Simone Biles is staying open to ‘what’s next’ for her career and family
After her historic wins in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simone Biles is living in the moment and letting the future take its course.
Though the world can’t wait to see what’s next for Simone Biles, the U.S. gymnast is living in the moment — and wishes everyone would too. After becoming the most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history at the 2024 Paris Games, Biles expressed her gratitude for her tribe of supporters, which includes stars like Snoop Dogg and her toddler niece, who sported a mini-version of Team USA’s leotards in honor of her aunt.
“I…wanna give a quick shoutout to all of my supporters that have stuck with me since Rio, throughout Tokyo, and now supporting me throughout my journey here in Paris,” said Biles in a TikTok video. “It’s been unreal.”
Despite her gratitude, the Olympian shared her frustrations with one of the most common questions posed to athletes after winning in their sport: “What’s next?” In a series of tweets, Biles shared her honest opinion on the question.
“You guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics,” she wrote on X. “Let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for.”
The seven-time Olympic gold medalist’s run in Paris represents not only a lifetime of training but also a four-year-long mental health journey. After experiencing the “twisties,” forcing her to withdraw from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Biles realized the importance of mental health, motivating her to start therapy.
“I think, before, I was pushing down my trauma, and now I’ve learned to speak on it and kind of release that. So that’s really helped me, and that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing today,” she said, as previously reported by theGrio. “I feel a lot more free, especially going to therapy and doing those sessions so that physically and mentally I feel better, and I know that’s an important part of my routine.”
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“I’ve achieved more than my wildest dreams. I never thought I was going to be competing again, because that’s how terrified I was of gymnastics and twisting, so there was a lot of trauma there, so I’ve had to put in a lot of work, but shout out to my therapist and shout out to therapy,” she added on TikTok.
Beyond wanting to relish her latest triumphs, Biles appears to take a very “laissez-faire” approach to life. From her career to her personal life, the Olympian is letting things take their course without interfering or ruling out any possibilities.
“You know, you never say ‘never.’ The next Olympics is on home turf, so you just never know,” she told Today.com when asked if she would compete in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“I’m just going to relax and see where life takes me.”
Similarly, her husband Jonathan Owens, who received special permission to attend the Paris Olympics during his NFL training camp, says he will support his wife “one thousand percent” in “whatever she chooses.” While he would love to see Biles compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, he acknowledges that he “can’t make that decision for her.”
“It’s going to depend on how she feels because there’s a lot of sacrifice that comes with it,” he told People magazine. “If she feels like it is time to focus on life… because when you are locked in, you do have to sacrifice a lot and you do miss a lot. That’s the one thing that she would just have to figure out for herself. And like I said, man, I’m here to support her a thousand percent and whatever she decides to do.”
Just as Owens plans to support his wife’s choices, both say they will support their future children in whatever hobbies or sports they choose to pursue. While Biles says having children together is “definitely in [their] future,” she and Owens say they would never “force” their children to follow in their athletic footsteps.
“If that’s what they want to do, I’m not going to try to force anything on them. Obviously they’re going to know what their parents did, so that’ll be just something cool for them to look at and for us to be able to relive those stories and memories with them,” the NFL player explained. “But honestly, whatever they want to do, I’ll just support them a hundred percent. I don’t want to force ’em and make it feel like you have to do this because we did.”
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