There’s nothing that can test you quite like elite sports do. Few athletes understand that better than 21-year-old gymnast Ondine Achampong. After tearing her ACL in 2024 and missing the Paris Olympics, she made a strong return in 2025, competing for the University of California, Berkeley, only to suffer another injury just before the 2026 NCAA season.

The setback came in November 2025 during an intrasquad while training all four events. In one of her first intrasquads, she partially tore the same ACL that had ended her Paris Olympic dream. Even now, after trying to push through, Achampong and her medical team decided that surgery was the best path forward. That decision meant stepping away from the 2026 NCAA season to focus fully on recovery.

Interestingly, this gymnast’s recent injury is in the same knee that had sidelined her in April 2024. At the time, the injury happened during a bars dismount at a control competition in Lilleshall, England, and an MRI confirmed the tear.

“I landed a bar dismount at one of our final control competitions at Lilleshall and following an MRI scan, it was discovered that I’ve torn my ACL,” she said at that time.

“I feel devastated. My competition preparation has been so positive all year and I really felt as ready as I could possibly be leading up to this summer.” Despite the heartbreak that it ended her Paris Olympics dream, Achampong made a comeback in early 2025, competing for Cal on uneven bars and balance beam.

And, she even scored 9.775 on beam in February 2025 during one of Cal’s best team performances, quickly becoming a regular contributor on bars and beam. The Cal athletic site even noted she was on the ACC preseason Newcomer Watch List after joining as a freshman following her elite career and ACL rehab; her strong performances continued through the season.

At the 2025 NCAA regional final, she recorded a career-high 9.925 on beam to help the Bears earn a solid team finish. Now, with another tough recovery ahead, Achampong is optimistic.

On Instagram, she wrote, “Just praying that this second ACL reconstruction will be my last.”  But rhythm, in gymnastics, is brittle, and to recapture it takes everything you have.

A young gymnast’s spark that started it all

Ondine’s rise began long before the injuries and comebacks. Born in Kings Langley, England, she started gymnastics at teh age of around seven. Her parents noticed her energy as a child and signed her up for several activities, including swimming, ballet, and gymnastics. She soon stopped swimming but kept going with ballet and gymnastics. Even her name, Ondine, comes from her mother’s favorite ballet, a tribute to dance that followed her into her life as a gymnast.

She trained hard, up to 30 hours per week at the Aylesbury Gymnastics Academy under coaches Molly and Joshua Richardson. That early dedication rewarded her when she stepped onto the international senior stage in 2020 and was immediately one to watch.

That year, she also took silver on balance beam at the Melbourne World Cup. She went from strength to strength in 2022, a year in which she emerged from the pack to guide her team to world silver in Liverpool and secure silver on beam and team silver at the European Championships in Munich, and to a rip-roaring display at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

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There, she took home team gold, all-around silver, and floor exercise silver, all while being the youngest member of Team England. In 2023, this gymnast was part of the British team that won gold at the European Championships, and later that year she helped Great Britain finish sixth as a team at the World Championships in Antwerp, where she also finished 13th all-around.

Early 2024 was another strong stretch for her. She won bronze on uneven bars at the Cairo World Cup and placed fourth on balance beam. She then dominated at the British Championships, where she became national champion in all-around, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.

Through all of this, this gymnast, champong has shown growth, determination, and a love for the sport that started when she was just a spirited seven-year-old in a training gym.