Simone Biles is hinting that she might step away from competing in the Olympics.
The 11-time Olympic medalist spoke to Sports Illustrated for a new interview published on Thursday.
“Because I’ve accomplished so much, there’s almost nothing left to do, rather than to just be snobby and to try again, and for what?” Biles said. “I’m at a point in my career where I’m humble enough to know when to be done.”
At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the 27-year-old took home three gold medals in the team final, all-around final, and vault final. She also won silver in the floor final. Seven of her 11 medals are gold, two are silver, and two are bronze.
“If you go back [to the Olympics], you’ll be greedy. Those are the consequences,” she told the magazine. “But that’s also your decision to decide. What sacrifices would be made if I go back now? When you’re younger, it’s like, prom, college. Now it’s like, starting a family, being away from my husband. What’s really worth it?”
When speaking with Sports Illustrated, which named her its 2024 Sportsperson of the Year, she also seemed unprepared to confront her legacy.
“I don’t think the reality has set in of what I’ve exactly done in the sport,” she explained. “I can see it, and I hear it from people, and I see a glimpse of it, but the full magnitude I don’t think I’ve realized just yet. I don’t think I’ll realize ’til maybe I retire and look back in a couple years like, ‘Damn, she was good.’ Because I can see that, but I do it every day. So for me, it’s normal.”
After the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Biles took a break from competing for two years to prioritize her mental health. In her time off, at 25 years old, she became the youngest person ever to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom and married NFL player Jonathan Owens.
She didn’t miss a beat, though, returning to the sport two years later to compete at the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, where she became the most decorated gymnast in the world and Olympic history.
