Simone Biles hints her Olympics career could be over after Paris redemption
Roughly four months removed from the 2024 Paris Games, speculation is already bubbling about whether 11-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles will compete in Los Angeles in 2028.
When discussing the future in a wide-ranging interview with Sports Illustrated, which announced Biles as the 2024 Sportsperson of the Year on Thursday, the superstar gymnast was asked what the upcoming summer games would “have to be about” for her to compete in her fourth Olympics.
“Life and death,” Biles, 27, said. “Because I’ve accomplished so much, there’s almost nothing left to do, rather than to just be snobby and to try again and for what? I’m at a point in my career where I’m humble enough to know when to be done.”
Paris marked the anticipated return to the Olympic stage for Biles, who withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Games three years ago due to the “twisties,” a phenomenon when a gymnast can lose a sense of where they are while airborne, potentially resulting in dangerous landings.
Biles had a sensational showing in Paris, winning gold in the team all-around event, the individual all-around and the vault final. She was awarded silver in the floor exercise final.
“If you go back, you’ll be greedy. Those are the consequences. But that’s also your decision to decide. What sacrifices would be made if I go back now? When you’re younger, it’s like, prom, college. Now it’s like, starting a family, being away from my husband. What’s really worth it?” Biles told Sports Illustrated.
A year before the 2024 Olympics, Biles married Bears safety Jonathan Owens.
Owens, currently in his first season in Chicago, was granted permission to skip some of the Bears’ training camp to support Biles overseas.
Since wrapping her “Gold Over America Tour” in November, Biles has frequented some of Owens’ Bears games, with the couple sharing kisses on the sideline.
Though it remains to be seen what Biles’ Olympic future holds, Sports Illustrated noted she wants to continue to work with her nonprofit, Friends of the Children, which aligns mentors with children in foster care, and to “take a more active role in designing a 2025 collection with Athleta.”
This isn’t the first time Biles has been broached with the subject of the 2028 games.
“Never say never,” she told reporters in August. “Next Olympics are at home. So you just never know. I am getting really old.”
Biles will be 31 when the next summer Olympics commence in July 2028.
