Simone Biles Has Transformed Drastically Since The 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Simone Biles is inarguably one of the greatest athletes in the world. She's the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history, and despite her headline-making withdrawal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021 due to the postponement caused by COVID-19), those Games tied her with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals ever won by an American gymnast. In 2022, Biles was even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden. And yet, despite all of her career successes, she hasn't always had it easy.

Indeed, her life has been plagued by some tragic moments, including a difficult childhood and a major health scare. Then Tokyo came around, and Biles' mental health made front-page news as she walked away and ultimately took a two-year break from gymnastics. However, by working hard and putting her own needs first, she turned things around and was back in competition by 2023. Biles was back to winning gold, and by July 2024, everyone was buzzing as she set out to make history at the Paris Olympics. Here's how Simone Biles has transformed since the 2020 Games.

Simone Biles' journey at the Tokyo Games was suddenly cut short when she stunned everyone by pulling out of the gymnastics team final once the competition had already begun. Biles was supposed to perform two and a half twists on the vault but lost herself in mid-air and only completed one and a half. Instantly, she knew something was wrong and chose to bow out. The following day, she also decided to forgo the finals of the individual all-around competition.

Explaining her decision, Biles blamed the "twisties." While most folks had never heard the term, fellow gold medalist Jordyn Wieber told TIME, "It's something all gymnasts experience." The condition can be triggered by everything from stress to nothing at all, and it causes athletes to lose their orientation. As Biles explained in an Instagram Story (via ESPN), "[You] literally cannot tell up from down." Not only does that make it difficult to land any trick, but it also makes it dangerous. "Since I have no idea where I am in the air, I also have NO idea how I'm going to land," she said. Ultimately, Biles had to walk away in order to not hurt herself and, as she told the media, to help ensure she didn't bring down her team. Even so, folks were quick to label her a quitter, and she was forced to clap back at critics after her exit. "I didn't quit," she slammed. "My mind & body are simply not in sync."

It wasn't an easy decision, but it was the right one. "We have to protect our mind and our body, rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do," Simone Biles explained after dropping out of the 2020 Olympics, per ESPN. "I had to do what's right for me and not jeopardize my health and well-being." And yet, many critics didn't see it that way. Soon, social media was inundated with haters trying to bring her down. Indeed, it's something she had anticipated. "As soon as I landed [off the vault], I was like, 'America hates me, the world is going to hate me," she told the "Call Her Daddy" podcast. "I thought I was going to be banned from America." Sure enough, the trolls came out in full force and got into her head. "Everywhere I went I felt like they could see 'loser' or 'quitter' across my head," she said in her Netflix docuseries, "Simone Biles Rising" (via USA Today). Luckily, it didn't last. A month after the Games, she took to Instagram to offer a cheeky response to her critics, writing, "Keep talking because I can't hear you over my 7 olympic medals."

A two-year hiatus from competition followed, but as she told the 2022 Simmons Leadership Conference (via People), she was sure she made the right call. "I had to put myself into consideration for one of the first times throughout my career," she mused.

While taking time away from competing, Simone Biles focused on other important aspects of her life. Namely, her relationship with NFL pro Jonathan Owens. The two met via invite-only dating app Raya in March 2020 — and it was Biles who made the first move. "He would say I slid into his DMs," the gymnast told the Wall Street Journal. As the world was in a pandemic lockdown, their schedules were clear, allowing for plenty of time to get to know each other. In a cute twist of fate, the two had actually crossed paths in December 2019 when she was invited to participate in a Houston Texans game. That day, she snapped a photo on the field, and Owens can be seen walking behind her. "God works in mysterious ways!" she wrote on Instagram, via the New York Post.

Biles and Owens went Instagram official in August 2020 and tied the knot in a simple courthouse ceremony in April 2023. A luxurious destination wedding followed in Mexico in May, and soon after, Biles returned to compete with a vengeance. She won a record eighth U.S. Championship that August and, as she told reporters, her home life played a big role in regaining her confidence and slaying her comeback. "There's still things to look forward to past gymnastics where before I never thought so," she said, per Houston Public Media. "It doesn't really define who I am as much anymore."

After dropping out of the Tokyo Games in July 2021, Simone Biles shed a lot of tears, but as she wrote on Instagram, she wouldn't let one competition impact her entire career. "This Olympics doesn't erase the past accomplishments I've achieved nor does it define who I am as an athlete," she told fans. Slowly, she got back to training, but as of October, she still wasn't feeling like herself. "I'm still scared to do gymnastics," she confessed to Today, but added, "I think everything happens for a reason." Indeed, as time progressed, she found strength in her decision and turned it into the motivation she needed to compete again – on her terms. "Walking away from the Olympic Games was a win in itself," she told the 2022 Simmons Leadership Conference (via People).

Her approach worked. In August 2023, Biles returned to competition for the first time since Tokyo and won gold in the U.S. Classic. "I feel really good about where I am right now, mentally and physically," Biles told AP News. Speaking with Inside Gymnastics Magazine, she added, "I'm very happy what happened [in Tokyo] just because I got to go and really focus on myself."

After taking home the gold at the U.S. Classic in August 2023, Simone Biles was ready to go abroad again. In October 2023, she returned to international competition, taking part in the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Belgium. But she didn't just compete; she dominated. Biles won her 20th World's gold medal and became the first female ever to land the uber-challenging Yurchenko double pike vault, which was quickly dubbed the Biles II.

Making her comeback even more impressive was how quickly it happened. As Slate noted, most gymnasts would need at least a year of serious training to become competition-ready after a break. Biles needed a few months. Speaking with ABC 7 Chicago, she revealed how she initially got back to training in September 2022 because she just wanted "to get fit again." After a month, she decided to take the end of the year off, then started doing two-a-day workouts in January. However, wedding planning soon took over. Biles put gymnastics on the back burner to plan her ultimate ceremony, then, "after May, we really buckled down." Even so, there was no pressure to perform, and she and her coaches never committed to a specific date when she'd return to competing. The stress-free approach clearly worked, as a few months later, Biles was back at the top of her game.

Simone Biles' incredible comeback performances at the U.S. Classic and Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were capped off with a stunning Vanity Fair fashion shoot. Biles graced the January 2024 cover of the mag and the spread inside, shot by Adrienne Raquel, which was heavily praised for its styling and beauty. Equally impressive was the story that accompanied the images, as Biles didn't hold back in her interview. Inside, she shared some of her most vulnerable feelings, like the fact that returning to competition really wasn't easy. "I was truly petrified," she confessed. "I had the training to back it up because we worked really hard, [but] I wasn't as confident or as comfortable as I wanted to be."

She also reflected back on the 2020 Olympics, admitting just how deeply they affected her. "I felt like a failure," she mused. Interestingly, Biles said that being dubbed a mental health advocate actually made things harder because she was forced to keep reliving the event. "Even though I was empowering so many people and speaking out about mental health, every time I talked about my experience in Tokyo [...] it stung a little bit," she said.

Simone Biles has left Tokyo far behind her to return to the Olympics as one of the biggest names to watch in Paris. With support from family and friends, her therapist on-call, and a new approach to gymnastics, the champ was ready to tackle the Paris Games in a whole new way. Speaking with The Athletic, Biles said the biggest difference was who she was listening to. "Nobody is forcing me to do it," she explained. "I wake up every morning and choose to grind in the gym and come out to perform for myself." She was also tuning out the haters. As she so wryly mused, even if she were to fail in Paris, it wouldn't matter. "What are you going to do about it? Tweet me some more?" she quipped. That's why, as she told Today, her plan was to completely stay off of X (formerly Twitter) during her time competing.

Her goal these days is to do what she loves simply because she loves it. "As long as I'm out there twisting again and finding the joy for gymnastics again, who cares?" she told The Guardian. There's also the fact that she wants to leave no stone unturned. Speaking with AP News ahead of the Paris Games, Biles shared, "I want to see what I'm still capable of so once I step away from this sport, I can truly be happy with my career and say I gave it my all."