It was more than just a jump for Simone Biles. It was the moment she chased away the Olympic ghosts of three years ago.
The American took a deep breath as she stood at the end of a 25-meter track in Paris on July 30, preparing to help her teammates regain the women’s gymnastics team title they had lost in Tokyo.
At those games Biles started the competition but was unable to finish when she was affected by the so-called twisties or “twists,” a sudden and terrifying loss of spatial orientation that gymnasts can experience when spinning in the air.
At the Paris 2024 gymnastics trials venue, the Bercy Arena, the stands were packed with spectators and among the audience were Serena Williams, Michael Phelps and Bill Gates.
Biles became The first gymnast to complete a jump called the ‘triple flip’obtaining a score of 15,800.
After her triple twist the gymnast landed firmly on her feet, flashing a big smile as the crowd erupted in celebration.
“After finishing the jump I felt relieved: I thought ‘wow, there is no flashbacks‘“said Biles, 27.
“I felt so relieved and as soon as I landed I knew we were going to make it.”
And she was right. She and her teammates won gold by a comfortable margin ahead of Italy and Brazil.
From the moment she landed her vault in the first round, Biles seemed to relax: she high-fived teammates Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera before, one after another, they performed a series of routines.
In Tokyo, Biles had been left cheering on her team from the stands while suffering from that dangerous mental block in which gymnasts lose spatial awareness in the air.
This led her to withdraw from four individual finals at a Games where she was expected to win multiple gold medals.
It was a tough episode in the life of the gymnast who felt enormous pressure since winning the Rio Games in 2016 and becoming the center of world attention.
In an interview before the Paris Olympics, Biles recalls:
“I felt like I had reached the top at 19 and I was scared thinking about the rest of my life. I said to myself, I don’t know if I can do this again.”
“A lot of my peers looked up to me, so I felt like I was that strong person, that I could never show a sign of weakness, but there were many times when I felt very alone”.
In Tokyo, she competed again in the beam final, taking an emotional bronze, but it was not until now, at 27 years of age and eight years after winning four gold medals in Rio 2016, that Biles was able to return to the top of the Olympic podium.
“Now that I’m older we have a lot more experience. and we’re out here having fun and enjoying what we’re doing, so I think it’s just different,” he said when asked about the difference in the team between 2016 and 2024.
After the events in Tokyo, one might have thought that we would not see Biles at another Olympic Games.
But you don’t transcend your sport unless you’re something special.
When Biles returned to gymnastics last summer after a two-year breakit soon became clear that he was still in his prime. One could even argue that he was better.
The gymnast soon won a sixth world title and showed off some of her most difficult routines, including the Biles II vault, the fifth move that bears her name.
Even before these Olympics, Biles submitted a new uneven bars move to the Gymnastics Federation, meaning she will become the only active gymnast to have moves named after her on all four apparatus if she performs it here.
But the boundaries Biles has pushed go beyond anything she’s accomplished in her Olympic routines.
“Depression and anxiety”
Biles’ willingness to speak about her mental health in Tokyo opened a dialogue on the topic. She gave a powerful message that personal well-being was above medals..
The gymnast gave a detailed account in a recent documentary Netflix on what happened in Tokyo, the pressure of expectations and the impact of some on social media and beyond calling her out quittersomeone who gives up and gives in.
In the documentary, Biles showed viewers her “forbidden Olympic closet” — the closet in a room in her home where she keeps uniforms, medals and other items related to those Games. That’s where she spent a lot of time crying, she said.
Biles has spoken out about what happened in Japan, including in court hearings following the abuse scandal on the U.S. team involving former team doctor Larry Nassar.
During one of those hearings, she said what she had suffered at the hands of Nassar had been an “exceptionally difficult burden” to bear without her family present at the pandemic-affected Tokyo Games.
In another interview about these abuses, he added: “That It was so traumatic that I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at the time. You can’t contain trauma for long.And that’s what you saw at the Tokyo Olympics, a huge spillover of all that was contained.”
On top again and on their own terms
Biles shared some of what has helped her win Olympic gold again in 2024.
After winning the team final, she said: “This morning I started the day with therapy.”
The gymnast has returned to her sport on her own terms.
“Nobody is forcing me to do it,” he said earlier this year.
His team took the pressure off him by telling him he didn’t need to compete in every event and that he didn’t have to talk to the press after practice or qualifying sessions.
These Games are different from Tokyo: her husband is here with her, fans are back in the stands, and attitudes toward mental health have changed..
And America’s most decorated gymnast has a new Olympic gold medal.
“I have good days, I have bad days, but I know that doesn’t define me,” Biles said in an interview.
“And I learned through therapy that yes, I should not carry guilt.“But convincing myself was really, really hard. And I think I’m still working on that at this point.”
“At this point nothing can break me. It’s like I’ve been through so much, so much trauma, so much healing.“As for this process I’m in right now, I’m actually excited to see what can happen.”
The gymnast qualified for four more finals in Paris.
She is in the individual all-around final on Thursday, the vault final on Saturday and the floor and balance beam final on Monday.
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