This article first appeared on Glamour.com
Simone Biles is back, baby!
The four-time Olympic gold medalist just competed for the first time since removing herself from the gymnastics team finals and other events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which took place at in the summer of 2021. At the time, Biles was experiencing a condition called “the twisties,” which caused her to lose track of where her body was in the air and made it dangerous to compete, though she still secured the bronze medal on the balance beam.
After a two-year hiatus, she returned to the beam at the Core Hydration Classic in Illinois on August 5, scoring a 14.8 for that particular event. According to People, she also scored a 14 with an uneven bars routine, a 14.9 on the floor, and a whopping 15.4 for her performance on vault, absolutely nailing the Yurchenko double pike two years after becoming the first female gymnast to perform the move during a competition in May 2021. If you're still wondering, she won.
You can watch Simone Biles in action below:
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Based on a video shared by the official NBC Olympics Twitter account, the crowd went wild when Biles was awarded the first-place medal.
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Simone Biles first confirmed her return on July 5, just a little over a month after marrying Houston Texans football player Jonathan Owens. “Sorry, I've been a little MIA since the announcement,” she tweeted at the time. “I'm overwhelmed with all your messages, support & love! Excited to get back out on the competition floor.”
Following the announcement, Biles spoke directly with fans about her return to gymnastics during a July Instagram Q+A. When asked about how she was “handling the mental side” of the process, she got particularly candid. “Lot’s of therapy, I go once a week for almost 2 hrs,” she replied, per People. “I’ve had so much trauma, so being able to work on some of the traumas & work on healing is a blessing.”
Though the national championships will be held in San Jose, California in less than a month, Biles has not yet revealed plans to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. “Right now, I think I should just embrace what happened today,” she told reporters, per the New York Times. “I know everybody is just like—when you get married, they ask you when you’re having a baby. You come to Classics, they’re asking you about the Olympics. I think we’re just trying to take it one step at a time.”
