- Simone Biles withdrew from five Olympic medal events over mental-health concerns and “the twisties.”
- Biles said she’s happy to be home to spend time with family and “decompress.”
- Biles said since returning from Tokyo, she’s been doing “light” workouts and “can do everything again.”
Simone Biles said that since returning home from Tokyo, she’s been able to relax and spending time with her family and friends — and on Monday, she returned to the gym.
“I have been to the gym and did a little bit of working out,” Biles said in an interview with People on Thursday. “When I say work out, it’s very light. I’m enjoying my time at home and I’m happy to be back.”
At the Tokyo Olympics, Biles withdrew from five medal events over concerns over her mental health and a phenomenon known as “the twisties,” which causes athletes to get disoriented in the air — and, as elite gymnasts such as Laurie Hernandez and former British Olympic gymnast Claudia Fragapanecan said, can lead to serious injuries.
Biles told People that during her first time back in the gym since the Olympics, her coach, Laurent Landi, asked her to do a “full-in” — a full-twisting double back, which involves two backward flips — on the trampoline.
“I started doing a couple fulls and on the first one, it was literally like second nature again,” Biles said.
Speaking with People, the seven-time Olympic medalist added: “It’s frustrating because I can do everything again. I don’t know … the stress, anxiety, the build-up or whatever happened, happened.”
She said her coach, Laurent, predicted during the Olympics that after returning home, she’d recover from “the twisties.”
“He was like, ‘The annoying part is we’re going to go home in a week or more. You’re going to go back in the gym and you’re going to be able to do everything,'” Biles said of her coach.
Biles, who previously said she’s “leaving the door open” to return to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, told People that she’s been practicing some of her other skills since returning home from Tokyo.
“So far, so good,” she said.