Simone Biles is resting at home after a medical emergency she described as a near-death experience brought her to the hospital. The 29-year-old Olympic gymnast shared details of the health scare on her Instagram Stories earlier this week.
"Almost dying wasn't on my bingo card earlier this week," Biles wrote, calling it one of the scariest experiences of her life.
The crisis happened while her husband, Indianapolis Colts safety Jonathan Owens, was away at offseason NFL practice.
USA Olympic Legend Shares Recovery Update After Hospital
Despite the severity of the scare, Biles assured fans she is safely back home. She posted photos of herself resting in bed alongside her two French bulldogs, Lilo and Rambo.
Friends and family quickly filled her room with bouquets to show support.
Biles has not yet disclosed what caused the emergency. Still, she promised to share more information once she fully recovers. For now, the most decorated gymnast in USA Olympic and World Championship history is focused on rest.
Simone Biles's Summer Olympics Future Remains Uncertain
The health scare adds another layer of uncertainty to Biles's Olympic gymnastics future. Even before this week's emergency, her status for the 2028 LA Games remained unclear.
"Whether on the apparatus or in the stands, I still don't know that," she told French sports outlet L'Equipe in April 2025. "But 2028 seems so far away, and my body is aging. I felt it in Paris."
Biles continued her noncommittal stance during a January 2026 appearance on TODAY.
"If I have to say anything, I'm just like, 'Give me a little bit more time to recover, mentally, physically,'" she said. "We got a little bit more things to do and then we'll see."
For now, fans worldwide are sending well-wishes as she heals.
US track star Allyson Felix is getting more specific about what her Olympics return might look like.
After announcing plans to come out of retirement and pursue a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, Felix says her ideal path back would likely center around Team USA's relay pool rather than an individual event.
“My ideal situation would be to try to make the relay pool for maybe the mixed 4x400m relay,” Felix said Thursday on TODAY. “It’s a tall task to get back to that level, but I’m excited to really push for it.”
After retiring in 2022, Felix announced last month that she plans to resume full training in October with longtime coach Bobby Kersee as she prepares for what could be her sixth Summer Games.
The 2028 Olympics hold special significance for Felix, as they'll take place in her hometown of Los Angeles.
“If it wasn’t LA, I wouldn’t be as curious,” she said. “I just can’t imagine not going for it with it being in my hometown.”
Felix won 11 medals across five Olympics — including seven golds — making her one of history's most decorated track and field athletes.
If she qualifies for LA28 at age 42, she would become the first US track and field athlete to reach six Olympics.
However, the comeback won't be easy.
To make the relay pool, Felix would likely need a strong US Olympic trials showing, where spots traditionally go to athletes who reach the 400-meter final. USATF has not yet announced official qualification procedures for the 2028 Games.
Still, the track icon says she's at peace with the challenge ahead.
“There’s nothing to prove,” she added. “It’s just about testing the limits... Either way, I think it’s just about the success of courage, of going for it.”
Alysha Newman has been handed a 20-month suspension after missing multiple anti-doping controls, according to the Athletics Integrity Unit.
The Canadian pole vaulter — who won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics — is responsible for three "whereabouts" failures within a 12-month span. This qualifies as an anti-doping violation under global athletics rules.
In a post on Instagram, Newman shared a message alongside a photo celebrating her Olympic bronze medal.
“You can bind up my leg, but not even Zeus has the power to break my freedom of choice — Epictetus,” Newman wrote.
Under international anti-doping rules, athletes must maintain a daily one-hour period for surprise testing.
According to the AIU, Newman missed one test in February and two in August. During the third incident, officials said Newman told a doping control officer she had to leave to film a television game show.
After the third violation in February 2026, Newman subsequently received a provisional suspension.
“The Athlete has accepted the above Consequences for her Anti-Doping Rule Violation and has expressly waived her right to have those Consequences determined by the Disciplinary Tribunal at a hearing,” the AIU said in a statement.
Newman's ban runs through August 2027.
The standard penalty for whereabouts violations is typically two years. However, investigators reduced the suspension after accepting that Newman has decided to end her pole vaulting career. The AIU described that as a "sufficiently unique/exceptional factor" in determining the sanction.
The 31-year-old last competed in Diamond League events in Qatar and Morocco in 2025. However, she became one of Canada's most recognizable track and field athletes during the Paris Olympics, where her 4.85 meter-vault set a national record. She additionally became the first Canadian woman to medal in Olympic pole vault.
Lindsey Vonn, A'ja Wilson, Venus Williams, and Eileen Gu were among the many top athletes turning heads with 2026 Met Gala looks on Monday night.
Held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Met Gala stands as one of the year's biggest nights for fashion, art, and culture.
Williams helped lead the night as co-chair, alongside Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Anna Wintour. The seven-time Grand Slam champion wore a black gown inspired by her portrait at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. She paired it with a neck piece reminiscent of Wimbledon’s “Venue Rosewater dish” trophy.
The WNBA also had a strong presence.
Wilson — along with Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers — delivered some of the most talked-about Met Gala looks of the night. Wilson sported a gold off-the-shoulder gown with flowing sleeves, set ablaze by a slicked-back, golden-blonde hairstyle.
For Vonn, the night brought an especially significant moment.
In one of her first public appearances since her 2026 Winter Olympics crash, the decorated US skier arrived wearing a Thom Browne gown. Vonn also walked in without her crutches, marking a recovery milestone just three months after her injury.
Olympic freestyle skier Eileen Gu wore a glass bubble dress that weighed 30 pounds. Additionally, her look was complete with a bubble machine that trailed behind her.
"I lift weights, don't worry. I'm good," Gu told USA TODAY, explaining her Met Gala look with a laugh.
"There's a sense of whimsy. You can't help but poke and play with them. I like bringing that sense of fun wherever I go."
Decorated US skier Lindsey Vonn is still working through what comes next.
Months after her devastating crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Vonn said she's not ready — physically or emotionally — to decide whether or not she'll compete again.
"I just don't want to jump to any conclusions or even speculate on what I might do," Vonn told the Associated Press. "I may retire, I may never race again, and that would be completely fine, but I'm not in a position emotionally to make that decision at this point."
The crash came just 13 seconds into the women's downhill in Cortina, with Vonn suffering a complex tibia fracture and compartment syndrome. The injuries required eight surgeries, with at least one more procedure still needed to repair a torn ACL in her left knee.
While Vonn has returned from injuries before, the 41-year-old said this one stands out.
"It's a much different injury," she continued. "I could have lost my leg... I can deal with a lot of pain, but this was so extreme. It's not even been in the universe of pain with this injury as what I've had before.”
The recovery, she explained, has been as mental as it's been physical.
Transitioning from a wheelchair to crutches, Vonn said her timeline remains uncertain. She has not yet discussed a potential return to skiing with her doctors, instead focusing on day-to-day recovery.
"I'm still, like I said, in survival mode that I just want to get through this phase and be able to assess where I am in my life," she said.
And for now, that means holding off on any major decisions.
"I don't want to make a decision now, because I think that would be rash and probably too emotional," Vonn said. "I don't want to make a mistake."
Five-time Olympian Hilary Knight took the stage at last week's US Soccer's SheBelieves Summit in Seattle, fresh off a whirlwind two months that included winning Olympic gold, multiple TV appearances, and a PWHL season unlike any before.
Knight captained Team USA to an overtime victory against Canada in February's 2026 Olympic women's ice hockey final. The 36-year-old forward described the win as fueled by unwavering conviction.
"The level of conviction that we were going to win that game never wavered," Knight said during her keynote conversation with women's soccer icon Julie Foudy.
What followed Olympic glory proved equally extraordinary. Knight delivered the opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, appeared on the Tonight Show, and attended the Academy Awards. Later, TIME Magazine named her one of its Most Influential People.
But Knight says the most meaningful post-Olympics experience has been returning to the PWHL with Seattle. The league launched three years ago and played its inaugural season in 2024. Knight and her Seattle teammates went on to set a US attendance record just last month, when more than 18,000 fans packed Madison Square Garden for the first pro women's hockey game at the iconic venue.
"What's so cool and unique now is after the Olympic Games, we get to play in a professional season and return to that," Knight said. "To finally have a league, the structure and the facility behind us, to be able to take those big moments by storm — it's so incredible."
The PWHL success mirrors hockey's growth across women's sports. Youth hockey registration has surged since the league's formation, Knight noted, as young players can now see a clear professional future.
"Seeing all these younger faces in the stands who understand that now they have a career path is pretty special," she told the SheBelieves Summit crowd.
Women’s sport stars stepped into the spotlight, as three top Winter Olympians headline this week’s TIME100 Most Influential People.
Olympic gold medalist figure skater Alysa Liu led the women’s sports field, joined by USA Hockey captain Hilary Knight and trailblazing snowboarder Chloe Kim.
Liu and Kim fall under the magazine’s ‘Icons’ category, while women’s hockey pioneer Knight lead the ‘Innovators’ section.
“Chloe shows up exactly as herself, and that authenticity resonates far beyond snowboarding,” Olympic gymnast Suni Lee wrote of Kim.
“That’s what great artists do: they make you reconsider what you’ve been carrying, and invite you to join them in being light on their feet,” comedian Bowen Yang wrote of Liu’s performance in Milan.
“She loves the sport so completely, she never stops finding new ways to be great,” Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai wrote of Knight’s career.
“There is no single metric that defines influence,” TIME EIC Sam Jacobs wrote. “Our selections are led by the stories that are shaping the world each year and the people who write them.”
“Some are well known to many, others only within their fields,” he continued. “We are eager to see which of the individuals in this issue will still be wielding influence more than 50 years from today.”
The Olympic trio builds on last year’s lineup, when Unrivaled co-founders Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart landed on the 2025 TIME100 List.
WNBA star Brianna Turner is speaking up, as the league veteran and WNBPA treasurer criticized the IOC’s new transgender ban and sex verification policy in a USA Today op-ed entitled “I'm a WNBA player. Don't use athletes like me to exclude trans women.”
The IOC’s policy effectively bans transgender athletes from participating in Olympic women’s sports. It also impacts competitors with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) — a category of congenital conditions where a person's chromosomes, hormones, and/or reproductive anatomy does not fit into the male/female binary.
Notably, the IOC abandoned a previous gender screening rule in 1999 due to its scientific ineffectiveness, with the Committee now opting to reinstate the anti-transgender policy ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics.
“This new mandate abandons that ground-breaking and collaborative framework, ignores established medical and human-rights guidance, and rejects the science that says physical appearance, chromosomes or individual traits do not determine athletic performance or success,” wrote Turner.
Brianna Turner Says Transgender Ban Doesn't Protect Women's Sports
A key member of the WNBA’s recent CBA negotiations, Turner subsequently noted that higher salaries, improved travel and health protections, and familial support are the policies strengthening women’s sports — not bans.
“In more than 15 years of organized basketball, I’ve played with and against people who are transgender and undoubtedly people with intersex variations,” wrote the newly signed Las Vegas Aces forward. “And I've never experienced any unfair advantages.”
“If we really want to protect the integrity of sport, let’s invest in fairness, opportunity and safety for every athlete,” she continued. “Let’s build a future where sport belongs to everyone.”
Mikaela Shiffrin is opening up about the moment that helped her reset before winning Olympic slalom gold in Milano-Cortina.
Speaking on TODAY, Shiffrin said she had an “almost out-of-body experience” at the start-gate before her second run. The moment came after she watched the skier ahead of her miss a gate, bringing her back to her disappointing performance at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
“My biggest fear going into the Games was that I would feel really isolated and alone,” Shiffrin said.
But, thanks to her team, that’s not how she felt on the Italian slopes last month.
“They made me feel very supported and feel very together,”
Shiffrin said of her backers. “It felt like they were skiing it with me.”
The 31-year-old went on to complete a clean second run and top the Olympic slalom podium, earning her third career individual gold medal. The victory only padded Shiffrin’s already-stacked resume, which spans a record 110 World Cup wins and a record-tying six overall World Cup titles.
Will Olympic Skier Mikaela Shiffrin Compete in the Next Winter Olympics?
While she remains at the top of her game, questions still surround Shiffrin’s future — especially when it comes to participating in the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.
“We look forward to seeing you at the next Winter Olympics,” TODAY anchor Craig Melvin told her with a smile, closing out the interview.
“Very good, Very good. We’ll talk later,” she laughed.
South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya is speaking up, as the two-time Olympic gold medalist voiced concerns about Thursday's IOC decision to reinstate sex verification tests for women's sports athletes.
"For you as a woman, why will you be tested to prove that you fit?" Semenya said, calling the new screening "a disrespect."
"You know, it's like now we need to prove that we are worthy as women to take part in sports," she continued.
Thursday's move effectively bans transgender women athletes as well as competitors who have one of the many Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) — a category of congenital conditions in which a person's chromosomes, hormones, and/or reproductive anatomy does not fit neatly into the male/female binary.
Approximately one in every 100 people is born with DSD — including Semenya, whose diagnosis revealed a condition that impacts her chromosomes and hormone levels.
The 2012 and 2016 Olympic 800-meter champion has been advocating against the IOC's restrictive gender testing since 2016.
Notably, the IOC abandoned the screenings in 1999 due to ineffectiveness, with the Committee now reinstating the policy ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics.
According to the Committee, the move will "ensure fairness" and "protect safety" of female athletes.
All women's sports athletes must now undergo a saliva, cheek swab, or blood test for the SRY gene, with the results applying to all lifetime competitions "unless there is reason to believe that a negative reading is in error."
The screening requirement will limit "eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports... to biological females" the IOC said on Thursday.