Two years ago today, Shilese Jones’ Olympic dream came to a crashing halt. Behind only Simone Biles, the six-time World Championship medalist was the closest athlete to an automatic bid for Team USA’s 2024 Olympic women’s gymnastics team – until June 28, 2024.
On June 28, 2024, Jones and her fellow competitors took to the floor at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in Minneapolis, Minn., ready to secure her long-awaited Olympic goal. However, Jones’ trials competition ended soon after it began.
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During the warmups, Jones landed awkwardly on a vault, immediately tearing her ACL and Meniscus. Though she went on to power through a courageous uneven bar effort – scoring the highest total of the day (14.675) – Jones withdrew from the remainder of the competition and was left off the 2024 Olympic team.
While Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, and the “Golden Girls” went on to win gold and become household names, she stayed home and underwent multiple surgeries.
After leading Team USA to gold at the 2022 and 2023 world championships and collecting multiple individual medals, a 2024 Olympic team without Shilese Jones felt unfathomable. Yet – shockingly – it happened.
After two years removed from the sport and a calculated withdrawal from public media appearances, Jones spoke out and recounted the heartbreaking outcome.
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Shilese Jones Speaks Out After Two Years
On “June 28, 2024, my world changed in an instant when I landed that vault,” Jones wrote on Instagram. “It was one of the hardest moments of my life, physically, mentally, and emotionally. There were days I questioned everything and wondered if I’d ever feel like myself again.”
Though the 23-year-old recalls being told that her condition was stable and that she suffered ‘only’ a knee hyperextension, the elite athlete knew. “Deep down, after feeling that loud pop, I knew something was very wrong,” she states. Despite the immediate feeling of instability, Jones vowed to push through one uneven bars routine in a last-ditch search for her Olympic dream.
“I believed there was still a chance,” she wrote.
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“Silence” From USA Gymnastics Leadership
Though the physical toll was unmistakable, Jones claims that the lack of support from USA Gymnastics leadership inflicted an emotional toll. While on the ground in Minneapolis, Jones searched for answers and support as she watched her Olympic dream crumble. She says she was met with “silence.”
That “hurt almost as much as the injury,” Jones writes, adding that she hoped for a “few words of support from [USA Gymnastics] head leadership.”
“Those words never came.” Though Jones remained on site in Minneapolis to cheer for her U.S. National Team teammates, she says the physical and emotional damage had been done. “That silence broke me even more,” she added.
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At the time of the 2024 Olympic Trials, Li Li Leung was the USA Gymnastics President and CEO. Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone (Quinn), and Dan Baker led the organization’s high-performance leadership team.
Leung had been in the role since 2019 and stepped down at the end of 2025.
Jones Eyes the Future
Despite the immense adversity faced in her young career – including losing her father in 2021 – Jones vows to continue to grow amid heartbreak. “I realize how much that moment tested me,” she reflects.
Though Jones says she “slowly started to lose hope” over the past few years after numerous surgeries, she commemorates two years of heartbreak with newfound perspective. In recent months, Jones has also been pictured training high-level elite skills in the gym, exciting fans.
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Elite comeback or not, Jones recounts her experience decisively. “Two years later, I don’t look back at what I lost,” she said. “[I] look at how far I’ve come. Every setback, every milestone, every small victory has led me to this moment.”
“June 28 will always be a day I’ll remember. But now, instead of reminding me of the moment I fell, it reminds me of everything it took to get back up. Some days change your life forever. This was one of them. And I’m proud of the person I’ve become because I refused to let it be the end.”
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
