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Louise Thomas
Editor
Simone Biles will be a familiar face at the upcoming Olympics this year.
Biles will be competing in Paris at the 2024 Olympic Games under Team USA for gymnastics. The gymnast previously competed in both the 2016 Rio games and the 2020 games in Tokyo. She is the fourth American woman to compete in a third Olympic games and, at the age of 27, she is the oldest American gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 72 years, while also currently being tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals earned by a US gymnast.
The Olympian’s return to the team comes after she needed to withdraw from most of the 2020 competitions due to a case of the “twisties,” which is a temporary loss of air awareness while performing twisting elements.
“The brain no longer communicates with the body, they change the move, lose their place,” US women’s coach Landi explained in part one of Biles’ recent Netflix documentary, titled Simone Biles: Rising. “Most of the time it’s unrelated to gymnastics.”
“I knew from that one moment,” Biles confessed, reflecting on her Tokyo performance. “To me it felt silent. I felt like I was in jail in my own brain and body.”
Since then, Biles has trained and earned her way back to the mat.
This year, Biles will be joined by reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, 2020 floor exercise champion gold medalist Jade Carey, 2020 Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles and 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera.
On July 17, in an interview with Today, Biles explained what she planned on doing in the days leading up to competing in Paris. “Limiting social media and stuff like that is going to be (important),” Biles told Hoda Kotb. For the Olympian, this means completely cutting off access to X, formerly known as Twitter, and only using Instagram and TikTok.
“Insta is good. It’s a good way to connect," she said. "It’s a way to share what we’re going through. And TikTok. I’ve tried to make a little more TikToks, I’m not the greatest at that. I’m learning.”
Apart from any medals, the gymnast revealed that she also has another goal for the games.
“As long as I was having fun and doing what I love, then that’s all that you can do, because I don’t want to look back 50 years from now and be like: ‘Wow, she was good, but she was so miserable,’” Biles said.
“And I think a couple times I might have thought that, but now I’m just like, ‘Wow, look at her go. She’s having so much fun. She’s loving what she’s doing, who she’s doing it with.’ So really, just embracing that moment.”
Depending on which events each of the individual gymnasts qualify for, they will be competing on different days. The 2024 Olympics will last from Friday, July 26, when the opening ceremony takes place, until Sunday, August 11.
Possible events include: Women’s Qualification: Sunday, July 28, Women’s Team Final: Tuesday, July 30, Women’s All-Around Final: Thursday, August 1, Event Finals Day 1 (Women’s Vault): Saturday, August 3, Event Finals Day 2 (Women’s Uneven Bars): Sunday, August 4, and Event Finals Day 3 (Women’s Balances Beam and Floor Exercise): Monday, August 5.
All Olympic events are available to watch via cable on NBC, USA Network, or E! The Olympics are also available to stream on Peacock.
