games left in the U.S. Championships, and the Olympic trials will be held in Minneapolis in late June.
Carey, who won the gold medal in the floor exercise in Tokyo, won the individual all-around with a score of 55.000, while also setting the highest scores on vault and floor. Lee, who has been dealing with kidney-related health issues for the past two years, put together a dazzling bar routine and won easily with a score of 15.200.
