Agency :
Simone Biles is a different person than the one who abruptly pulled out of the Tokyo Games three years ago amid a mental health crisis, her teammates said, and it showed as she led the US to the team gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
Standing at the end of the runway before her vault, Biles said she was not haunted by the memories of her tumultuous time in Tokyo and was soon soaring high as she executed the Cheng vault that helped lift the US into a lead they would not relinquish.
“After I finished vault I was relieved because phew, there were no flashbacks or anything,” Biles told an overflowing press conference.
When Biles abruptly quit the Olympic team final in Tokyo after feeling disorientated while executing her vault, her US teammates had to quickly turn to Plan B and ended up with a disappointing silver.
On Tuesday, as soon as Biles had nailed her vault, she knew the Americans were destined to reassert their gymnastics supremacy on the world’s biggest stage.
“As soon as I landed vault I was like, oh yeah, we’re definitely going to do this.”
Her teammate and close friend Jordan Chiles said she too was relieved.
“I was thinking hallelujah, no flashbacks, no nothing,” Chiles said with a laugh.
From there the veteran team joyfully celebrated each other’s accomplishments as they made their way around four rotations at Bercy Arena, in the end easily eclipsing silver medalists Italy by almost six points. Brazil finished with the bronze.
“It was super exciting,” said an ever-smiling Biles, who was seen breaking into some dance moves with Chiles on the sidelines as they celebrated completing yet another impressive performance.
“We had fun, we enjoyed each other’s time out there and just did our gymnastics.”
Her withdrawal from Tokyo with the “twisties,” a dangerous gymnastics condition involving a temporary loss of spatial awareness, opened a conversation on athlete mental health.