Paris Olympics 2024: Know your athlete - Simone Biles looks to cement herself as the greatest gymnast of all time
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India, July 17 -- Simone Biles will be heading to Paris to stage her Olympic comeback after pulling out of multiple events in Tokyo due to twisties, which is a temporary loss of spatial awareness. In her comeback, she booked her third straight Olympic appearance, with an all-round win at the US trials.Born in Ohio on March 14, 1997, Biles entered the world of gymnastics at only six years old and since then was destined for greatness. At only 16, she bagged two golds at the Antwerp Championship, including the all-round title. She also showed the world her groundbreaking move on the floor exercise for the first time, a double layout with a half twist.She got four gold medals at the Worlds in 2014, and then another four in 2015. At her first Olympics in Rio in 2016, she got gold in the all-around, team, vault and floor exercises, and bronze on the balance beam.In 2023, she took her tally of world and Olympic medals to 37. She now has six world all-around titles and will be the one to watch out for in Paris. In Paris, she will be the oldest woman gymnast to participate for the US since Marie Hoesly in 1952.
Her coach Cecile Landi said, "I think we always knew she could be better. She's the most talented athlete I've ever worked with and so we just knew if she could get her mental game as well as her physical game, then she would be close to unstoppable."Responding to her critics who have pointed out her Tokyo Olympics phase, after winning the Olympic trials she said, "They'll still say like, 'Oh my gosh, you're going to quit again? Or are you going to quit again?' And like, and 'If I did, what are you going to do about it? Tweet me some more? Like I've already dealt with it for three years. But yeah, they want to see us fail."Furthermore, she added, "They want to see the downfall, which is really unfortunate because sports hasn't seen athletes like we've seen before. So you really have to give them their flowers in the sport because once they're gone, you're going to miss them."Speaking on her performance at the Olympic trials, she said, "Nobody's forcing me to do it. I wake up every day and choose to grind in the gym and come out here and perform for myself. Just to remind myself that I can still do it."
