Alice D’Amato once stood on the Olympic podium after doing what very few gymnasts could. At the Paris 2024 Games, the Italian stunned the balance beam final by holding her nerve while several of the favorites struggled, including Simone Biles. D’Amato scored 14.366 to take the gold, while Biles finished fifth after falling from the beam. The moment gave D’Amato the biggest win of her career, and Biles was quick to congratulate her new Olympic champion. But nearly two years later, D’Amato is facing a very different chapter, with her return to the sport now uncertain after a fresh setback.

On September 30, the Olympic champion gave fans a painful update from a hospital bed. D’Amato shared a photo on Instagram with her left arm supported in a black sling and revealed that she had undergone another shoulder operation just six months after surgery on her right shoulder.

“Here we go again… Day 0,” she wrote. D’Amato admitted that she “would have gladly avoided this encore,” but said her focus was already on getting through the recovery and returning to her normal life. “It’s still going to be months of patience and hard work,” she added, making it clear that another long road now stands between her and a return to gymnastics.

The latest surgery means D’Amato will miss the 2026 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, which begin on October 17. The setback comes at a difficult point in her comeback, as the 23-year-old had been hoping to return to competition after recovering from her first operation earlier this year.

D’Amato underwent surgery on her right shoulder in March 2026 after dealing with persistent pain. An MRI had shown problems with both shoulders, but the right side required surgery first. She had already missed the Italian Serie A competitions in Modena and Biella as she dealt with the issue. At the time, there was hope that the operation would put D’Amato on the road back to competition.

Her coach, Enrico Casella, said she could need around seven to eight months of recovery, leaving open the possibility of a return toward the end of 2026. But while the Olympic champion was working through rehabilitation, her other shoulder remained a concern. D’Amato later revealed that the left shoulder was also not doing well, despite her recovery from the first operation. The problem had already been known, but it eventually reached the point where another surgery was needed.

“Accepting that I have to operate again at such a short distance is not easy at all,” D’Amato wrote in her latest Instagram update. The Italian gymnast also admitted that she does not know exactly how much strength she will have when she begins the long road back. “Will I have the right strength? I don’t know,” she wrote. “But I know that facing it with a smile and the greatest possible serenity is already half a step done.”

For D’Amato, the latest surgery means another period away from the sport that gave her the biggest moment of her career.  Still, the Olympic champion is trying to keep her focus on what comes next. “It’s still going to be months of patience and hard work,” D’Amato wrote. “But my head is already projected on the day when I can leave everything behind and go back to my rhythm, my passions and my everyday life 100%.”

After stunning Biles and becoming an Olympic champion in Paris, D’Amato now faces a completely different test. Her path to that historic moment, however, had been years in the making.

Paris 2024 changed D’Amato’s career before a quieter 2025

D’Amato has been one of Italy’s leading gymnasts for several years. She helped Italy win team bronze at the 2019 World Championships and competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where the Italian team finished fourth. Her success continued at the European Championships, where she won team gold and uneven-bars silver in 2022. 

Paris 2024 then became the biggest chapter of D’Amato’s career. She helped Italy win silver in the women’s team final before finishing fourth in the all-around. She also reached three apparatus finals, but it was the balance beam that gave her the moment that changed her career forever. D’Amato entered the beam final after qualifying seventh with a score of 13.866, so she was not considered the leading favorite for the title. She then delivered when it mattered most, scoring 14.366 to win Olympic gold.

Zhou Yaqin took silver with 14.100, while D’Amato’s Italian teammate Manila Esposito won bronze with 14.000. Simone Biles fell from the beam and finished fifth with 13.100. D’Amato’s victory made her the first Italian woman to win an Olympic gymnastics gold medal.

The victory was even more meaningful because D’Amato herself had not expected to win the event. After the final, she admitted, “I can’t believe it. I didn’t even expect to win a medal on beam, let alone the gold.” She also acknowledged that the falls from Biles and Sunisa Lee had opened the door for her, but D’Amato still had to handle the pressure and deliver the strongest routine when it counted. But after that, her 2025 season was quieter.

She returned at the European Championships in Leipzig, where she helped Italy defend its team title and collect another team gold. Individually, she competed in qualifying on uneven bars and balance beam but did not reach either apparatus final.

D’Amato then missed the 2025 World Championships in Jakarta. Italian coach Enrico Casella opted to rest her after the demands of the Olympic cycle, giving other gymnasts an opportunity to compete. It marked a clear change from the spotlight of Paris, but D’Amato was still looking ahead to what could come next.