Simone Biles is back at the Olympics and the white spotlight is on.
The gymnastics superstar earned a third trip to the biggest stage of her sport by cruising to victory US Olympic trials Saturday night, posting a two-day all-around total of 117,225 to clinch the lone automatic spot in the five-woman team.
Three years removed from the Tokyo Olympics – where is he pulled out of multiple finals to prioritize her safety and mental health – Biles heads back to the game looking perhaps as good as ever.
“Trusting the process and (coaching), I know I’ll be back,” Biles said.
A trip to France has never been in doubt since he returned from a two-year break last summer. All she has done in the past 12 months is win her sixth world title and her eighth and ninth national championships – both records – and add to her status as the best in her sport.
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He will go to Paris as the favorite to bookend the Olympic gold he won in 2016, but also with things to do.
Biles backpedaled after landing her Yurchenko double pike vault, testament to both the difficulty of the vault and the immense power she produces during the skill of some male gymnasts try and even less land as cleanly.
She hopped off the beam after failing to receive her aerial side, though she was not quite as frustrated as she was during a careless performance there that left her uttering an expletive for the whole world to see.
Biles finished with the floor exercise, her signature event. Although there are small steps out of bounds, there is also unmatched world-class tumbling that recently attracted a shoutout from pop star Taylor Swift, whose song “Ready for It” opened Biles’ routine.
He stepped down from the podium to a standing ovation, then sat down at the top of the steps to take in the moment in what could be his last competitive round on American soil for a while.
Next stop, Paris.
The Americans will be loaded with experience as they try to return to the top podium after finishing second in Russia in 2020.
Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey and 2020 Olympic silver medalists Jordan Chiles and Hezley Rivera all made the final roster for Team USA. Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong will travel to Paris as an alternative.
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But Biles who will take the floor at Bercy Arena for Olympic qualification in four weeks is not the same in Tokyo.
He took deliberate steps to ensure that his life was no longer defined by gymnastics. Biles married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023 and the two are currently building a house in the northern suburbs of Houston that they hope to move into soon after Biles returns from Paris.
Biles heads to France as perhaps the face of the US Olympic movement, though she also sees that more than a few million who will tune in to watch next month will check to see if the demons that derailed her in Tokyo resurface.
And while there are still concerns – including at the world championships last year – they have put in place safeguards to protect themselves. He meets with a therapist weekly, even during the offseason, which he did not do in preparation for the 2020 games.
Biles, Lee, Carey, Chiles and Rivera will be considered favorites in France, especially with Olympic champion Russia unable to compete as part of the war in Ukraine.
The Americans will take on the oldest women’s team in the game, thanks to Biles’ unparalleled age – she has not lost a meet that started and finished since 2013 – and the easing of rules on names, pictures and likeness rules at the NCAA level allows. 2020 Olympic veterans Carey, Chiles and Lee will continue to compete while gaining newfound fame at the same time.
She relied on that experience to bounce back this time during a sometimes frustrating meet that saw top contenders Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello pull out with leg injuries that kept them out of the mix the week before the opening ceremony.
