When quite a lot of gymnastics pundits led by Gymcastic, The Gymternet, and All Issues Gymnastics revealed that Gabby Douglas had returned to coaching, it got here as a shock to gymnastics followers. In every other circumstance such information can be dismissed as too inconceivable to be believed.
But three totally different pundits have been prepared to place their names to this story and confirm that for weeks that they had been listening to rumors that Gabby Douglas had returned to critical coaching. Main the cost was Gymcastic who acknowledged that they had confirmed the information through a number of sources whereas additionally establishing that Douglas is at present coaching at WOGA.
After I first heard the information my response was “shocked, however not shocked.” It was a really surprising information story {that a} gymnast who final competed six years in the past is popping out of retirement. Gabby has a formidable job forward of her. In a sport the place even a two-year hiatus usually prevents most gymnasts from ever once more showing in an Olympics or World Championships, Gabby Douglas must overcome such a hiatus that’s thrice in size.
Moreover, Gabby Douglas is an Olympic All-Round Champion and gymnasts who win such titles usually retire shortly after acquiring this achievement. If Gabby levels a profitable comeback, she can be the primary Olympic All-Round (AA) Champion to be a 3x Olympian for the reason that Nineteen Seventies. In reality, Gabby would have the longest profession of any such Olympic AA Champion in all the historical past of ladies’s gymnastics.
That’s what makes this information stunning. What makes this information unsurprising is that that is Gabby Douglas we’re speaking about right here. She is likely one of the most athletically gifted athletes the game has ever seen whereas additionally having psychological power that goes far above and past what most Olympians have. These two attributes put collectively makes Gabby Douglas one of many few athletes who might truly pull this off.
Her Athleticism
Gabby is remembered for profitable the 2012 Olympic AA and that occasion is what most bear in mind her for once they consider her expertise. However gymnastics followers must also bear in mind the next numbers:
fifth (Qualifying)
1st (Finals)
2nd (Finals)
third (Qualifying)
These are Douglas’ profession leads to the All-Round. These will not be her 4 greatest outcomes. These are all of her placements each time she even attended the World Championships or Olympics. The All-Round is probably the most bodily exhausting, grueling, and riskiest occasion in gymnastics and but Gabby by no means had a foul exhibiting any time she competed within the AA. It is likely one of the extra absurd stat strains in gymnastics historical past {that a} gymnast might compete on this occasion on so many various events and nonetheless preserve constant top-5 placements.
However the context behind these rankings must also be thought-about as effectively:
fifth in 2011: Gabby’s “worst” efficiency the place she was the youngest competitor in all the area and handed the minimal age cut-off by solely a single day.
1st in 2012: Got here on the Olympic stage the place the stress was at its most intense whereas beating out an opposing area that includes three rival gymnasts who completed 2nd, third, and 4th within the all-decade rankings.
2nd in 2015: Completed behind solely Simone Biles.
third in 2016: Completed in third place in qualifying on the Olympics behind Simone Biles and Aly Raisman, two gymnasts who rank 1st and sixth for many Olympic medals since 1981.
At each step of the best way Gabby’s profession reads like a gymnast who’s even higher than her outcomes would possibly in any other case point out, and this from a gymnast who received probably the most prestigious occasion in all of gymnastics. It takes extraordinary athletic expertise for a gymnast to have 4 robust leads to the All-Round. However what makes Douglas’s profession so fascinating is that she excelled on each try and she or he had success within the AA at each the very starting and really finish of her profession. It’s uncommon to see a gymnast excel within the AA on so many various events and at each single stage of her profession.
These 4 outcomes are exceptional and counsel that Gabby is likely one of the most distinctive skills the game has ever seen. Whereas I don’t imagine these outcomes are proof that Gabby might return and instantly emerge as a risk for an AA title, I do imagine it’s proof that Gabby possesses extraordinary expertise that makes a possible comeback way more viable than what one would in any other case assume from somebody who has been absent from the game for six years.
Her Psychological Energy
The thought of an Olympic All-Round Champion popping out of retirement or a gold medalist getting back from a 6-year break to return to coaching might sound unconventional, however Gabby Douglas made a profession out of not being typical.
When she received the All-Round on the 2012 Olympics Gabby Douglas reached the head of ladies’s gymnastics and received probably the most prestigious medal a gymnast can ever hope to win. What does it say about one’s private character that after climbing the tallest mountain she determined to climb it once more? It takes psychological toughness to repeat the method of coaching and competing in a second Olympics, when the percentages can be stacked much more in opposition to you than the final time round.
For a gymnast in Gabby’s place who already had an Olympic AA gold medal, it’s typically higher for his or her private model and sponsorship worth to retire on the peak of their reputation than reappear within the Olympics and face a probable defeat. However Gabby didn’t care about that as a result of Gabby Douglas loves the fun of respiratory chalk mud within the fitness center and competing on the largest stage. The monetary concerns and the notion of how followers would react to an Olympic defeat have been irrelevant. Gabby Douglas had the guts of the truest athlete and the fiercest competitor. The love of the sport and the deep internal ardour she possesses for gymnastics can be Gabby’s driving pressure.
In 2015 Douglas grew to become the primary Olympic AA Champion to return to the World Championships since 1981 (Elena Davydova). In 2016 she grew to become the primary Olympic AA Champion to return to the Olympics since 1980 (Nadia Comaneci). Gabby not solely grew to become the primary gymnast in 34-36 years to interrupt these obstacles, she did so as a minimum opportune time for such an Olympic AA Champion to return and stage a comeback.
Douglas’ first comeback got here in the course of the peak of Simone Biles’ profession. If it’s a testomony to at least one’s private character that Gabby reached the highest of the best mountain after which determined she wished to climb that mountain once more, she did so understanding that she was doing so for a probable second place end. Biles was assured to take Gabby’s former title and the glory Simone would obtain for herself in Rio de Janeiro-2016 was sure to knock Gabby down a peg.
However Gabby went to Rio de Janeiro in any case as a result of none of that mattered, Douglas had her personal motivations and she or he adopted them by. Gabby went to Brazil with the first objective of profitable medals for Workforce USA, not reaching Olympic glory for herself. Gabby’s look on the 2016 Olympics was one of many best acts of selflessness in sports activities historical past, symbolized an athlete of the truest aggressive spirit, and struck down a barrier that had existed for over three a long time.
With this earlier historical past in thoughts, a Gabby Douglas comeback within the present Olympic cycle just isn’t all that out of the extraordinary. For many Olympic medalists such a comeback after a six yr absence can be exactly that, however that is Gabby Douglas and a run on the 2024 Olympics would merely be the second time she broke the norm. In Rio Gabby already proved her willingness to interrupt the norm, threat all the pieces, and choose up proper the place she left off. Gabby has already proved she has the psychological power that’s required to upend her life and put all the pieces on maintain within the title of an Olympic comeback. Much more importantly, she already proved she will be able to do it efficiently.
Conclusion
Gabby Douglas has a protracted approach to go earlier than we needs to be speaking in regards to the Paris 2024 Olympics. Gabby hasn’t even formally confirmed her comeback and we don’t know if the rumors relating to her coaching are merely an experiment that can be deserted quick time, or the start of a multi-year dedication to realize an Olympic comeback. However Gabby Douglas is a gymnast who needs to be taken critically as quickly as info arises that she is again within the fitness center. The reality is Gabby’s bodily expertise was distinctive when she competed and her psychological power is extraordinary.
When these two traits are mixed, they flip Douglas right into a formidable pressure. It might not assure success in 2024, however it provides Gabby Douglas credibility as a gymnast the place something is feasible. With Gabby Douglas the sky is the restrict and regardless of how unlikely a comeback to elite gymnastics could appear to a gymnast who hasn’t competed in six years, within the 2024 Olympic cycle Gabby can do what she already proved in 2012 and 2016.
Gabby Douglas is able to something.
