Simone Biles has her sights set on the Paris Olympics in 2024.

The seven-time Olympic medal winner, who returned to competition in August, told the “Today” show that the 2024 Olympics in Paris is “the path I would love to go.”

Following the U.S. Classic and U.S. Championships in August, Biles remained mum about the upcoming Summer Games. But she spoke with “Today” host Hoda Kotb about her goals, which include Paris.

“If I had $5 in my hand and I was going to Vegas and I’m like, ‘I’m going to bet on whether Simone will go to the Olympics or not,'” Kotb asked, “where would I put my five bucks, the yay or the nay?”

Biles responded: “I wouldn’t mind if you put it in the yay section.”

The five-time world all-around champion is likely to compete at this year’s world championships after taking home the all-around title at the U.S. competition. Still, she’s remaining down to earth amid her return to gymnastics.

“I think we have to be a little bit more cautious about how we do things. So everything that we’re doing leading up to this next Games or whatever is very intentional,” Biles said. “We’ve kind of been playing it on the down low this time, making sure mentally and physically are both intact. So I think it’ll be different, but it’ll be good.”

Biles made headlines at the Tokyo Olympics when she had to withdraw from several events due to the “twisties,” which causes gymnasts to lose track of where they are in the air. Her absence sparked discussions about athletes’ physical and mental health, and Biles wants to continue to prioritize both as she approaches a potential third Olympic appearance.

“I think I have to take care of myself a little bit more and listen to my body and making sure that I’m making time for the important things in my life rather than before,” Biles said. “It was just like, go, go, go, and, then, making time after.

“This time around, it’s like being intentional, going to therapy, making sure everything is aligned so that I can do the best in the gym and be, like, a good wife, a good daughter, a good friend, all the good things.”

And while Biles’ return to the sport has looked easy, it hasn’t always been, she admitted.

“There were times when I would come in the gym and I’d be like, ‘You know what? No, I don’t think this is going to work,'” she said. “And then I was like, ‘No, I’m going to give it another day. I’m going to give it another day.’ So I think just showing up and putting that work and that effort in really, really came to play.

“So as long as I showed up for another day and kept putting that work in, then [any doubts] kind of went down and dwindled. So, right now, I’m feeling really good. I think I still sometimes doubt myself, but I’m still doing my therapy and making sure everything’s aligned well.”

Simone Biles’ return to gymnastics has made it seem like she never even left at all.

On Sunday, the 26-year-old won her unprecedented eighth U.S. all-around gymnastics title. She capped it off with what coach Laurent Landi called “the best floor routine I’ve ever seen her do.”

“Every time I come out here, I feel like I’m in a fever dream,” Biles said of the meet, her first major competition since her return. “I feel like nothing’s real. I knew I did a good floor routine, but as soon as I got off and saw the score, I was like, ‘Damn, I need to see that routine.’ Because I wasn’t sure.”

Through it all, Biles has made gymnastics look easy. She landed another Yurchenko double pike on Friday, continuing her reign as the only woman ever to so much as attempt it in competition. She earned a 9.8 execution score.

“It’s not normal. She is not normal,” Landi said.

And Biles is doing this all at the age of 26. In gymnastics terms, she is redefining what the sport can look like. Most gymnasts at 26 aren’t competing at their best, like Biles is.

She’s approaching the sport with a different mindset, choosing not to share her goals and instead to “be at peace” while taking it “one thing at a time.”

“I like to keep (my goals) personal, just so that I know what I’m aiming for,” Biles said. “I think it’s better that way. I’m trying to move a little bit differently this year than I have in the past. I think it’s working so far, so I’m going to keep it secretive.”

That peace will take her to the world championships next month, where she’ll attempt to add to her 25 world championship medals – 18 of which are gold. But for Biles, she’s just happy to be back in the thick of competition.

“I just didn’t think I was going to be back here competing,” she said. “I’m in the moment. But it doesn’t feel real for some reason. I just, seriously, can’t believe I’m out here competing again. I’m proud of myself for that.”

Simone Biles is officially back.

At the Core Hydration Classics in suburban Chicago on Saturday night, she looked as comfortable as she ever has on the mat. Competing in her first gymnastics event since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Biles easily won the all-around title as well as the gold for vault, beam and floor. On the uneven bars, often considered her weakest event, she took second.

Between events, the four-time Olympic gold medalist danced with her teammates and did a synchronized celebration with Jordan Chiles to celebrate her vault. According to Biles, though, looks were deceiving.

“I thought I was going to s–t bricks! I was very nervous. So at least if it looked like I was having fun, that’s good. But I think after every routine, it got a little bit easier. And usually my power events, vault and floor, before I go in, I’m like, ‘OK, I know I’m gonna make these,'” Biles said.

“I think this was the complete opposite in trainings. I’ve been making all my bar sets, all my beam sets. So that’s kind of a complete 180 for me. So to get out there on floor and vault, I was like, ‘Ooh, how’s this gonna go?’ I’ve been making them, but not as confident. So getting back in that groove and just having fun and remembering that I’m here for myself.”

Finding confidence is a big part of the Classics. Biles wasn’t the only gymnast who used this event to find a way back to the floor before the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Suni Lee, Chiles and Jade Carey — all Olympic medalists who have moved on to NCAA competition — competed to rediscover some comfort at the elite level again. Leanne Wong, an alternate for the 2021 Olympics, has been competing at the college level, as well. She took second at Classics, as she vies for a spot on the United States’ 2024 Olympic team.

What happens next?

Gymnasts will head to San Jose for the U.S. Championships at the end of August. That event will not only include the gymnasts who posted qualifying scores from Classics. Shilese Jones, who helped the U.S. team win gold at the World Championships in 2022 while also taking silver in the all-around and uneven bars, will be competing at the U.S. Championships because of her accomplishments at Worlds.

What does this mean for Paris?

Technically, the Classics the year before the Olympics don’t mean anything when it comes to choosing who will compete for the U.S. in Paris. However, since it’s a qualifier for the U.S. Championships, it’s not an event gymnasts take lightly. It’s a chance for them to get judged on their routines and figure out what needs to be tweaked as they move forward in the Olympic cycle. If the Olympics are the peak of a mountain range, think of the Classics as the foothills.

img
Joscelyn Roberson placed third in the all-around at the U.S. Classic on Saturday. (Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

Beyond the established names, who else should we look out for?

For gymnasts who have already won Olympic medals, the Classics were about finding their footing again and building confidence heading into the U.S. Championships and team selection camp for Worlds. For other gymnasts, this competition was about establishing themselves as a real threat to make the World Championship team and, eventually, the Olympic team.

Here are three American gymnasts to watch.

Joscelyn Roberson

When you see Roberson compete, Shawn Johnson’s powerful tumbling and vaults will come to mind. Roberson trains at the same gym as Biles and Chiles, and holds her own with Olympic teammates. She took third in the all-around on Saturday, and tied for second on floor, tied for third on beam and placed second on vault. Earlier this year, Roberson won medals at multiple international events. She’s committed to Arkansas for 2025, so she will continue to train with an eye on the Olympics.

Skye Blakeley

At just 18, Blakeley has an impressive resume. She was part of the gold-medal winning 2022 World Championships team, and she’s won medals at the Pan-American Championships. On Saturday, she tied for second on bars and third on beam. Though she’s committed to Florida, she is holding off on college to focus on Olympic training.

Kaliya Lincoln

The LSU-bound gymnast showed she has the talent to compete with the best the U.S. has to offer. On floor exercise and vault, Lincoln can fly while still keeping perfect form in the air. With extra training at LSU and WOGA, her home gym in Texas, Lincoln has the skills to make a run at the Olympic team.

Maggie Hendricks is a contributing writer for Just Women’s Sports. She also covers women’s sports for Bally Sports. Follow her on Twitter @maggiehendricks.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — When Simone Biles was introduced to the crowd at the beginning of the Core Hydration Classic on Saturday night, she ran out, waved to the crowd, and then paused, looking around the floor exercise mat for some guidance. She wasn’t sure where she was supposed to stand as the rest of the competitors were announced. A fellow gymnast waved her over, Biles laughed, and she headed to the edge of the mat.

It was the last time she didn’t look at home on the gymnastics floor. Biles scored a 59.100 to win her first all-around competition since the 2021 Olympic Trials. Starting on the uneven bars, Biles scored a 14.000. Just before her dismount, Biles lost her form and had to muscle back into position before doing her full-twisting double back.

The break on bars was the biggest mistake Biles had on Saturday night. On balance beam and floor exercise, she was steady and aggressive, just as the four-time Olympic gold medalist has always been. For vault, Biles showed she was just as capable of doing the high-flying Yurchenko double pike as she was in 2021. Though she landed off-center, she scored a massive 15.400 thanks to the vault’s difficulty.

The sold-out NOW Arena in suburban Chicago erupted in cheers for every move Biles made, whether it was warming up a vault or dancing with her friend and teammate Jordan Chiles. They chanted her name as she spoke with the media, and stayed well after the meet was over to show their appreciation.

“I think what shocks me the most is, everyone’s so supportive, like in the crowd, all of the girls, all of the signs, like after everything that transpired in Tokyo, and obviously, you know, they ‘at me’ in all those tweets and stuff, so I get a lot of that stuff. But the amount of outpouring love and support that I had on Twitter, on Instagram, and in the arena was just really shocking,” she said.

“And surprising to me that they still have so much belief in me, they still love me, and it just makes my heart warm, because it’s nice to come out here and have all that support, especially in a time like this where I was, like really nervous to compete again. But everyone, I can’t ask for more.”

The Classics were Biles’ first competition back since she pulled out of the Olympic team competition with “twisties,” a type of mental block gymnasts sometimes deal with that prevents them from knowing where they are in the air.

Since then, she’s spoken out on the importance of mental health for athletes. In her personal life, Biles married Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens. She returned to training in 2022. According to her coach Cecille Landi, Biles stepped up her training after the wedding this spring.

“I had dinner with her, and it was this year and she told me she really wanted to get a chance to do it. After that, I would say after the wedding. Once everything was over, then we saw a shift in her training and commitment to being back,” Landi said on Friday.

Competing at the Classics was Biles’ first step back on the road to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

With her win Saturday, she qualified for the U.S. championships in San Jose at the end of August. Then, the country’s top gymnasts will take part in a selection camp to decide who will represent the United States at the world championships in Antwerp in October. She joked when asked whether she’s thinking about her plans for the Olympics.

“Right now, I think I should just embrace what happened today. Be happy for me, for my teammates. We’ll go into championships in a couple of weeks and work on those tweaks that we had today, but I’m in a really good spot and who knows? I’m not gonna think so far ahead,” Biles said.

“It’s just like when you get married, they ask you when you’re having a baby. You come to Classics, and they’re asking you about the Olympics. I think we’re just trying to take it one step at a time.”

Biles wasn’t the only star to make a big step back to competition at Classics. Sunisa Lee, the 2021 Olympic All-Around champion, did the vault and beam. After Lee finished on the beam, her first event back at the elite level since dealing with a kidney condition, she hugged her trainer and sobbed. She said on Friday that her biggest goal was to qualify for the U.S. championships, and she did just that with a 14.500 on beam and a 13.500 on vault.

“I think it went really well tonight. I’m super proud of myself for pushing. There were times when thought I wouldn’t be able to do this, but I definitely got over the fear and the doubt. I thought, I’m just going to put myself on the floor, let myself have fun. I think that’s exactly what I did,” Lee said after the meet.

Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, 2021 Olympians, already qualified for the U.S. championships because they were on the 2022 world championship team that won gold. Still, they competed at Classics to help prepare them for the elite season. Since the Olympics, both have been competing at the college level, with Carey at Oregon State and Chiles at UCLA. Carey scored a 13.900 on beam, and Chiles scored a 13.900 on bars and 12.800 on beam.

Maggie Hendricks is a contributing writer for Just Women’s Sports. She also covers women’s sports for Bally Sports. Follow her on Twitter @maggiehendricks.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sunisa Lee walked out to the floor for podium training for the Core Hydration Classic on Friday carrying a giant backpack. Before she could take too many steps towards the competition areas, she was greeted by Jordan Chiles, her 2021 Olympic teammate, with a giant hug. Chiles’ infectious enthusiasm was apparent as she ran up to Lee, who is taking baby steps back to the sport where she won Olympic all-around gold in Tokyo.

“[It felt] so good. Jordan is one of the closest people to me. So to see her back out here and to just be back out and competing with her is so fun,” Lee said during training for the U.S. Classic, where many Team USA hopefuls are competing a year before the 2024 Olympics. That group includes Simone Biles, who is returning to the mat for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics, where she sat out of multiple events while dealing with the “twisties.”

The last time casual Olympic fans saw Lee, she was celebrating a breakout performance in 2021. She won gold in the all-around, helped the U.S team win silver and took bronze on the uneven bars. Like Biles and Nastia Liukin, Lee competed on “Dancing with the Stars,” where she finished fifth.

From there, Lee headed to Auburn to compete for the Tigers, as part of the first crop of Olympic athletes who were able to take advantage of NIL rules that allowed her to earn money after the Olympics and still compete in college.

Lee excelled in her first season at Auburn, drawing record crowds to their meets in 2022. She won an NCAA title on balance beam and took second in the all-around. NCAA gymnastics tends to focus more on the team outcomes. And between conference events and dual meets, collegiate gymnasts just compete more, which

“[NCAAs] definitely helped my consistency and a lot of like the mental side, because I feel like today I was coming in and I was really happy,” Lee said. “But when I got back up on the podium, and I was like worked up at first and then I was pretty calm, like recalling back to college, every single day, doing the same elements. And I’ve done this so many times.”

But throughout the 2023 season, Lee missed competitions due to a kidney condition. She announced that the ‘23 season would be her final one in college due to health issues, but she wasn’t moving on from her goal of getting back to the Olympics.

This weekend in Chicago, Lee is working to get back to elite form, even as she deals with a kidney condition that can hamper her training.

“My main goal was to just come here and compete,” Lee said. “I’m not worrying about winning or placing or anything. I just wanted to get back out here. I’m not doing full difficulty at all. I’m not competing floor [exercise].”

During podium training on Friday, Lee looked steady as she trained her balance beam, vault and uneven bars routines. The routines were on the easier side of what she can accomplish, but going viral for her latest skill isn’t the point. Showing the gymnastics world that she is progressing is.

As Lee works with doctors to control her kidney condition, she has to deal with a scaled-back training schedule. Lee told the Olympic Channel that she sometimes wakes up with fingers so swollen that she can’t put on the grips she needs to wear for the uneven bars.

“I am still kind of in and out of the gym. I don’t train as much as I used to. And I definitely don’t take as much time as I like, but whenever I’m having a really good day, I try and take advantage of that and do as much as I can,” Lee said. “Other days, I just work more basics, turns or dance elements because those are important, too.”

When her kidney condition started affecting her in January, Lee was on the exact path she wanted to be on to make it to Paris for the Olympics. Getting healthy enough to try out some of those new skills is part of why she is still pushing for Paris.

“I feel like there’s just a lot more in me. Before all of the diagnoses and all of that stuff, I was doing really good. I feel like I was coming up with new combinations, new skills, like it would have been really cool,” she said. “But that’s definitely what inspired me because I already know that I can do it. So if I just get myself back to that pace, I’ll be right on to the Olympics hopefully.”

Competing at the Classic is the first step that Lee, Chiles, Biles and all of the 2024 Olympic hopefuls will take. This event will qualify gymnasts to the U.S. Championships in San Jose in late August. From there, the top gymnasts will head to a selection camp where the world championship team will be chosen for the event in Belgium in early October.

img
Simone Biles returns to competition this weekend for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics. (Jon Durr/USA TODAY Sports)

For Lee, competing at the Classic is not just a step toward the Olympics, but that step she needs to take to show herself she can compete again, even if she’s not earning the highest scores.

“I’m not gonna be the perfectionist that I was before. It’s just gonna be really hard because, like, a lot of people have that pressure. But, and I think this time, it’s more like I’m coming back, but I also have the [Olympic] title. That kind of gets me a little bit worked up, but ever since I’ve gotten here, I’m just calming myself down. And I’m like, ‘Don’t put any pressure on yourself because we know that you’re not ready.’

“And like, I know what I’m capable of doing right now and it’s not gonna be like what I’m going to do. So I’m just giving myself time.”

Maggie Hendricks is a contributing writer for Just Women’s Sports. She also covers women’s sports for Bally Sports. Follow her on Twitter @maggiehendricks.

Former Olympic champion Gabby Douglas is making her return to elite gymnastics, with her eyes on the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 27-year-old posted two photos Thursday on Instagram, showing herself training on the balance beam. She wrote in an accompanying caption that she had done “a lot of journaling, reflecting, soul searching and found myself back where it all began.”

“For many years, I’ve had an ache in my heart but I didn’t want to keep carrying anger, pain, sadness, or regret and through my tears and hurt, I’ve found peace,” she wrote. “I wanted to find the joy again for the sport that I absolutely love doing.

“I know I have a huge task ahead of me and I am beyond grateful and excited to get back out on the floor and even more grateful for all of your support and love. It truly means so much. There’s so much to be said but for now… let’s do this #2024.”

Douglas previously has spoken about her mental health, telling USA Today in 2021 that the 2016 Olympics “really did a number on me” while expressing her support for tennis star Naomi Osaka. Osaka had withdrawn from the 2021 French Open, citing her mental health.

In addition to the photos, Douglas posted a video of herself practicing on the uneven bars, her best event.

Douglas won gold in the all-around at the 2012 Olympics, becoming the third straight American woman to do so. Simone Biles and Suni Lee followed her at the 2016 and 2020 Games, extending the Team USA streak to five.

In addition to the all-around title, Douglas also won gold in the team competition and was named AP Female Athlete of the Year in 2012. While she took time off following those Olympics, she returned to elite competition in 2015 and helped the U.S. to another gold in the all-around in 2016.

She never officially retired after the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, but she was absent from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

She becomes the second Olympic champion in recent weeks to make an announcement about plans for Paris. Her 2016 teammate Biles recently announced her return to competition at the U.S. Classic in Chicago in early August.

Simone Biles is getting back to competition for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The seven-time Olympic medalist is set to participate in the U.S. Classic in early August.

The event will be her first since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The pattern follows a route similar to the one she took following the 2016 Rio Olympics, after which Biles took a two-year break before using the Classic as her comeback meet in 2018.

USA Gymnastics made the announcement Wednesday. The 2016 Olympic champion has taken the majority of the past two years off following the Tokyo Games. At those Games, she suffered from “the twisties” – which is when an athlete loses spatial awareness while airborne – and did not compete in multiple events.

She watched and cheered as her teammates won silver in the all-around. Biles returned for the balance beam, earning bronze and tying Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals by an U.S. woman gymnast.

Biles has hinted at a comeback, saying in January that a potential return to gymnastics was “up in the air.”

“Obviously, mental health comes first. I’m still in therapy and I’m still doing everything so that I can be the best version of myself,” she said. “So I’ll be in Paris, but don’t know if that is on the floor with those girls or in the stands just cheering.”

Jade Carey is returning to Oregon State for her junior year while she trains for 2024 Paris Olympics, the U.S. gymnast announced Tuesday.

The plan is for Carey to compete on a limited basis next season and focus primarily on returning to the Olympics. Carey won gold in the floor exercise at the 2021 Tokyo Games as a member of Team USA.

The 2024 Olympics are set to take place from July 26 through Aug. 11 in Paris.

“It has always been a passion of mine to represent the United States and the Beavs,” Carey wrote on social media. “With that being said, I am excited to share that I will be remaining at Oregon State while pursuing my dreams of the 2024 Olympics.”

Carey finished the 2023 regular season as the top-ranked all-around gymnast. Her decision contrasts that of fellow Tokyo Olympians Jordan Chiles and Suni Lee, who both are leaving their respective universities to train for the Games.

Following her freshman year at Oregon State, Carey was a member of the 2022 World Championships team, helping the U.S. to a record-setting sixth straight women’s team title while also winning gold on vault.

Simone Biles got married (again) over the weekend, wedding NFL player Jonathan Owens in Mexico.

The pair first tied the knot at the 1910 Harris County Courthouse in Houston in April, then celebrated their marriage again in Mexico on Saturday.

The Mexico affair was star-filled and much more of a party. Biles told Vogue that because they were getting married in Mexico, they legally had to get married in the U.S. in order for it to be recognized.

“We had to get married ‘legally’ here in the U.S. since our wedding will be a destination wedding,” she said. But that doesn’t mean that the wedding process was all sunshine and rainbows.

“The planning process [for the larger celebration in Cabo] was so much fun in the beginning and then it started getting really stressful,” she continued.

During the service, Biles told Vogue she and Owens tried to keep things light, and that she “fell in love with him all over.” All in all, it was a magical wedding for the two, who got engaged last February in what she captioned “THE EASIEST YES.”

“Whales were jumping out of the water as our ceremony started,” Biles said. “Whale season is over by the way. It sprinkled for two minutes after we got married — which is good luck! — and we had a full moon. It was truly the most magical!”

Oklahoma won the 2023 NCAA gymnastics team title on Saturday, the Sooners’ second straight national championship — and sixth title in nine years.

Oklahoma’s dynasty has become so strong that some fans at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, were sporting “anyone but Oklahoma” t-shirts — something the Sooners took in stride. They led after each rotation and topped the team standings with 198.3875 points, finishing 0.150 points ahead of second-place Florida. Utah (-0.450) and LSU (-0.862) finished third and fourth, respectively.

Oklahoma was steered by sophomore all-arounder Jordan Bowers and 2023 NCAA vault champ Olivia Trautman.

Also during Saturday’s NCAA team championship, Florida gymnast Trinity Thomas tied the NCAA record for career perfect 10s.