Simone Biles, considered by sports aficionados as the G.O.A.T. of the gymnastics world will begin competing for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on Thursday, June 27 in Minneapolis, MN at the 2024 Olympic Trials. Already the world’s most decorated gymnast with a record 37 world and Olympic medals, Biles has been applauded for her courage in leaving the 2020 Games in Tokyo to take care of her mental and emotional health.
Due to a medical condition called the “twisties,” Biles withdrew from women’s team gymnastics at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Biles withdrew from the competition on July 27, 2020 after leaving an arena to be assisted by her trainer. “Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue,” officials said a USA Gymnastics statement.
Biles last won four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and after taking a hiatus in 2017, during which she co-wrote her autobiography and competed on Dancing with the Stars, she returned in 2018 to dominate the World Championships in Doha and, the following year, in Stuttgart.
As she revealed in 2018, Biles was among the victims of USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar, who is serving an effective life sentence for the sexual abuse of hundreds of young female athletes.
Give this friendship a gold medal. Suni Lee exclusively told E! News how she and Simone Biles “always want the best for each other” as they both compete for a spot on the 2024 Olympic team.
While Suni Lee and Simone Biles are both competing for a spot on the 2024 Olympic team, it hasn’t thrown the team dynamic off-balance.
The 2020 teammates cheered each other on at the Xfinity US Gymnastics Championships earlier this month.
“We always want the best for each other,” Suni told E! News in an exclusive interview. “We all want the same spot, but we’re also all rooting for each other because we know the potential that somebody else can bring. We also understand the difficulties and the hardships that you have to go through every single day to be here. So to have the support and to just know that you can lean on each other has been the most helpful thing and something that you don’t see often.”
Simone sprang into action after Suni performed one and a half twists instead of her intended two and didn’t stick the landing during her vault at the championships. And the four-time gold medalist—who experienced the “twisties” at the 2020 Games—could relate.
After Suni vaulted, I knew exactly what was going through her head,” Simone recalled during a press conference. “I dealt with that in Tokyo. So I just knew that she needed some encouragement and somebody to trust her gymnastics for her and to believe in her. So that’s exactly what I did.”
After offering some reassurance, Simone went over to support Suni as she competed on bars—giving her a high-five after she completed her routine.
“I think she knew that I needed help in the moment,” Suni told reporters, per a video shared by USA Today. “She out of anyone understands, basically, what I did on vault. So, she just came over to see if I was OK and basically just helped boost me up and get my confidence back up because at that point I was kinda thinking that this was over. So it was really nice having her in my corner, and she’s just been so supportive.”
Simone won the women’s all-around and Suni placed fourth—with them now both preparing for the 2024 Olympic Team Trials later this month.
“It’s definitely a lot of pressure,” Suni told E!. “I feel like I’ve been feeling it a lot more recently, but also kind of not really. Because I have been trying to take the pressure off of myself and really just knowing that I am doing this for myself. Because I’ve had to overcome so much the past two years to where I didn’t even think that I would be here.”
That includes dealing with a kidney issue that ended her final season on Auburn University’s gymnastics team early in 2023. And though Suni told E! she’s “doing really good” health-wise, she noted she’s still trying to not think too far into the future.
“Making the Olympic team obviously would be a dream,” the gymnast said. “But right now, I want to focus on what’s going to happen today at practice. Like that’s been my biggest thing—just focusing on what’s in front of me and not what’s ahead of me because otherwise I’m going to get so nervous and probably have a mental breakdown.”
And so Suni continues to take care of both her physical and mental health.
“I journal, I go to therapy,” she added, “and that’s been the biggest game changer because there was a lot of self-doubt in there and a lot of pressure and a lot of not knowing where it all stemmed from. So to be able to talk about it, speak about it and know that it’s OK to not be OK and to feel these ways, it’s a great feeling.”
Sharing her experience has also helped Suni when it comes to her battle with eczema. And recently, the 21-year-old partnered with Eli Lilly and Company—the health equity sponsor of Team USA—to help others with the same diagnosis feel less alone.
“I feel like it started off really difficult because I always felt so insecure, and, I guess, just embarrassed to say that I had eczema or to even show the symptoms,” Suni said. “I know when I was having a flare-up and it was very noticeable, I was always trying to cover it up with my makeup, which ultimately made it worse. So, it didn’t help in the end. But I think being able to talk about it and also partnering with Lilly has been something so amazing for me mentally because I feel so much more confident in my own skin and now I can just embrace it.”
“I think that’s the message that I want to send out to younger generations,” she continued, “because, when I was younger, I don’t think a lot of people were talking about it. So to be someone that other people can kind of look up to is just a great feeling all around.”
And whether the three-time Olympic medalist adds some more hardware to her trophy shelf or not, she’s proud of how far she’s come.
“I think I would give myself a medal for not giving up,” Suni said. “I mean, there has been so much that I could have given up on and so many things that have happened to where I could have just kind of put this aside and moved on with my life. But I wanted better for myself and I also wanted to be able to walk away from this Olympics or this quad knowing that I gave everything that I had and not regret anything.”
Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles won her ninth U.S. Championship on Sunday, leaving little doubt that at 27 and a decade-plus into her run atop the sport, she is as good as ever.
Biles posted a two-day all-around total of 119.750, nearly six points clear of runner-up Skye Blakely and leaving little doubt that she appears ready to add a second all-around Olympic gold to go with the one she captured in 2016.
In front of an audience that included her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, Biles put on a four-rotation clinic that featured all the trademarks of a typical Biles performance. There was jaw-dropping athleticism mixed with precision and more than a splash of swagger.
Biles finished with the highest two-day score on all four events — something she’d done only once before at nationals (2018) — to build plenty of momentum ahead of the Olympic trials later this month in Minneapolis.
Her only misstep on Sunday came on vault. She came up short on her Yurchenko double pike — two back flips with her hands clasped behind her knees — during warmups and overcompensated when it counted, generating so much force she wound up on her back. She still received a 15.000 for her effort, a testament to a vault that’s never been completed in competition by another woman and only attempted by a select group of me
Not that it bothered her. Biles collected herself, took a couple of deep breaths then followed it up a Cheng vault that was rewarded with a 15.1 and put a ninth national title within reach, heady territory considering no other gymnast in the history of the sport in the U.S. has more than seven.
While Biles remains above the fray as usual, there is plenty of competition for the other four spots on the five-woman U.S. team that will head to Paris as heavy favorites to return to the top of the podium after finishing second to Russia in Tokyo three years ago.
Blakely, 19, put together another impressive performance and will head to Minneapolis with plenty of momentum. Three years after her bid to make the 2020 Olympic team ended with an injury, Blakely is peaking at the right time.
Suni Lee, the 2020 Olympic champion who has spent the last year-plus battling kidney issues that have limited her training, shook off an early mistake on vault to put together elegant routines on uneven bars and balance beam that few in the world — even Biles — can match.
Olympians Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey are in the mix, though both endured falls on beam on Sunday. Third-place finisher Kayla DiCello slipped off the uneven bars. Leanne Wong, perhaps looking fatigued after a long season competing at Florida, also endured uncharacteristic miscues.
Shilese Jones, considered the best all-around gymnast in the U.S. without the last name Biles, pulled out of the championships on Friday, citing a shoulder injury though she said Sunday she was feeling better and plans to be available for trials. So will 18-year-old Kaliya Lincoln, who opted not to compete on Sunday after tweaking something during Friday night’s opening session.
Both — if healthy — figure to be serious contenders to earn an invitation to Paris (Jones in particular). If they’re not, the door could swing wide open for others and test the depth the senior elite program has been touting for years.
Simone Biles keeps giving moment after moment to relish her love for her husband Jonathan Owens, caring less about the geographical distance between them. The last few days gave out relenting such frames where the gymnast showcased every chance she could gather for JO and fill those with her warmth. The spectacles brought in an ostentatious flavor as Simone Biles is already on her stiff practice regime for the Olympic return. Managing that, all she could try out these days was to show effort to minimize the geographical distance to exemplify the milieu of hearts.
Previously, it was the turn to narrate a paean for the homecoming of the Green Bay Packers safety. Now it was to get acknowledgment for all the deeds the gymnastics phenom kept creating for the guy.
Simone Biles’ voice of support for her man’s dreams
Simone Biles’ support for Jonathan Owens never went off-track, without bothering the latter’s revelation in the augmented Pivot podcast. The 26-year-old Ohio native made a usual appearance in JO’s first playoff appearance for the Green Bay Packers squad. However, despite the disappointing loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Biles didn’t let the sad part slip to her husband. Even in a merrier way, she stood to the course, supporting the 28-year-old safety. So in that line, the gymnast’s latest Instagram post came to the fore but with a worded support. “love supporting you & your dreams”, it said. The perfect pictures flaunted the duo, bearing the same number and name.
This time, Jonathan Owens acknowledged the 4x Olympic gold-earning wife’s contribution by using his virtual gesture. In that heavy moment, the proud husband matched the occasion with the lines, “Love having you there every step of the way” with a crossed-finger emoji. That proved once again the standing side by side of the couple who had faced several uninvited flak from their marriage last year. But every time, they ended with giving a firm goal, albeit in constrained situations.
The Biles effect behind the improvement in career?
Jonathan Owens could provide a certain support to Simone Biles when she was going through dismantling days, away from her gymnastic fame. Eventually, JO did that wholeheartedly. As a result, the best chance of American gymnastics in the Olympics is already proving her mettle to be on the podium again. The same contribution was there from Simone’s side as well. After their marriage in April last year, Owens had to move away after signing with GBP. But in improving his performance on the field, the lanky footballer gave the due credit to his wife.
A thorough criticism from Simone Biles had worked like magic on him. In effect, Jonathan Owens had shed the loose ends from his performance and become a regular member of the starting squad. So, eventually, life comes full circle for their love affair every time. The well-wishers will expect the same in the future as well.
