Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos steps back into the gym
Two-time Olympian Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos is back in the gym.
Well, at least kind of.
The 25-year-old, who has spent much of the last year in her home in Martinique recovering from disappointment at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, posted a video on Wednesday (3 August) on her Instagram story saying she wanted to test her gymnastics ability after having taken such a long time away from the sport.
“I want to see what I’m capable of after such a long time away from gymnastics,” said de Jesus dos Santos. “Just for the experience, to see if I lost my figure or not. I don’t think so, I never had this kind of issue, but this time, it’s a long period.”
The next slide of her Instagram story showed the four-time European Championships gold medallist performing a double back on the trampoline.
Whether or not this is the start of a return to competition remains to be seen, but in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com earlier this year, de Jesus dos Santos didn’t rule out the idea.
“I don’t think I’m ready yet to say I’m ending my career, but I’m not ready either to say officially that I’m coming back for this or that competition, this or that date,” she said. “I know I’m not going to end on what happened at the Games because I made way too many sacrifices to leave it like that. I’m not ending on what happened at the Games.
“If I come back to gymnastics,” she continued, “it will be to enjoy it and to prove to myself that I’m capable of doing beautiful things. But, I don’t have a specific competition goal. I know I want to come back – I miss gymnastics, yes. But will I return to high-level competition? I don’t know. But in any case, I’ll enjoy training at my club at home.”