Gold-medal winning gymnast Simone Biles said she is targeting the 2024 Paris Olympics after a two-year hiatus from the sport.
Biles, 26, told NBC’s “TODAY” show on Thursday that she spent her time off focusing on both her mental and physical health. She also married longtime boyfriend Jonathan Owens, who plays for the Green Bay Packers, and found time to train to compete in the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, Calif., last month. She won her record eighth all-around title.
After a disappointing turn at the 2020 Tokyo Games, where she was expected to win multiple medals, she said she has a different approach to gymnastics.
“I think I have to take care of myself a little bit more and listen to my body and make sure that I’m making time for the important things in life,” she said. “Before it was just like ‘go go go’ and then making time after.”
“This time around it’s being intentional, going to therapy, making sure everything is aligned so that I can do my best in the gym, be a good wife, good daughter, good friend, all the good things.”
Biles made her Olympics debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and won gold in the all-around, team, vault and floor, and bronze on the beam. But she suffered from a case of the “twisties” — a feeling of being lost in the air — in Tokyo. She pulled out of some individual events and went home with a silver medal in the team event and a bronze on the balance beam.
Still, she said Thursday she has the fire to try to qualify for one more Olympic team.
“Right now I would say that’s the path I would love to go,” she said of Paris.
–Field Level Media