NEW YORK — Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas announced Tuesday she will compete in her first gymnastics competition in nearly eight years later this month, as she sets her sights on making her third Olympic team.
Douglas will compete at the upcoming Winter Cup competition, which runs from February 23-25 in Louisville, Kentucky.
The now 28-year-old gymnast was the first Black woman to win the Olympic all-around gymnastics title at the London Olympics in 2012. Douglas hasn't competed since the Rio Olympics in 2016, when she helped the U.S. women's gymnastics team win a second consecutive gold medal.
"I'm still a competitor at heart," Douglas told NBC's Hallie Jackson on Tuesday when she announced her return to competition. "I can't believe I'm in this sport again."
Douglas announced in July of last year that she was determined to return to the Olympics in 2024.
After a long social media break, Douglas said she had spent her time off "journaling, reflecting, soul searching and found myself back where it all began," alongside a photo of her training on the beam.
Douglas also posted video of herself practicing uneven bars, her signature event.
Douglas is one of three previous three Olympic gymnastics champions to return to training with the hope of competing in Paris next year.
Simone Biles, who won the all-around gold in Rio and was teammates with Douglas on the five-woman U.S. squad that cruised to the team gold in Brazil, is returning to competition at the U.S. Classic in Chicago in early August.
Sunisa Lee, who won all-around gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021, confirmed that she hopes to make the Olympic team again in 2024.
Biles took most of 2021 and 2022 off after Japan, where her decision to remove herself from multiple events to focus on her mental health shifted the focus from the games themselves to the overall wellness of the athletes.
