So proud of Simone for pushing through to her goals! She gave this to say…

Simone Biles on Paris 2024: ‘Success is just what I make it’

Simone Biles may be, and indeed is, the most decorated gymnast in world championships history, but she is as self-motivated as ever and pragmatic as always in assessing her latest positive step toward her third Olympic Games later this month in Paris.

“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,” said the 27-year-old Biles after she won the U.S. Olympic Trials two weeks ago in Minneapolis. “I feel like success is just what I make it. I’ve been successful competing at Olympic Trials, making the Paris Olympic team, so we’ll see from there on out.”

Biles, whose collection of seven Olympic medals includes four golds from the Rio 2016 Games, heads to Paris with as the leader of the U.S. team that also includes 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey, 2020 Olympic team silver medalist Jordan Chiles, 2020 Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee and newcomer Hezly Rivera, with Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong as traveling reserves.

Three years after Biles’ widely reported withdrawal from most of her finals at Tokyo 2020 due to mental health concerns, she said Paris will be “our redemption tour” for the silver medal-winning 2020 U.S. squad. She led the U.S. women to team gold at last autumn’s World Championships in Antwerp, where she captured her sixth world all-around title.

“I know we’re stronger than what we showed in Tokyo,” said Biles, who trains under coaches Laurent Landi and Cecile Canqueteau-Landi at World Champions Centre in Spring, Texas. “We do it for ourselves and the love for the sport and the love for representing the U.S. So we’re going to go out there and we’re going to do our best. If we can just do what we do in training, then I think we’re going to hit it out of the ballpark.”

The formidable Biles enters Paris in prime position to recapture her 2016 all-around title, but she expresses simple wonder and gratitude over the prospect of performing on the Olympic stage again, particularly after her traumatic Tokyo experience.

“I never pictured going to another Olympic Games after Tokyo just because of the circumstances,” she said. “I never thought I would go back in the gym again, be twisting, feel free.”

Simone Says:

On her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens’ attendance at the trials and traveling to watch her compete in Paris: “I think it’s super exciting that we get to be in each other’s elements, and supporting each other’s dreams and goals. It’s these memories that we make that will never get back. So anytime we can show up for one another in support, we get super excited because our schedules don’t align that much. The Bears are actually granting him a couple days off from training camp, so he’ll be there, just a short little time.”

On Taylor Swift’s tweet raving about Bile’  floor exercise routine, performed in part to Swift’s music: “Actually I retweeted it earlier. She’s so sweet. I’ve been able to meet her a couple times and I can’t thank her enough for what she’s done for the girl community.”

On social media haters’ comments after Tokyo 2020: “They’ll still say like, ‘Are you going to quit again?’ And if I did, what are you going to do about it? Tweet me some more. I’ve already dealt with it for three years.”

On her fans: I have such a sweet and supportive fan base. I say fan base, but I really mean family because it really does take a village. So each and every comment that I see warms my heart. It keeps me running.”

On three gymnasts from her World Champions Centre club (Biles, Chiles and Roberson) making the U.S. team for Paris:I don’t think my mom ever imagined in a million years we’d send three to an Olympic Games, when she opened up the gym. So I think out of everybody, she’s the most proud and in awe.”

On 16-year-old Olympic teammate Hezly Rivera: “We’re really proud of her for making this team and we’re really excited to kind of show her the ropes and (that) she doesn’t have to do it alone. She has four veterans that have been there before.”

On whether she was speaking affirmations to herself after making mistakes during the trials:Affirmations? Actually, they’re all explicit. I can’t really say them. So take what you will with that.”