Simone Biles is heading to Paris looking to cement her legacy as the all-time gymnastics great and an Olympic icon who transcends the sport in both victory and defeat.
The diminutive dynamo stole the show at the 2016 Rio Games, winning gold medals in the individual all-around, vault, floor exercise and team event.
She went into the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics with superstar fame and history in mind, but suffered a disorienting, “freezing” mental block that gymnasts call “the twisties” and withdrew from most of her competitions.
Hailed by many as a mental health pioneer and criticized by some as a failure, at 27, Biles has returned from a two-year hiatus and is as successful, if not more, than ever before.
In 2023, she will increase her world and Olympic medal tally to 37, her most since winning her first world all-around title in 2013 when she was just 16 years old.
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Currently the record six-time world all-around champion, Biles has become a can't-miss sensation among superstars such as NBA legend LeBron James and pop diva Taylor Swift.
More than 7 million Instagram followers were engrossed in photos from Biles' wedding to NFL player Jonathan Owens, who received special permission from the Chicago Bears to miss a few days of training camp to watch Biles in Paris.
When Biles chose a line from Swift's “…Ready For It” to open her floor routine at the U.S. Olympic Trials during her European Era tour, Swift took a moment to tweet her approval.
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But Biles' climb had just as many twists and turns as her signature flips.
Tokyo marked the culmination of a tumultuous period for Biles, who in 2018 revealed she was one of hundreds of gymnasts sexually abused by former Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar.
She was a vocal critic of USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee over their handling of the scandal and was a leading voice calling for accountability from both organizations after Nassar was convicted and imprisoned.
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Biles, who will be the oldest female gymnast to compete for the United States since Mary Margaret Horsley in 1952, couldn't help but laugh when recalling how she mocked 22-year-old Aly Raisman as the “grandma” of the 2016 U.S. team.
“I have to apologize to Ally for calling her 'grandma' because I feel so much older now,” Biles said, noting that her body feels it these days after big competitions.
“When I was in Rio, I could do anything,” Biles said. “I didn't need tape. I was like a little hamster on a wheel, I was always running.”
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Biles is also paying close attention to her mental health, continuing her “diligent” weekly therapy sessions which she says will be key to a successful return.
Olympic broadcaster NBC calculated that she soared 12 feet off the mat with one flip during her preliminary floor exercise.
She made the Yurchenko double pike vault (the most difficult vault ever attempted by any other woman in competition) a staple, and it became the fifth move named after her.
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“I think we always knew she could be better,” said coach Cecil Lundy, who has guided Biles' comeback with her husband and co-coach, Laurent Lundy.
“She's the most talented athlete I've ever worked with, so we knew if she could play mentally as well as physically, she was going to be nearly unstoppable.”
Biles' journey has been made easier by the supportive environment at the World Champions Center, the gym in Texas owned and operated by her parents, Nelly and Ron Biles.
The couple, who are actually Biles' grandparents, adopted Biles and her sister Adria after their biological mother, who struggled with substance abuse, was no longer able to care for them and they were placed in foster care.
Biles is joined on the U.S. Olympic team by fellow WCC athlete and Tokyo Olympic teammate Jordan Childs.
Tokyo Olympic all-around gold medalist Suni Lee, floor exercise gold medalist Jade Carey and 16-year-old rookie Hezly Rivera round out the team.
Biles, who will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022, knows she and her teammates will continue to face hateful people who “want to see us fail.”
But she's happy to be back on her own terms.
“Nobody is forcing me to do this,” Biles said. “I choose to get up every day, work in the gym, come out here and perform for myself.”
“To remind myself that I can still do it. That's what motivates me.”
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