A lot has happened since Simone Biles last took center stage at the Olympics.
If the last you saw of Biles was her withdrawal from the team final in Tokyo in 2021 because of a mental block known as the twisties, or her return to competition to take bronze in the balance beam final, here’s what you missed: four more world championship gold medals, a clean sweep of the 2024 U.S. gymnastics championships and a first-place finish in the all-around at the Olympic trials to earn the lone automatic spot on the five-person 2024 team.
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In summary, Biles is back — possibly better than ever. She returned to competition in 2023 with routines that were slightly less difficult than those she competed with in Tokyo, but her performances in the lead-up to Paris show she’s not holding back. She’s even potentially adding a new skill to her uneven bars routine, an element that could be named after her if she completes it in competition. It would be her sixth eponymous skill in the Code of Points, joining two vaults, two tumbling skills and a balance beam dismount.
👀⁉️ pic.twitter.com/wmz12X5jmB
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) July 26, 2024
On floor exercise, Biles has brought back the triple-twisting double back tuck, also known as the Biles II, as her opening tumbling pass, and she’s been doing the Yurchenko double pike vault — a difficult and dangerous vault no other women and only a few men in the world dare to try — without her coach, Laurent Landi, standing on the landing mat as a spotter. Though Landi doesn’t actively help Biles through the vault or touch her, she still receives a half-point deduction if he’s on the mat. By removing him, she eliminates that deduction and raises her scoring potential.
Simone Biles puts up a 15.800 on vault to get her night off to a strong start!#XfinityChamps | 📺 @peaco*ck pic.twitter.com/TRPSuRGNnP
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 1, 2024
At 27, Biles is the oldest female gymnast to make a U.S. Olympic team since 1952. If she wins the all-around in Paris, she will be the second-oldest woman to win gold in the event, joining Soviet Union gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya, who won in 1952 at age 30.
A single podium finish at the 2024 Games would push Biles into the top spot among U.S. gymnasts at the Olympics. She’s tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals earned by a U.S. gymnast with seven.
GO DEEPERHow is Olympic gymnastics scored? A guide to understanding the competitionSchedule and TV info
Biles will begin competition July 28 when the United States takes the floor at Bercy Arena in the second subdivision of qualifications (5:40 a.m. ET). There are five subdivisions featuring 12 teams. Each subdivision also includes mixed groups of individual athletes from nations that did not earn a team berth to the 2024 Olympics.
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The top eight teams from qualifications advance to finals July 30. Qualification day also dictates who advances to the individual all-around final, as well as the finals for vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. The top 24 athletes earn a spot in the individual all-around final, but only two gymnasts per country can advance. The individual event finals will include the top eight gymnasts on each apparatus, and the same two-per-country rule applies.
The U.S. is expected to qualify for the women’s team final. Biles is a favorite to qualify for the all-around, vault and floor finals. She is also in contention to advance to the beam and bars finals.
(All times ET)
Qualifications: July 28, Subdivision 2, 5:40 a.m. (U.S., China, Italy) on NBC, E!
Team final: July 30, 12:15 p.m. on NBC
All-around final Aug. 1, 12:15 p.m. on NBC
Vault final: Aug. 3, 10:20 a.m. on NBC, E!
Uneven bars final: Aug. 4, 9:40 a.m. on NBC
Balance beam final: Aug. 5, 6:38 a.m. on E!
Floor exercise final: Aug. 5, 8:23 a.m. on E!
Checkherefor full, day-by-day TV and streaming info.
GO DEEPERGymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics: Stars in the medal mix, schedule and how to watchOlympic medal history
Biles won four gold medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, in the team, all-around, vault and floor competitions. She also won a bronze in beam in 2016.
She added a silver medal in the 2021 team competition and a bronze in beam.
More reading
• Simone Biles is back at the Olympics, and no one is telling her what to do anymore
• The story in Simone Biles’ new floor routine: The ‘big boss of gymnastics’ is back
• Team USA’s Olympics gymnastics leotards revealed: How the 8 designs for Paris came to be
(Photo: Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images)
Tess DeMeyer is a Staff Editor for The Athletic working on the live/breaking news team. Prior to joining The Athletic, she worked as an associate digital producer at Sports Illustrated. Tess attended Brown University and originates from a small town outside of Savannah, GA. Follow Tess on Twitter @tess_demeyer
