Women’s gymnastics is one of the most watched summer Olympic sports. It’s also one that many folks don’t follow in the years between games. With the Paris 2024 Olympics just five months away, you might be wondering when you should start paying attention. The answer is: now.
The US Winter Cup this past weekend officially kicked off the 2024 Olympic gymnastics season. The competition marked the debut of myriad gymnasts who are newly age-eligible for the Olympics. It also saw the return of a number of veteran competitors — most notably the Tokyo 2020 Olympic all-around gold medalist Suni Lee.
It might seem unsurprising that the reigning all-around winner would make a bid for a second Olympics, but in fact it’s rare that someone returns to defend their all-around title. Historically, the majority of all-around gold medalists have retired after winning the most coveted medal in women’s gymnastics. That makes it all the more exciting not only to see Lee return, but her two predecessors as well: Simone Biles, the 2016 Olympic champion, and Gabby Douglas, 2012 champ, are also vying for a spot at Paris this July. Though they weren't at the Winter Cup, the vets have made their intentions to return clear.
So far, Biles and Lee seem to be on track. Biles appears to have bounced back after dealing with the twisties last Olympics. She won her sixth world champion title last year and became the most decorated gymnast of all time. Lee, in remission for a chronic illness that sidelined her sporadically last year, is on the up and up. In spite of a shaky return at the Winter Cup, Lee is still performing some of the most difficult skills in the world. If both are healthy this summer, it’s hard to imagine an Olympic team without them.
Douglas’ road ahead, however, is less certain. That’s largely due to the unprecedented nature of her comeback after so many years away from training and competing.
After winning all-around gold at the 2012 London Olympics, Gabby Douglas returned for the 2016 Rio Games. She wasn’t able to defend her title during her second attempt, but still walked away with a gold team medal. Though she never formally announced her retirement, that moment seemed to mark the end of her career. Suffice to say, the gymnastics world was shocked when Douglas announced her comeback 12 years after her first Olympics.
When Douglas staged her first comeback for the 2016 games, she only took a year off before returning to the gym. This time around, when Douglas started training in 2022, she had been out of competition for a whopping six years. Ahead of the 2016 Olympics, Douglas returned to competition in early 2015. With this current comeback, Douglas is a year behind that schedule. While she plans to start competing again soon, there’s increasingly less time to get in reps on the competition floor before Olympic Trials (especially after an ill-timed COVID diagnosis prevented Douglas from making her return at the Winter Cup).
Comebacks in gymnastics are all about timing. Being a former Olympic champion doesn’t automatically guarantee you’ll be able to return to form, let alone that you’ll get picked for the team. When 2008 Olympic all-around gold medalist Nastia Liukin mounted her comeback for the 2012 London Games, she returned to training in late 2011. Throughout the season, she seemed to struggle with endurance. Ultimately, Liukin wasn’t selected for the 2012 team. The fundamentals were there, but the stamina for executing the strenuous routines wasn’t.
During her 2016 comeback, Douglas appeared to have both the fundamentals and the endurance — but an underwhelming Olympic Trials performance saw Douglas finish in 7th place. Despite that, she was still named to the five-person Olympic team. The 4th and 5th place finishers were alternates and the 6th was left off entirely. Assembling a team requires choosing gymnasts with complementary strengths, and Douglas was as sensible a pick as those that finished above her. At the same time, Douglas’ selection speaks to the value of having won the highest individual honor in gymnastics. Ultimately, her experience and track record outweighed having had a bad day. Having that Olympic title in their back pocket might very well once again be the tipping scale factor for Biles, Lee, and Douglas when it comes to the 2024 Olympic Trials.
One thing that's decidedly not a barrier with their comebacks: age. Douglas, Biles, and Lee will be 28, 27 and 21, respectively, during the Olympics this summer. While teens dominated the sport for years, older gymnasts are increasingly becoming the rule, not the exception. At the last Olympics, the average age of women's gymnastics medal winners was 20.6. In recent years there’s been numerous gymnasts in their 20s, 30s and even 40s winning major titles and competing at multiple Olympic games. That’s due in part to the more open-ended scoring system introduced in 2006, which rewards more difficult skills that require power and muscle to execute. Another change helping this trend may be cultural shifts in the approach to training, aiming to minimize injury and prioritize career longevity.
In addition to the trio of returning Olympic champions, seniority seems to be the unifying theme among nearly all the US frontrunners. The pool of contenders includes five former Olympic team members (Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Gabby Douglas, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles), five world championship team members, (Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely, Leanne Wong, Joscelyn Roberson, Kayla DiCello), the 2022 US national champion (Konnor McClain) and one of the most decorated NCAA gymnasts of all time (Trinity Thomas). While a younger gymnast or two might still rise in the ranks (keep your eye on Kaliya Lincoln), you can likely expect to see familiar faces representing the US in Paris.
Anything can happen in gymnastics, especially in the next five months. For Biles and Lee, the goal will be staying healthy and as injury-free as possible. For Douglas, facing a short timeline after so much time away, the biggest test will be proving her endurance. Whether or not she struggles with stamina like Liukin in 2012 or is able to reach her peak by Olympic Trials remains to be seen. For the rest of the pack, their best path to Paris 2024 is to be undeniable. Admittedly, it’s a tall order — but that's just how it goes when you’re up against three Olympic all-around champions and the most competitive field ever to vie for a spot on the US women's gymnastics team.
