Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s Team Final – Bercy Arena, Paris, France – July 30, 2024. Simone Biles of the United States reacts after her performance on the vault.
12:53 JST, July 31, 2024
PARIS (Reuters) – Simone Biles is a different person from the one who abruptly withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics three years ago due to a mental health crisis, her teammates said, and it showed as she led the United States to the team gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
Standing at the end of the runway for her jump, Biles said she wasn’t haunted by memories of her tumultuous time in Tokyo and was soon flying high through the air as she executed the Cheng jump, giving the U.S. a lead it would not relinquish.
“When I finished jumping, I was relieved because, wow, there were no flashbacks or anything,” Biles told a packed news conference.
When Biles abruptly withdrew from the Olympic team final in Tokyo after feeling disoriented during her vault, her American teammates had to quickly switch to Plan B and ended up with a disappointing silver medal.
On Tuesday, once Biles mastered her vault, she knew the Americans would reassert their gymnastics supremacy on the world’s biggest stage.
“When I got to the jump I thought, oh yeah, we’re definitely going to do this.”
Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s Team Victory Ceremony – Bercy Arena, Paris, France – July 30, 2024. Gold medalists Simone Biles of the United States and Jade Carey of the United States react on the podium with their medals
Her teammate and close friend Jordan Chiles said she was also relieved.
“I was like, hallelujah, no flashbacks, nothing,” Chiles said, laughing.
From there, the experienced team celebrated each other’s achievements with joy as they made four rotations in the Bercy Arena, eventually outpacing silver medallists Italy by almost six points. Brazil ended up with bronze.
“It was super exciting,” said an ever-smiling Biles, who was seen doing a few dance moves with Chiles on the sidelines as they celebrated finishing off yet another impressive performance.
“We had fun, we enjoyed each other’s time there and we just did our gymnastics exercises.”
Her withdrawal from Tokyo due to “twisties,” a dangerous gymnastics condition that temporarily causes a loss of spatial awareness, opened a conversation about the mental health of athletes.
After Tokyo, Biles (27) took a two-year break to focus on herself. Since then, she has been happier, healthier and better than ever.
“I started therapy this morning and I told her (the therapist) that I felt calm and clear. And that’s exactly what happened,” she said.
Chiles said she was proud to see Biles’ growth.
“You can clearly see that she is a different person than she is now in Tokyo,” Chiles said.
“I always like to say that I train with the GOAT of all GOATs. She will always be in my heart, no matter what.”
