World All-Around Champion Skye Blakely’s Stardom Was Delayed, Not Denied

American gymnast Skye Blakely is no stranger to ovations.

At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, Blakely received arguably the loudest reception of any athlete in the field – Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee included – but it wasn’t for a meet-winning floor routine. It wasn’t for a routine at all.

Just days before competition, Blakely tore her Achilles tendon in training, forcing her withdrawal from the U.S. Olympic Trials and forfeiture of her Olympic dream.

“Unfortunately I ruptured my achilles during podium training,” Blakely wrote on Twitter/X. “This is not the way I saw my olympic trials going or how my season ends. I’m going to keep my chin high and be proud of the statement I have made for myself these past couple years.”

The news felt like déjà vu to gymnastics fans – because it was. Nearly three years earlier to the date, Blakely tore a ligament in her elbow at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Blakely was unlikely to make the main team. Just 16 years old at the time and another Olympic cycle looming, it felt like a dream delayed.

In 2024, it felt like a dream denied.

2024 U.S. Olympic Frontrunner

Blakely had become a staple for the U.S. at major international competitions in the lead-up to Paris, helping Team USA to gold at the 2022 and 2023 world championships. In 2022, she was a world beam finalist, finishing off the podium after a uniform malfunction.

Although she was considered a peripheral contender for Paris, Blakely emerged as an unmistakable frontrunner as soon as the clock struck 2024.

With the opening ceremonies only weeks away, the 19-year-old suddenly claimed the role of Team USA’s No. 2 all-around gymnast. On a roster led by 30-time World medalist Simone Biles, the No. 2 spot is as good as gold.

Though Biles ran away with the 2024 U.S. Championships all-around title, Blakely ran away with the runner-up spot. The teenager won silver over eventual 2024 Olympic gold medalists Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera, defeating all four athletes by more than three points – a massive margin.

Blakely also debuted a new, highly difficult “Cheng” vault at the competition, stirring concerns that she could knock world champion vaulter Jade Carey out of the running for her second Olympic team.

When Skye Blakely arrived in Fort Worth, Texas, for the U.S. Championships, she was a contender. When she left, she was a shoo-in.

With just weeks left until the U.S. Olympic Trials, few experts saw a scenario that left Blakely off the Olympic team. It seemed that her long-awaited dream had finally become reality.

Sometimes, reality hurts.

It took one tumbling pass to end her sudden ascension into stardom. Blakely tore her Achilles tendon on a double layout in podium training, ending her dream before it could truly take flight.

Instead of hearing her name read aloud as a member of the 2024 U.S. Olympic team before a raucous crowd, Blakely had to settle for a somber send-off.

Eyes welling with tears, Blakely gingerly entered the Target Center arena on June 28, balanced on her crutches and waved. The crowd of more than 20,000 stood and applauded in unison as Blakely clutched her chest.

Minutes later, she crutched off the competitive stage as the competitors took to floor. It was the first individual standing ovation of her career – and tragically, it felt like it might have been her last.

After two Olympic heartbreaks, another comeback felt unfathomable to some. If it weren’t for her faith in the process, it might’ve been impossible.

Not for Skye Blakely. “I’m devastated and heartbroken but I believe everything happens for a reason... I’ll be back,” she wrote in June 2024.

Delayed, Not Denied

“Do it for the girl in 2021, and the girl in 2024," she said to NBC Sports this week.

On Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in the Netherlands, more than 4,000 miles from her moment in Minneapolis, Blakely earned her second ovation. Just over two years after a dream seemingly denied, Blakely etched her name in the record books: she was the world all-around champion.

The best gymnast in the world.

If her first ovation felt like a goodbye, this one felt like an arrival. Gymnastics’ new all-around champion has always been a star – her stardom just had to wait.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com