In April 2025, Amari Celestine “divorced” gymnastics. The four-time All-American had no regrets, just grief, as she finished her last routine at the 2025 NCAA Championships, leading Mizzou to its first-ever NCAA final and a historic third-place finish—the highest in program history. Celestine had been competing at the University of Missouri for several years. She had won the NCAA Vault silver medal as a freshman in 2022 and been named to the SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll in 2024. Feeling content with her achievements, she said goodbye at just 21. However, an unexpected encounter with a coach at a summer gymnastics camp unexpectedly brought her back to elite training just four months later. Speaking to Olympics.com on June 26, Celestine, now 22, detailed the incident.

Last August, her aunt, who was coaching at a gymnastics camp, suggested she try for the national team. Celestine brushed off the idea with humour, saying, “You’re hilarious. What a great joke, you’re so funny.”

But the idea did not fade there. Her aunt later connected her with coach Sarah Korngold and six-time world medalist Shilese Jones at Ascend Gymnastics in Auburn, Washington. What started as a simple visit in March for feedback on a few skills slowly turned into something much bigger.

“The owner of the gym was like, ‘You should move here,’” Celestine recalled. “And I was like, ‘Really? I don’t know, I just got home. I’m happy home.’”

Still, Celestine moved, and that choice marked the real restart. At Ascend Gymnastics, Celestine now trains and lives in the same environment as Shilese Jones. Jones has become a central figure in her return, working closely with her on bars and floor while also handling much of her conditioning. Now, Celestine will make her way into a senior field that includes Olympic champion Jade Carey and NCAA standout Katelyn Ohashi when she heads to the American Classic in Minneapolis on June 27.

Even with the return, Celestine is careful about how far she looks ahead. Her focus is not only on results but on what she can still discover in the sport.

“I do want to be a part of LA28, but I’m not harping on that,” she said. “I’m just grateful that my body is still healthy enough and capable enough to do hard gymnastics. I was denied that opportunity as a child. I want to get out there and see what my gymnastics is capable of.”

As a teenager, Celestine once dreamt of entering elite gymnastics before transitioning fully into college, and now that dream is finding its way back, but in a different way.

Amari Celestine’s early love became a record-breaking gymnastics career

At just 2, Celestine was constantly moving, flipping, and testing limits at home. Her mother noticed that and enrolled her in competitive gymnastics when she came of age. That early encouragement laid the foundation for a career filled with high hopes.

Celestine’s mother’s background, a member of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., also helped shape her leadership and athletic character. The two early influences fused into one at the University of Missouri. Head coach Shannon Welker recruited Celestine when she was still in high school in Wildomar, California.

She had a career-best performance in the 2022 NCAA Championships as a freshman with a career-high 9.95 on vault and a silver medal in the vault event. That performance helped the Missouri program to its best fifth-place program finish in school history. And much of that was possible because of her brother, Artyon Celestine.

He became an important creative part of her career, choreographing her routines throughout college and continuing to shape her elite floor work. And now, as she returned to elite gymnastics, she has kept her long-term future in mind. Celestine plans to pursue law school once her gymnastics career ends, ideally after the 2028 Olympic cycle.

For now, Celestine leans on her mantra: comparison is the thief of joy. She wants a career based on her journey, not anyone else’s.