Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast, male or female, in history. She won her first world championship all-around gold medal in 2013 and has not lost an all-around competition since.
She arrived in Paris with 37 medals from World Championships and Olympics, including 27 golds.
She has since added to this total, winning team gold – her eighth Olympic medal – and she looks set to increase her tally when she competes in the finals for all-around, beam, floor and vault.
Biles returns to the Olympics after a difficult experience at Tokyo 2020. The athlete we have seen perform so far at Paris is more relaxed, more mature and still giving us the performances of the best gymnast in the world.
A difficult second Olympics
At her first Olympics, Rio 2016, Biles won gold in the team all-around, vault and floor competitions, and bronze on beam.
She was expected to repeat the feat in Tokyo in 2021, but she was forced to withdraw from most events because of mental health concerns and the “twisties” – the name gymnasts give to the phenomenon of losing sense of where they are in the air, making performing complicated moves dangerous.
In the end, she contributed one vault to the team final, where the women from the United States took silver, and she received a bronze medal on beam – far from the multiple golds she was expected to take home.
Many elite gymnasts get the twisties. They just didn’t talk about them so openly. Since Biles first spoke about it, other elite gymnasts such as Joscelyn Roberson and Laurie Hernandez have spoken about sharing the experience.
Biles has said the twisties were caused by a combination of trauma related to abuse by a former USA team doctor, isolation during the COVID affected games and the weight of high expectations of success.
Changing the discussion around mental health
Biles’ decision to prioritise her mental health and not compete has changed perceptions of elite gymnasts and their mental health.
Many former elite gymnasts have spoken about how they did not have agency over their bodies and decision-making while training and competing, and were forced to compete while injured.
Biles speaking about her mental health, alongside athletes like basketballer Kevin Love and tennis player Naomi Osaka, has reduced stigma, and increased the number of athletes talking about their mental health.
This year, inspired by this discussion, the US Olympic and Paralympic committee has made sure athletes have access to more mental health resources while they compete in Paris.
Changing the sport
Biles is also a trailblazer in competition.
She has five unique moves named after her across floor, balance beam and vault.
Only one of these moves has ever been performed by another gymnast in an international competition, when Hillary Heron of Panama performed a double layout with a half-twist in the second flip on floor this week in Paris.
She is a role model for many young African American girls, who are increasingly enrolling in gymnastics clubs.
Women’s gymnastics has long been dominated by younger athletes. There has not been an Olympic all-around women’s champion in her 20s for over 50 years.
The 2024 US team is one of the oldest in the country’s history, with an average age of 22. By way of contrast, in 2012, the oldest member of the team was 18-year-old Aly Raisman. Other medal contenders such as Brazil, have teams even older.
At 27, Biles could become the oldest woman to win Olympic all-around gold since 1952.
More experienced gymnasts competing at Olympic level reflects a change in recent years. Athletes have been able to maintain their elite abilities longer due to advances in sports medicine and training.
Her success as an older athlete also reflects her improved mental health and maturity.
Coming close to walking away from gymnastics after Tokyo, Biles was in and out of the gym for over a year and a half as she built from occasional gentle trampoline and mat exercises to more complex skills and routines.
When she returned to competition in 2023, she won her sixth all-around world championship and ninth all-around US championship.
As she details in her recent Netflix documentary, she now has much more balance in her life, with new priorities outside the gym. She still wants to win, but not winning isn’t the end of the world.
Paris 2024
Biles has called Paris her “redemption tour”. Again, she arrived at the Olympics with the pressure of being the favourite. But this time she is noticeably more relaxed, regularly seen chatting and laughing with teammates.
So far in Paris, her physical health has been more of a concern. She has a heavily strapped lower leg and has been seen limping. Her coach has said the injury is minor, and she will still be able to compete in the rest of the competition.
In her documentary, Biles talks about the importance of ending her career on her terms.
She has already changed the sport, both inside and outside the gym. If she can complete her remarkable comeback with individual all-around gold in Paris this will truly cement her legacy as the greatest gymnast of all time.
