Ankle Injury Hurts Gabby Douglas’ Final Chance For A 2024 Olympic Trials Invite

The Olympic gold medalist plans to recover from her injury and focus on training for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas’s path to the 2024 Paris Olympics has come to a halt. Due to an ankle injury, she has been forced to withdraw from the upcoming U.S. championships in Fort Worth, Texas.

The injury happened during a training session this week, setting back the 28-year-old’s ambitious comeback bid after an eight-year hiatus from the sport, which, according to ESPN, would have made her the oldest American woman Olympian to compete in gymnastics since 1952. Douglas exuded a sense of achievement even with the unexpected withdrawal. “I love this sport, and I love pushing my limits,” she said. “I hope I can inspire both my peers and the next generation of gymnasts that age is just a number, and you can accomplish anything you work hard for.”

As previously covered by BLACK ENTERPRISE, Douglas embarked on her return after an eight-year break from the sport after securing back-to-back team golds in London in 20212 and Rio in 2016. Douglas clarified to fans that she never announced an official retirement but “wanted to take a step back and work on myself and my mental state.”

According to ESPN, earlier this month, Douglas encountered challenges on the bars at the U.S. Classic in Hartford, Connecticut, ahead of withdrawing from the competition. The U.S. championships would have been the gymnast’s final opportunity to secure an invite to the Olympic trials in Minneapolis, scheduled in June. The trailblazer, who became the first Black woman to capture the Olympic all-around title in 2012, is set on recovering from her injury and preparing for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

“I proved to myself and to the sport that my skills remain at an elite level,” she said.

As Douglas gears up for the 2028 competition, preparing to take the mat at 32, she plans to reunite with Lowell Taub of Range Sports, her longtime representative.