‘Real Talk I Didn’t Think’ I’d Compete Again After 2021 Tokyo Olympics

After a triumphant return to competition this weekend at the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships, Simone Biles admitted she wasn’t sure this moment would ever come.

Responding to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, about the time when no one was sure she would compete again, Biles wrote, “real talk I didn’t think so either” after she had to withdraw from multiple events at the Tokyo Olympics.

Biles was scheduled to compete in the team competition, individual all-around, vault, uneven bars, floor exercise and balance beam at the 2020 Olympics. She withdrew from five events to focus on her mental health.

One day before the team final, Biles wrote on Instagram she felt “like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times.”

Biles was able to compete in the finals of the balance beam, winning a bronze medal.

After the Olympics, Biles took a hiatus from competition. USA Gymnastics announced on June 28 the 26-year-old was going to participate in the United States Classic scheduled for Aug. 5.

Biles won the national title for a record-breaking eighth time with a combined score of 118.450, nearly four full points better than the runner-up (Shilese Jones: 114.550). She qualified for the World Championships in September.

In her first appearance at the World Championships since 2019, Biles medaled in five different events. She won gold in the team competition, individual all-around, balance beam and floor exercise.

Biles’ 37 combined medals in the Olympics and World Championships is the most for an individual in gymnastics history. She has won 30 medals at the World Championships, 10 more than any other female gymnast (Svetlana Khorkina).

Last month, Biles told NBC’s TODAY show she “would love to go” to Paris for the 2024 Olympics. The U.S. Olympic trials will take place in Minneapolis from June 27-30. The five-woman gymnastics team will be announced after that event.