Simone Biles is “keeping the door open” when it comes to her Olympics future.
The 24-year-old Team USA gymnast decided to pull out of the individual all-around, vault, bars and floor finals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last week due to mental health issues and the twisties – which causes gymnasts to become disoriented mid-air.
However, Simone decided to take part in the balance beam final this week after lowering her level of difficulty and changing her dismount to avoid the twisties and she ended up winning a Bronze medal.
And the world champion has insisted it might not be her last Olympics as she discussed the possibility of her competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Appearing on the ‘Today’ show, she told Hoda Kotb: “I think I have to relish and take this Olympics in and kind of recognise what I’ve done with my career. Because after 2016, I didn’t get to do that.
“Life just happens so quickly and now I have a greater appreciation for life after everything that’s happened in the last five years.”
She added: “Yeah, keeping the door open.”
Simone took to social media to reflect on her time at the Games – in which she also won a silver in the team all-around event.
She captioned an image of the Olympic rings: “Not at all how I imagined or dreamed my second Olympics would go but blessed to represent the USA.
“I’ll forever cherish this unique Olympic experience. Thanks everyone for the endless love and support. I’m truly grateful – leaving Tokyo with 2 more Olympic medals to add to my collection isn’t too shabby!
“7 time Olympic medallist (sic).”
She added on her Instagram Story: “Leaving Tokyo with a full heart”.
Simone also admitted she was saddened that people thought she had quit the events.
She said: “It wasn’t an easy decision so it hurts that people were like, ‘Oh she quit or she did this’ because I’ve worked five years for that, why would I quit?”
“Like, I’ve been through so much over the past couple years in the sport, like, I just don’t quit. That’s not what I do. But the girls could see it and I knew that they would get the job done and that’s exactly what they did so they won silver.
“At the end of the day, we’re not just athletes or entertainment, we’re human too and we have real emotions. And sometimes, they don’t realise we have things going on behind the scenes that affect us whenever we go out and compete.”