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Simone Biles Calls Her Body a ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ in New Documentary: ‘Have to Take Extra Precaution’
Upon making the 2024 Olympics team, Simone Biles became the oldest female Olympic gymnast for Team USA since 1952. According to Simone, however, her body is a “ticking time bomb.”
“I have to take extra precaution about how I work towards healing my body after every workout,” Simone, 27, said during part 2 of Netflix’s Simone Biles Rising documentary which premieres on the streamer Friday, October 25. “You know how I said I was aging like fine wine? Yeah, I think it’s starting to rot.”
While the Texas native has had her fair share of injuries throughout her decorated career, Simone’s coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi noted that it’s “so rare” for a professional gymnast to have avoided major injuries.
“Simone has not suffered the kind of injuries that other gymnasts have, typically,” Cecile said. “It does make me nervous that she’s never had a really serious injury.”
Simone opened up about some of the minor injuries she had to overcome leading up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“A while back, I had landed in the pit weird, and I like hyperextended my knee,” she recalled. “It just has not stopped hurting. Sometimes my knee shifts over, and it’s just not on the correct, like, tracking pad, so it gets really irritated.”
She went on to explain that the pain would be so intense during her floor routine that she felt like she “was gonna pass out.” She underwent a series of injections to the affected knee, but the cure was only temporary.
“On top of that, after championships – I’m not really sure what happened, I think it was just training… I’m just getting old,” she joked. “My calf started really hurting. Then the doctor came in and we did an ultrasound. And I had told him, ‘I don’t think it’s my achilles, I think it’s behind my achilles.’ And so I just have a small tear in my calf muscle.”
During the qualifying round at the Paris Olympics on July 28, Simone fell during warmups for her floor exercise and “felt a little something in her calf.” She limped to the sidelines and was escorted to the locker room.
While she ultimately fought through the pain to take home the gold medal in the All-Around competition, Simone competed on a heavily-wrapped, injured calf.
“Calf is good,” she confirmed to NBC’s Mike Tirico on August 5, following the competition despite appearing in a walking boot. “It’s just precautionary, making sure. Because we still have tour after this, to heal up and all of that stuff. So, just a little bit of soreness.”
Simone continued, “I feel like elite athletes are pretty tough, so we’re just, through pain or pleasure, we’re ready for whatever. So mainly, what you’re seeing here, I was just trying to over rotate for good measure, and I did just that, and almost knocked [my coach] Laurent out. But it was good.”
Her former teammate and retired gymnast Aly Raisman told producers during part 2 of the Netflix documentary that she asked Simone “‘How did you do it in so much pain?’”
“And she said, ‘I couldn’t have people tell me I was a quitter again,’” Aly, 30, said.
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