In a recent interview with the Today show, Simone Biles expressed her desire to compete in the Olympics after two years, stating that the 2024 Paris Olympics is “a path she would love to go.”
Biles made her return to competitive gymnastics last month and grabbed her 8th win at the US Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, California. This huge comeback went down in history as she not only became the oldest woman to win the tournament but also smashed the world record for having the most national titles since Alfred Jocim.
There were no rumours regarding her comeback to the Olympics until she was interviewed in the Today show last Thursday, September 7.
At the start of the interview, Hoda Kotb, the host, featured her latest win last Aug 27 at the US Gymnastics Championships and how she came back stronger than ever. She then proceeded to ask her the first question:
“I was wondering, are you going to go back a little bit cautiously or are you going to dive in the deep end, you dove in the deep end. Was that kind of your strategy going in?”, Kotb asked.
“I think we have to be a little bit more cautious about how we do things so everything that we’re doing leading up to this next games or whatever is intentional. So we’ve kind of been playing it on the down low this time making sure mentally and physically are both intact so I think it’ll be different but it’ll be good.”, Biles answered.
This answer alludes to when she was diagnosed with a condition known as “twisties” and took a two-year hiatus from competitions to focus on her mental health. Twisties is a psychological disorder that gymnasts suffer from when they lose control of their rotations in the air, resulting in a lack of awareness of when to land and how to land safely.
Kotb then asked Biles of what had changed since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, to which she replied that she had to take care of herself a little bit more now and listen to her body.
“I think I have to take care of myself a little bit more and listen to my body and making sure that I’m making time for the important things in my life rather than before,” said Biles. “It was just like, go, go, go, and, then, making time after. This time around, it’s like being intentional, going to therapy, making sure everything is aligned so that I can do the best in the gym and be, like, a good wife, a good daughter, a good friend, all the good things.”
Near the end of the interview, Kotb playfully asked Biles if she would return to the next year’s Olympics in Paris.
“If I had $5 in my hand and I was going to Vegas and I’m like, ‘I’m going to bet on whether Simone will go to the Olympics or not,'” said Kotb, “Where would I put my five bucks, the yay or the nay?”
This elicited a laugh from Biles, who said: “Right now I would say that’s the path I would love to go, so I wouldn’t mind if you put it in the yay section.”
This had the other hosts celebrating in the background, saying, “She’s going to Paris!”.
Taking the world by storm since her comeback, her fans are now anticipating her comeback at the Paris Olympics, which will start on July 26 next year.