Gabby Douglas Names ‘Favorite Team’ From Her Past Olympic Games

Are you a team player or a solo athlete?

That’s one of the eternal dichotomies in sports. Some are naturally suited to be part of a collective; others are most at home in the swimming pool, on the tennis court or in other arenas where success is (largely) self-defined.

As an elite gymnast, American Gabby Douglas has seen both sides of that coin. It’s easy to think of the two-time Olympian as doing her work solo—she’s not fighting for physical space on the balance beam, for example—but she has been a member of two legendary squad’s: 2012’s Fierce Five and 2016’s Final Five.

And, for the 28-year-old, team effort comes naturally. Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Douglas teamed with AncestryDNA and their “Bring Your DNA Game” experience to see how genetics could have played a role in her success. The results highlighted, among other things, that she has a preference for team sports.

“Yeah, I love being on a team. I think it’s very fun,” Douglas told Newsweek when asked about that preference and her time with two Olympic squads. “I always said team finals is my favorite competition. I don’t know, something about just being, going out there, and you have to be unified. And just like when everyone’s finished, we’re like, ‘Yeah!’ and it’s kind of so contagious throughout the whole competition. Very fun to be there with each other.”

But how does that compare to going solo?

“All-around is a different story,” she said. “It’s individual, you’re by yourself and [just with] your coach. And so, it’s a lot more lonely than team finals. Team finals, like I said, is very, very fun and being on two teams, I was so grateful to have been a part of two amazing teams.”

Those two teams were the Fierce Five and the Final Five. The former squad took home the artistic gymnastics gold during the 2012 Olympics in London, while the latter repeated the feat four years later in Brazil.

It might seem impossible to separate two gold-medal-winning teams—reaching the top of the metaphorical mountain is an unforgettable moment—Douglas does give the nod to one trip to the Games.

“I would say 2012 would be my favorite team,” she said. “There was just a lot more, like, personality dynamic on that team.”

When discussing that dynamic, Douglas specifically shouted out one famous name.

“It was very all over the place,” the three-time gold medalist remembered with a laugh. “I don’t know, I loved it. McKayla Maroney, she actually, like, led the team basically. She’s very outgoing, pretty much says whatever comes to her brain, and, so, it’s just very, very fun to be around her and everybody else.”

And given the viral fame that Maroney found for her “not impressed” face, that memory certainly makes sense.

Douglas won’t heading to Paris this summer, but a return to the global stage could be in the cards during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Who knows, maybe a new favorite team could step forward then.