Away from West Des Moines Gym for Extended Period, Can Gabby Douglas Still Make Rio in 2016?

Gabby Douglas, who adopted West Des Moines as her home while training for her gold-medal performances at the London 2012 Olympics, likely won’t be returning the gym in the foreseeable future.

Instead, she’s taking time to “enjoy for herself all the sunshine stuff,” her coach, Liang Chow, told the Des Moines Register recently.

Douglas, who turned 17 on Dec. 31, moved from her Virginia Beach home as a 14-year-old to train with Chow, who coached Olympic medalist Shawn Johnson, whose four medals in Beijing in 2008 included a gold on the balance beam. Douglas lived with Travis and Missy Parton, who treated her as a fifth daughter.

Chow’s tutelage paid off.

She wasn’t considered a contender until nine months ago, when she took the American Cup from reigning world champion and teammate Jordan Wieber, “showing off a new vault, an ungraded uneven bars routine and a dazzling personality that would be a hit on Broadway and Madison Avenue,” Nancy Armour of the Associated Press reported.

The world discovered the winning form and smile during Douglas’s powerhouse performances in London, where she became an overnight sensation. She followed up an inspiring performance with the gold-medal winning U.S. women’s gymnastics team by becoming the first African-American gymnast ever to claim women’s gymnastics’ most coveted prize, the gold medal in the all-around competition.

Accolades Keeping Pouring In

Since the Olympics, Douglas has maintained a whirlwind schedule of public appearances, including a 40-city gymnastics tour and has been away from Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute for eight months.

Last month, she was named the Associated Press female athlete of the year.

"I didn't realize how much of an impact I made," Douglas said after the vote by U.S. editors and news directors. "My mom and everyone said, 'You really won't know the full impact until you're 30 or 40 years old.' But it's starting to sink in."

That time in the sunshine is also lucrative and she reportedly is worth millions. She had a deal with Procter & Gamble to be part of its “Raising an Olympian” series that began airing after the U.S. team trials.

She has a signature line of gymnastics leotards, has deals with Nike, Kellogg Co. and AT&T, and agent Sheryl Shade said Douglas has drawn interest from companies that don't traditionally partner with Olympians or athletes.

She met the president and first lady and made it on prestigious lists, including Forbes’ “30 under 30” list, Barbara Walters’ list of the “10 Most Fascinating People” of the year and the New York Times Bestseller List, where her book, autobiography, "Grace, Gold and Glory," is currently No. 6 on the New York Times' young adult list.

The book details some of the extraordinary struggles Douglas overcame, including being so homesick she almost gave up on her Olympic dreams. She lived with the Partons in West Des Moines and though they treated her as a daughter, she missed her mother and siblings back in Virginia.

"I think (those experiences) helped me become a stronger and more mature person and that was my motivation. I remember my mom telling me that we were homeless," she told The Christian Post in an exclusive interview published in December. "Stories about that, that was my motivation. … People are out there going through tough times. I went through hardships like a blood disease, homelessness, moved to Iowa, injuries and I had to overcome all of those things to get to where I am today."

She Tweeted on Dec. 31 that 2012 was “the best year of my life.”

Credit, Douglas has repeatedly said, goes to God. A devout Christian, she told The Christian Post in an exclusive interview that it’s “important for me to praise God because He's given me this God-given talent to go out there and represent Him and share my faith with everyone.

"I mean I'm not going to hold it in because He's blessed me so much throughout my gymnastics career. He's woken me up every single morning and He's just been so great to me, so I'm going to go and share it with everyone because it's a part of me and it's just who I am."

"I would hope that people take away from my legacy, my story or even my book, 'Grace, Gold and Glory' that you can achieve your dreams if you just trust and believe in yourself 100 percent," Douglas continued. "I went through hardships, struggles, homelessness and blood disease and all of those things, and I still accomplished my goals. Know that no matter how much money you have, no matter what the color of your skin is, that you still can push 100 percent. … Don't ever give up."

Chow Coaching Others Aiming for Rio

Douglas, nicknamed “The Flying Squirrel” by U.S. national team coordinator Martha Karolyi as a nod to her gravity-defying releases off the uneven bars, has said repeatedly that her “retirement” isn’t official and that she plans to compete in 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Are her chances diminished by an eight-month absence from the gym?

History isn’t on Douglas’s side.

According to the AP’s Armour, no Olympic gymnastics champion has gone on to compete at the next Summer Games. Shawn Johnson of West Des Moines retired from gymnastics after a knee injury cut short her dream of joining the 2012 team. Nastia Liukin another member of the 2008 team, also failed to make a comeback after being away from the gym for three years.

“No Olympic champion has gone on to compete at the next Summer Games, but Douglas is still a relative newcomer to the elite scene — she'd done all of four international events before the Olympics — and Chow has said she hasn't come close to reaching her full potential,” the AP’s Armour reported.

Chow, who has said Douglas’s best years are ahead of her, says that’s up her.

“I don’t have any plans for Gabby at this point,” Chow told the Register. “I can’t make any plans till she’s physically back in the gym. I need to see where she’s at. I’m not a big dreamer. I have to see the reality.”

Chow is also coaching three other promising gymnasts aiming for Rio – Norah Flatley, Alexis Vasquez and Rachel Gowry.

Karolyi said gymnastics at the Olympic level requires complete dedication.

“Gymnastics at this level cannot be done halfway or not even 90 percent dedication," Karolyi told the Des Moines newspaper.

When Douglas does return to the gym, she needs to make the same commitment to “train just like I did when I became Olympic champion,’ “ Karolyi said. “There will be the same expectations for her as any other of our athletes."