Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas will take part in her first U.S. National Team camp since the London Games next week.
The five-day camp, which begins Monday, will be at the National Team Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch in Texas, led by National Team coordinator Martha Karolyi.
Douglas, 18, took time away from the gym after winning team and all-around gold at the 2012 Olympics. She moved from Des Moines, Iowa, to Los Angeles and began training, only to move back to Des Moines and resume working with coach Liang Chow in April.
“This is still the beginning stage,” Chow said, according to the Des Moines Register. “We’re working on the physical things. We have to put all the pieces together. Everything has to be falling together. In maybe one or two more months, I can give you a much clearer picture.”
Douglas said last September, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, that she planned to return at the 2014 U.S. Championships in Pittsburgh in August.
What’s the rest of the Fierce Five doing?
McKayla Maroney won vault gold at last year’s World Championships and had knee surgery in March.
Aly Raisman is training again with an eye on returning to a national team camp in October.
Jordyn Wieber hasn’t competed since the Olympics. She’s a team manager at UCLA, and it’s unknown if or when she will return.
Kyla Ross has been the busiest, competing each of the last two seasons. She took second to Elizabeth Price in the all-around at the Pacific Rim Championships in April. Price, an Olympic alternate, then retired from international competition.
Douglas and Ross are the only Fierce Five members going to the camp next week. They’ll be joined by a group that includes 2013 world all-around champion Simone Biles and McKenna Kelley, the 17-year-old daughter of 1984 Olympic all-around champion Mary Lou Retton.
No U.S. women’s gymnast has made back-to-back Olympic teams since 1996 and 2000.
