Being a gymnast in hard. Blood, sweat, tears aside, crushed Olympic dreams, and sleepless nights make up the majority of what seems like a shiny exterior of a painful and sacrifice-filled life. Don’t we all already know about Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee  who not just endured a cruel episode of twisties, public humiliation of a stripped Olympic medal and kidney-related ailments, but also countless other struggles behind closed doors. But how does it feel when the world refuses to recognise your pain? Or even worse: Stops you from even talking about it?

Well, that’s the surprising reality US gymnast and 2012 Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas faced on January 22. The incident kicked off when the 29-year-old took to TikTok and Instagram to share a compilation of her gym practices. Captioned, “happy wednesday never showed you guys bts of the 2024 journey 🖤 feel free to laugh…” along with a mention of “⚠️BLOOD WARINING⚠️” , the video showed Thomas failing to complete her routines in hilarious ways. In one instance, she almost fell off the beam, while in another Thomas was seen failing to complete a vault and exiting the mat running. However, the video soon took a darker turn…

On one hand, Thomas’ peppy voiceover stated, “Gymnastics tells you no… all day long. It mocks you over and over again, telling you, ‘You’re an idiot’, that, ‘You’re crazy’. If you like running full-speed toward a stationary object, vault’s for you. If you like peeling a piece of your skin in the size of a quarter off your hands, bars is for you. Because the only thing more fun than rips is when your rips get rips. It’s super sexy. In floors, are you serious? Who doesn’t wanna parade around in a leotard getting wedg–s, and doing dorky choreography?…If you like falling, then gymnastics IS THE sport for you. You get to fall on your face, your a–, your back, your knees, and your crotch! You think I didn’t like falling? I loveeeeeeed it!”

And then on the other hand, were some equally cruel injuries shown in the video. The snippet had several scenes revealing Gabby’s injured palms. The scenes had a few patches of blood, but the background voice justified the injury as a part of the sport. In February last year, the three-time Olympic champion was on the list to make her return to competitive gymnastics. Since 2022, she had been making her up in the WOGA Gymnastics, targeting her return to the Olympic calendar. The Winter Cup on February 24 could have been her first gymnastics event since the Rio Olympics. But she missed the train because she suffered from COVID. Meanwhile, she didn’t stop her preparation under coach Anna Liukin. The snippet held the proof of it. However, it wasn’t long before TikTok stepped in. 

As per the gymnastics legend on her Instagram Story, the Chinese short-form video-hosting service removed the video from its feed for the “Community Guidelines violation.” The screenshot Thomas shared also showed the message, “Removed for: “Dangerous acts and challenges”, along with the message: “The actions in this video are performed or supervised by professionals. Do not attempt.” So, as expected, Gabby was livid. “tiktok what?😭”

Interestingly, Instagram is yet to remove the ‘dangerous’ video, which can be attributed to the different community guidelines the two platforms adhere to. As per Atlanta-based social media marketing agency Sociallyin‘s Keith Kakadia, Tiktok aims to uphold a “family-friendly environment” and “maintains strict policies against violent or graphic content across all formats”.

All of this when Thomas is already experiencing a heartbreaking downtime in her career…

Top Comment by UN Peace Ambassador NGO Dr. Angela J. Nealy

Yes, I deleted my X.com and TikTok accounts. Respectfully, Madam Ambassador Dr. Nealy H.E. United Nations Peace Ambassador NGO ECOSOC Dr. Angela J. Nealy

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The former Olympic gymnastics champion finds it emotional

The first Black Olympic all-around champion in the women’s category set the tone, announcing her return to the mat last season. After the 2016 US Championships, the trio was even slated to compete at the US Classic. However, the turn of events continued, and Douglas lost the track. She had to miss the Olympic berth. Altogether, Gabby put her effort into making her comeback a starry affair.

She came back in the 2024 American Classic. A score of more than 51.000 could’ve earned her a place at the National Championships. The LA native stopped at 50.650, 0.350 short of making it. A total heartbreak for someone who was making her comeback to mainstream gymnastics after 8 years! But when Gabby Douglas is in the mix, you can expect something more in the story. Perhaps a nail-biting fight! 

In the next 2024 Core Hydration Classic, Gabby experienced fall twice. Subsequently, she scratched from the rest of the events. In May-June, 2024, she had to compete in the US Gymnastics Championships to make her chance to enter the Paris Olympics afloat. But her alleged ankle injury forced her to withdraw her name from the list. That concluded her dream of competing in her third Olympics. And now, it seems her story of a comeback captured in frames found the door closed on TikTok. 

However, Gabby Douglas doesn’t want to lose the momentum just yet. Last year, she missed every step to avail herself of the ticket to enter the women’s all-around gymnastics contest in the Paris Olympics. But the snippet showed her effort. She felt the hit. Yet she bounced back. 

 In her interaction with Olympics.com, Gabby said, “I love this sport and I love pushing my limits. 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.” She also added, “My plan is to continue to train for the L.A. 2028 Olympics. It would be such an honor to represent the U.S. at a home Olympics.” Don’t worry! Her latest social media post could have been proof of her capabilities. 

Things, however, turned out differently. TikTok removed the post and on Instagram, she had to face criticism beneath the post. A dead end right? No. In the comment box on Instagram, Gabby found a few voices giving her flowers. One such came from Keisha Chenelle. The model supported the gymnast’s fight and took a dig at the critics. Gabby Douglas found it touching. In reply, she wrote, “crying.” She won again. Isn’t she?