Simone Biles’ redemption song continues to silence Tokyo demons Premium
The Hindu
Simone Biles' journey from Tokyo to Paris, rediscovering her best and redefining gymnastics on her own terms.
For a generation, Simone Biles has defined gymnastics. For the last three years, she has done everything in her power to ensure it doesn’t define her.
At the Tokyo Games in 2021, Biles — regarded by then as one of the best of all time — had a bout of the disorienting ‘twisties’. It’s a temporary condition in which gymnasts lose their sense of where they are in the air, increasing the risk of injury when they land.
Biles memorably pulled out of multiple finals to protect her mental health and safety — a decision that came with a backlash that still litters her social media feed — but has since worked to return to competitive gymnastics and rediscover her best.
At the World Championships last year, she increased her World and Olympics medal tally to 37, making her the most decorated gymnast ever — male or female — at the sport’s two signature events ahead of the retired Vitaly Scherbo. It was an astonishing big-stage comeback.
And now she has the opportunity to put the Tokyo Olympics firmly in her rearview mirror. Biles booked her ticket to the Paris Games after a resounding all-around victory at the US gymnastics trials last weekend and will headline an American team eyeing a shot at redemption.
The 27-year-old took two years off after Tokyo, a break in which she prioritised her mental health — she now meets with her therapist weekly, even during competitions — and moved on with her life. Biles’ gut told her that if she wanted to come back, she needed to do it on her terms. That meant taking intentional steps to make sure her life is no longer defined by her gymnastics.
She married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens last spring and has shifted gymnastics to something she does, not the essence of her self-worth. Indeed, the couple are building a house in the northern Houston suburbs they hope to move into shortly after Biles returns from Paris.