Gabby Douglas, seen right here throughout her gold-medal marketing campaign on the London 2012 Olympics, is eyeing a return to the very best ranges of gymnastics: this summer season’s video games in Paris.

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Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Gabby Douglas, seen right here throughout her gold-medal marketing campaign on the London 2012 Olympics, is eyeing a return to the very best ranges of gymnastics: this summer season’s video games in Paris.

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Twelve years after a surprising Olympic efficiency the place she earned two gold medals, Gabby Douglas is returning to an elite gymnastics occasion — the subsequent step in a comeback she introduced final summer season.

Douglas, 28, is about to compete on the Winter Cup competition on Feb. 24. The occasion in Louisville, Ky., is a qualifier for the 2024 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, forward of this summer season’s Olympics in Paris.

“SO happy to get back out on the competition floor and enjoy this sport that i fell in love with as a little girl,” Douglas said on her Instagram feed.

“See you in Louisville!” USA Gymnastics replied.

Douglas posted a video of her current exercises, revealing an athlete who has added muscle to go together with the grace and talent that made her a star at age 16, when she turned the primary African American gymnast to win Olympic gold within the particular person all-around on the London video games in 2012.

After her rise to stardom with staff and all-around gold medals, Douglas told NPR that she wished to go to at least one extra Olympics, in Rio. She competed alongside Simone Biles on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, the place Douglas gained her third gold, within the staff occasion. For years afterward, she did not compete, taking on talking engagements as a substitute of gymnastics. But she says her aggressive fireplace has been rekindled.

“I didn’t want to end this sport how I did in 2016,” Douglas mentioned in an interview on NBC News’ Hallie Jackson NOW. “I wanted to take a step back and work on my mental state.”

Now each Douglas and Biles wish to defy the percentages and compete in Paris; Biles announced her own comeback last year. For every of them, it could be their third Olympics — a mark that might convey them equal to Dominique Dawes.

Douglas and Biles are a part of a era of remarkable gymnasts whose lives have been thrown off-kilter by sexual abuse perpetrated by former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar. Many of them, together with Douglas and Biles, have spoken out in regards to the persevering with psychological well being struggles they face.

Those who are actually cheering Douglas’ comeback embody her former teammates, like McKayla Maroney.

“Amen girl. Let’s go,” Maroney wrote of Douglas’ comeback news final summer season. “Cheering you on for life.”

Former UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field — the legendary “Miss Val,” who gained nationwide titles and produced Olympic stars — told NPR last year that she was “thrilled” to listen to about Douglas returning to the game.

“You see this in a lot of other sports, but it is unprecedented in gymnastics,” Kondos Field mentioned.

“When an athlete is able to step away and heal comprehensively — mentally, emotionally, physically — and then they’re excited to come back to the sport, I think it’s wonderful.”

In updates to her followers, Douglas has mentioned she’s having fun with the method of coaching and dealing towards her objective. She and Biles face a crowded discipline of rivals to make the U.S. Olympic staff, together with reigning Olympic all-around champion Sunisa Lee and her fellow medalists Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey.

Asked if she would advise Douglas to give attention to a single occasion or vie for a spot within the all-around occasion, Kondos Field replied, “I would say, ‘Let’s make an all-around assault, Gabby — let’s go for it.’

“Take your chips and go all in, let’s have a look at what we have got.”