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Simone Biles Talks What She’ll Miss Most About Gymnastics: ‘What Happens in Life Now?’
Olympic great Simone Biles revealed what will be the hardest thing for her when she retires from competitive gymnastics.
“What I’ll miss most about gymnastics is the freedom with my body,” the seven-time gold medalist, 27, shared in the Netflix docuseries Simone Biles Rising Part II, premiering on Friday, October 25.
“The ability that I have in the gym is not normal, but I’ve had to work in other areas of my life, and that’s taught me the lessons and brought me to be who I am today,” Simone continued.
“Mentally, rewiring your brain is so hard. And nobody really, truly looks at themselves in the mirror and is like, ‘I need to work on myself and I’m going to work on myself.’ Showing up is the hardest part,” the Ohio native stated.
The six-time world championship gymnast added, “If I look back at my career, honestly, the thing I would be most proud of is staying true to myself and never swaying from that.”
The first two episodes of Simone’s documentary dropped on July 17, ahead of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. The episodes featured the athlete’s tremendous success at the 2016 Rio Olympics, followed by her crushing event withdrawals at the 2020 Tokyo Games after suffering from the “twisties.” The Part II episodes were filmed during and after Simone’s Paris Olympic performances.
Simone made an incredible comeback, winning three gold medals in Paris. She led Team USA to gold in the team all-around event, won the individual all-around and took home her final gold in the vault. Simone also scored a silver medal in the floor exercise.
“I did it again, like I seriously can’t believe this. I knew I could do it physically, the hard part for me was if I could last mentally. It just felt surreal,” the Texas resident said of her triumphs at the 2024 Olympics in the docuseries.
Simone became frustrated during the Games after being peppered with questions about whether Paris would be her final Olympics while her events were still going on. After winning gold in the vault on August 3, she took to X and wrote, “You guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics. Let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for.”
However, before writing the post she told a reporter, “Never say never,” when asked about whether she planned to compete in 2028 Los Angeles Games. “The next Olympics is at home. So, you just never know,” she added, acknowledging, “But I am getting really old.”
Simone addressed the crossroads she’s at about whether or not she will keep competing or retire in the docuseries.
“At this moment, in my career, I feel like, if I had to process it, it would be bittersweet. I mean, we have been longing for this for a while now and now it’s here, it’s gone. Because I truly did try to enjoy each and every moment,” she explained.
“But we took it one day at a time, and, for that, I’m grateful for. Now we’re here, and I’m like, ‘Well, I did it.’ And I think that’s why I got so emotional when we finished, and I just, like, had a breakdown,” Simone said about her Paris Olympic success and how the pressure to make a comeback following her Tokyo Games letdown was finally off her shoulders.
She poignantly wondered, “I felt a lot of relief, but now I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ Like what happens in life now?”
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