The comeback has been completed, redemption has been achieved, and gold has been tasted once again by the greatest gymnast of her generation – if not definitively the greatest to ever step foot on the mat.
Now, the next question for Simone Biles is a complex one: what’s next?
It’s not like Biles needs to prove herself to anyone. With 30 World Championship medals and 11 Olympic medals – seven of which are Olympic gold – she’s already the most decorated gymnast of all time.
It’s not like Biles needs to prove herself to anyone. With 30 World Championship medals and 11 Olympic medals – seven of which are Olympic gold – she’s already the most decorated gymnast of all time.
But now that the women’s artistic gymnastics competition is done – and the Paris Olympics are winding down – questions about Biles future will doubtless pop up.
Could we have seen the last of the greatest gymnast ever on the Olympic stage? And if so, what could be in store for her in the future?
Biles return was nothing short of near perfection as she returned to the mat after attempting to bow out gracefully in Tokyo just three years prior.
Taking some time to focus on her mental health battle with ‘the twisties’, Biles competed in just the balance beam in Japan – winning bronze. She also took home a silver medal for the team event that she did not take part in.
It was a long road for her to get comfortable with competing in gymnastics once again, but eventually she traveled that journey and came back to the Olympic stage once again.
Her performance in Paris was a tour de force. Not only did she lead the United States to a victory in the team all-around, but she re-claimed her title as the best gymnast at these Olympic games in the individual all-around event.
Add to that a gold in the vault and a silver in the floor exercise and it was a four-medal haul for the gymnast from Texas.
It was an emotion-filled Olympics for Biles – especially considering everything that she had been through.
‘Yesterday, when we got back to the village, I looked at Jordan [Chiles] and I started balling my eyes out,’ Biles said on the ‘TODAY’ Show on Tuesday. ‘She was like, ”I knew it was going to happen, I just didn’t know when.” I was just full of emotion and I finally released all of that.’
Biles then clarified: ‘I was so proud, happy, and bittersweet that the journey is over. It’s so crazy, it happened so quick. My third Olympics.’
Immediately up next for her is a 30 city arena tour where Biles and a number of American gymnasts will put on an exhibition for the United States.
The ‘Gold Over America Tour’ will feature Biles alongside teammates Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles as well as ‘pommel horse specialist’ Stephen Nedoroscik and other gymnasts.
That tour begins in September and ends in early November – with Biles on the road for seven Sundays.
It may not have mattered before her marriage, but now that she’s wed to an NFL player, that means Biles won’t be able to see her husband Jonathan Owens play for the Chicago Bears for some time.
Owens is currently in training camp with the Bears after taking some time away from the team to watch Biles compete at the Olympics.
‘He was so excited,’ Biles said of her husband’s experience cheering her on in France. ‘He loved going to see me compete, he was still keeping score.
‘It meant the world to him – he has seen the amount of hours that I put in, so he was so excited to be there.’
Biles and Owens could have their eyes set on becoming another NFL power couple – possibly in a similar vein to Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift – but that’s hard to tell.
Then there’s the question about children. Biles says that she and her husband have been talking about having them and that the idea of raising a family is on their minds.
‘Yes, me and Jonathan always talk about kids. He would have had them yesterday if he could have. But yes, definitely [thinking about a family],’ she said on the TODAY show.
Despite their parents’ sporting background, Owens says any potential children of theirs would not face any pressure in getting into sports.
‘If that’s what they want to do, I’m not going to try to force anything on them,’ Owens told People Magazine.
‘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.’
‘And she’s big on taking pictures and we’ll have stuff framed up for them,’ he adds of Biles.
‘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. That does generally work out for kids.’