Simone Biles returns to competition after 2 years and wins a medal

Simone Biles has spent two years taking care of her mental health since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, when she had serious problems. At the age of 26, she returned to competition this Saturday (5) with a gold medal at the US Classic, in Chicago, a qualifying tournament for the nationals.

Confidence building with each rotation, Biles surged to his first victory amidst the cheering crowd. The gymnast’s overall score was 59.100, five points better than Leann Wong, a silver medalist. Joscelyn Roberson took the bronze medal.

Biles got the best score in three of the four contests, showing in the qualifying event that she is still Simone Biles, now in a new version of herself. The four-time Olympic gold medalist from America dominated on the floor, vault, uneven bars and balance beam to secure yet another first place finish in her victorious career.

“I feel really good where I am right now, mentally and physically,” Biles said. “I still think there are some things to work on in my routines, but for the first date back, I’d say it went really well. I’m pretty shocked. Surprised.”

Biles started the competitions on the uneven bars with a score of 14,000, the third best grade in the competition, which showed what was to come. She climbed the balance beam with a 14,800. The champion corrected great steps on the ground, with a score of 14,900. She even finished with a double jump over the table. The arena showed all its excitement with the last note of 15,400, which put Simone ahead of the other 30 competitors.

There were 732 days of taking care of his mental health, since he abandoned five events at the Tokyo Olympics. The most decorated female gymnast in history has revealed that she only stepped up training after her marriage to football player Jonathan Owens at the end of April. She came to the competition in a black and white leotard and a silicone wedding band, bought to wear while competing, as well as an “Owens” necklace.

“At first, whenever I got back to training, I think in September, I was kind of having fun in the gym trying to get back in shape. I took almost all of October and part of November off because I was doing a lot of speaking engagements and the end of summer parties. year arrived. So I just focused on being in shape and keeping the routine”, he said.

“When the new year arrived, I started to increase the frequency, but I still had some things, I was working on the marriage. I felt that Laurent (Landi, his coach) was always one step ahead. After May we started to intensify, but before that I was just training. We just realized the time had come and Laurent (Landi) said we were going to compete in the Classics. It kind of wasn’t said that I would compete, we just knew,” revealed Biles.

The US Classic is considered a kind of warm-up for the US championships that take place at the end of this month. The world championships are scheduled for October and there is still the Olympics less than a year away. “I knew I could come back and hopefully have a chance,” she said. “It’s about really taking care of my body right now. So that’s what we’re supposed to do. It’s working.”

FOCUS ON MENTAL HEALTH

The 26-year-old American hasn’t entered a competition since August 2021, when she defended the USA at the Tokyo Games. At the time, Simone Biles did not draw attention for her achievements, but for having given up on several events, such as the general individual final, to prioritize her mental health.

She claimed that she was suffering from “twisties”, a term used in gymnastics to explain the loss of spatial reference suffered by an athlete in the execution of any movement. She can’t focus or concentrate. The situation could endanger her physical integrity by making serious mistakes in her presentations.

By coming forward to explain the situation, Biles brought up discussions about mental health, one of the most talked about topics throughout that Olympics and the years to follow. There was an expectation that the American would break several records and historical marks of gymnastics in Tokyo, which ended up not happening due to the athlete’s decision. The gymnast has seven Olympic medals, four of which are gold. Most were obtained at the Rio 2016 Games. In the Japanese capital, she won silver on the team and bronze on the balance beam, an achievement that made her tied for the number of Olympic medals in the history of American gymnastics with Shannon Miller.

At the end of that edition of the Olympics, Simone Biles left open the possibility of retiring even before the Paris 2024 Games. This Wednesday’s announcement, however, opens up the possibility that the American will be in France next year.

The last two years have been a whirlwind in the competitor’s personal life, despite the distance from competitions. She has become one of the biggest advocates for athletes in their pursuit of mental health.