Simone Biles has been to the Olympic stage three times in her career. But she hardly would have had ‘deja vu’ each time, as every experience was so distinct. Results-wise, her 11 Olympic medals are divided into 5 from Rio, 2 from Tokyo, and 4 from Paris. And that’s because there are a lot of factors that differed each time she went to the Olympics. In Rio, she was merely a 19- year-old teenager, but in Tokyo, she was the favorite who was burdened with the need to hold the reigns.
Come Paris, she was much calmer and felt, “After all these years putting the mental work in, it’s paid off.” Although Biles may have opined on each experience separately, speaking to George Baleki from NESN, she recently looked back at the collective picture and addressed how each game challenged her differently.
Oh my goodness!” Simone Biles candidly reacted to this question, which required her to go as far back as 8 years on the memory lane. Chronologically, she started with Rio, about which all she had to say was, “I was so naive about what was going and what was happening.” A teenager back then, she confesses to being ‘mentally programmed’ or hardwired, as one can say, to what would happen if they won gold. Thus, all they did was go out there and do their job, adapting an approach that can be called “a little bit robotic.”
Biles further added that Tokyo was entirely different. Given the Covid pandemic, they tired to push to the bets the could, without fan interaction, as admittedly they “feed off the crowd to have better performances.” On top of it, the morale boost to watch your loved ones around was not there as no spectators were allowed in the arena. Thus, Biles agreed this “was a little bit mentally exhausting more because everybody was going through things and they still had to perform exceptionally on the Olympic stage.”
Finally, coming to Paris, she mentioned how the environment and energy once again was like, “lets bring fun back into the sport.” Their motto was to support each other and to go out and redeem themselves after an underwhelming Tokyo stint. And given that they went in with a better mindset, that reflected in the results too. As Biles agreed there was so much success, followed by so much celebration after Paris. In fact, the Gold Over America Tour itself is a part of that.
However, Simone Biles’ stand about returning back for LA 2028 has apparently changed a lot even recently. From a never say never attitude, it seems like she’s shifted to going with the flow.
There are obviously a few factors that she’ll have to take into consideration before making the decision for LA. Biles is currently 27 and till LA, she’ll be 31. Now while the norm of present day gymnastics is no longer the same and gymnasts are defying the age barriers, it still remains an aspect she’ll have to be fully prepared about. Biles herself agrees that in gymnastics, the longevity has never been there.
Remeber when the Paris Olympics had just finished, Simone Biles was bombarded with questions about LA. And while she did agree that she’s getting old, the gymnast kept the door open saying, “The next Olympics is at home. So you just never know.” But, it now appears there has been a slight shift, as she’s just thinking about the present.
To an extent that she’s partially irked by not getting to live in the moment. “It’s funny because as soon as you finish the Olympics, they’re like, ‘What’s next?’ and I’m like, ‘Damn, I can’t even relish in this moment and be so grateful for the opportunity to compete on a world stage again at an Olympic Games’ and just to celebrate my success. You guys just want to know what’s next,” she said.
She won at the Olympics over a month back and she’s currently enjoying her success with her team on the Gold Over America Tour. But, there’s no break from the questions about LA. But, Biles is aware she will have to address them soon enough, If not to the world, at least in her own mind because in gymnastics, “As soon as we start training, we’re in for the long haul for those three to four years.” And that is the norm. But, right now she just wants to focus on her mental and physical health. What do you think about this? Let us know below.
