Simone Biles refuses to reveal if she’ll compete at Paris Olympics after record eighth US Championship title

Simone Biles has refused to reveal whether she will compete in next year’s Olympics after continuing her triumphant return to gymnastics – two years after suffering ‘twisties’ in Tokyo.

The great gymnast added to her tally on Sunday, winning a record eighth all-around United States Championship at the age of 26 – ten years after winning her first.

With the victory, Biles has earned a place at the world championships in Antwerp, Belgium, starting September 30, but questions about his future already extend beyond this year.

Biles’ US Championship win comes after she took two years for a “mental health break” with the 2024 Olympics in Paris now on the horizon.

However, Biles, who married NFL star Jonathan Owens this spring, kept her cards close to her chest, declining to say whether or not she would be in next year’s games.

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

Biles posted a two-day total of 118.40, four points clear of runner-up Shilese Jones. Florida junior Leanne Wong finished third, bolstering her chances of making a third straight team at the world championships.

Biles became the oldest woman to win a national title since USA Gymnastics began hosting the event in 1963. Her eight crowns surpassed her Alfred Jochim, who won seven between 1925 and 1933 when Union of amateur athletics organized the championships and events of the men’s competition. included rope climbing.

Biles, a seven-time Olympic medalist, suffered from a sudden mental block, “the twisties”, at the start of the pandemic-delayed 2020 Olympics.

The ‘twisties’ forced the sport’s biggest star to withdraw from several competitions – including the team and all-around finals – to protect himself.

She retired midway through the all-around, only to return a few days later and medal for the United States in the team event.

She then hinted that this was partly due to the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of pedophile doctor Larry Nassar.

Biles is among more than 150 gymnasts who have been abused by Nassar, the former national team doctor, during her 30-year career, and in 2019 she revealed the trauma of the assaults left her struggling with suicidal thoughts.

At the time, she admitted she ‘slept all the time’ because it was ‘the closest thing to death’, while revealing she was in therapy in order to cope with the abuse.

When she pulled out of the individual Olympics event, she retweeted a statement of support from former gymnast turned fitness trainer Andrea Orris, which read:

“We’re talking about the same girl who was molested by her team doctor throughout her childhood and teenage years.

“This girl has suffered more trauma at the age of 24 than most people will ever experience in their lifetime.”

Although Biles has not issued his own statement about Nassar or his decision to withdraw from the all-around, a US official told DailyMail.com at the time that Orris’ message “summarizes everything Simone feels. and means”.

The American, who competed in her second Olympics in Tokyo after already winning four gold medals in Rio in 2016, came back to win bronze on beam while performing a slightly modified routine that removed any element of twisting . It was his seventh Olympic medal.

She called the triumph sweet while admitting the twisties haven’t really gone away. She and coach Cécile Landi had just found a way around them.

Retirement seemed likely for the decorated gymnast, but Biles never pulled out of the doping pool, leaving the door open for a comeback with the Paris Olympics on the horizon next year.

Biles has become one of the strongest advocates for athletes finding space to protect their mental health after her stand in Japan brought the issue to the fore.