A week ago, two-time Olympian Lauren Mitchell of Australia announced her retirement from gymnastics after serving as an alternate for her country this summer.

“After 18 years of competing in the sport that I love, I have decided to announce my retirement from gymnastics,” the 25-year-old said on Instagram. “It seems only fitting that I post a photo from my first ever day of gymnastics with my family who have supported me unconditionally. I have so much to be grateful for, experienced so many amazing memories, and got to meet some incredible people.”

She continued to thank everyone for the support throughout the years, adding that she’s “immensely proud” of what she has achieved and “can leave the sport happy [with] no regrets.” The post was written alongside a photo of Lauren with her family on her very first day of gymnastics as a child.

Lauren’s entrance into the sport coincided with some of the country’s best gymnastics years, which began in the early 2000s when Australia hosted the Olympic Games in Sydney. Though they missed out on making the six-team final that year, they saw some great individual success that carried on throughout the next couple of quads, and when Lauren turned 16 in 2007, she was ready to help usher in the best period ever in Australian gymnastics history.

Though not the star in her first years of senior competition, Lauren showed early promise at world championships in 2007, placing fifth on beam before going on to win medals there and on floor internationally. She didn’t have her best competition in Beijing, but brought in the team’s best score on beam in the team final to help Australia to its best-ever Olympic team finish, placing sixth.

As some of her teammates retired or took breaks, Lauren forged ahead into the new quad as Australia’s best, winning her first national all-around title in 2009 before going on to place fourth all-around at worlds, where she also won silver medals on her best events, beam and floor. Despite injuries that caused her to miss most of her season following these worlds, her trajectory continued upwards with four gold medals in her return at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and then she reached the pinnacle of her career with her gold medal on floor at worlds later that year.

“I had to look at the score again,” Lauren told the Sydney Morning Herald after winning the first-ever world title for the Australian women. “I think I nearly started crying. It didn’t feel like my routine was so good, but obviously it was. I wanted to prove that I belonged in the top three, that Australia is up there with the rest of the world.”

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Her achievement in Rotterdam also included getting the triple wolf turn named for her as an E skill on both beam and floor, and was followed by five world cup gold medals in Stuttgart and in Glasgow, solidifying Lauren as not just a “one-hit wonder,” but rather as Australia’s best gymnast of all time. Lauren again became the national all-around champion in 2011, placed eighth all-around and fifth on floor at worlds that year, and became a lock for her second Olympic team a year later, though a shoulder injury held her back from being at peak form.

In London, Lauren’s injury held her back quite a bit, limiting her from competing in the all-around. She also missed the beam final due to a nervous performance in qualifications, though even in the midst of these issues, she made history with her fifth place finish on floor, the best Olympic finish for an Australian gymnast on this event and less than a tenth away from a medal.

It wasn’t the ideal competition for her given her success earlier in the quad, but Lauren was graceful in her defeat.

“Point zero six six is like that,” Lauren said, demonstrating a tiny three-inch step for journalists. “Not even that. You can say, ‘If I’d done that better, [the score] could have been a little bit more,’ and then you can go, ‘Okay, if I also did that better, then that could have been a little bit more as well,’ and you just keep going and going. I’m happy where I am.”

With injuries holding her back for most of the most recent quad, Lauren still managed to impress, winning the floor titles at Australian Championships in both 2014 and 2015 in addition to the silver medal on floor at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. This summer, she made a valiant return after a knee injury suffered at last summer’s nationals, hoping to earn the country’s sole Olympic berth after they failed to qualify a full team for the first time since 1988. She won the gold medal on beam and the bronze on floor, but ultimately didn’t have the difficulty or consistency to stand out as the best option.

Instead, the spot went to her 2012 teammate Larrissa Miller, though Lauren continued training as one of the alternates up to the Games. Turning 25 this past July, it didn’t seem likely she would continue beyond this year, her time in the sport already miles beyond the majority of gymnasts in elite competition, and so her retirement doesn’t come as a shock. Instead, it’s fully on her terms, after a long and successful career that made her a sports goddess in Australia, with her legacy something that will continue far into the future.

“I’ve given everything to the sport and I’ve left it with no regrets,” Lauren told the Sydney Morning Herald. “That was the most important thing. I’m just so happy and proud of everything I’ve achieved and I don’t think I have anything else left to achieve.”

“Not a lot of people have her character, so that’s why she’s a champion,” national coach Peddy Liddick said in praise of Lauren as not only a top gymnast, but as an “exemplary” human being. “She’s got good athletic talent. She’s not the most talented athlete I’ve ever worked with, but what she does have is that character and work ethic that combined with her talent to make her the best Australian gymnast so far.”

We’ve so loved watching Lauren mature and grow in this sport, from the excited newcomer in 2008 to a world champion and team leader just two years later. We wish her the best of luck as she moves forward into the next steps on her journey, and hope to see her involved in the sport in other ways for years to come. Australian gymnastics won’t be the same without her!

Article by Lauren Hopkins