+ Tiger Woods, golf
Golf, private life, body... almost everything in life had long been on a downward slope. The label as a has-been sat heavily on Woods when he, as a 43-year-old, came to Augusta and the Masters in 2019.
After four back operations, he was physically limited and no one counted on him.
Woods surprised an entire sports world when he once again got to wear the green jacket.
+ Ian Thorpe, swimming
The Australian was not called "The Torpedo" for nothing. He won a total of five Olympic Games gold medals in Sydney 2000 and in Athens 2004. In addition, he could add some silver and bronze and 13 World Championship gold medals.
Seven years later, he decided to aim for the Olympic Games 2012. The planned comeback came to nothing when he failed in the Olympic trials.
I knew that time would always be my enemy, said Thorpe.
+ Björn Borg, tennis
A few months before he would turn 27, Borg came in 1983 with the shocking news that he had had enough of tennis. He played a few tournaments before he completely retired.
No persuasion attempts helped, not even John McEnroe could get Borg to change his mind.
In 1991, Borg brought out his headband and his wooden racket again – a world sensation when it happened. In Monte Carlo, he lost in two straight sets to Jordi Arrese. In the first nine matches, Borg did not take a set.
Borg's comeback eventually became a parenthesis. At the Sports Gala in 2000, he was named the Swedish athlete of the century.
+ Simone Biles, gymnastics
The American withdrew from several events at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 and cited mental health issues.
It wasn't until two years later that she competed at a high level again, and in Paris last summer, she solidified her position as one of the sport's all-time greatest. She added three Olympic Games gold medals to the four she took in Rio de Janeiro eight years earlier.
After all these years of mental work, it has paid off, said Biles.
+ Therese Johaug, cross-country skiing
The Norwegian said goodbye in the spring of 2022 – after four Olympic Games and 14 World Championship gold medals, as well as 82 World Cup victories – but the urge to compete again came back quickly.
Just over two years later, she is back, with her sights set on the World Championship on home soil in March.
It's just Trondheim, then I'm done, she says.
So far, the comeback has been successful. Of the five distance races that have been held in the World Cup, Johaug has won two and been on the podium in two more.
