"It’s Simone Biles at the end and you’re like, Oh, that’s different”-After doubting her initially, Jason Kelce was left in awe of gymnast at Olympics

Simone Biles was recently appreciated by former NFL star Jason Kelce for her stellar skills at the Paris Olympics. Kelce had previously doubted the gymnast's potential, citing her age.

The American NFL star questioned Biles' potential in an episode of his 'New Heights' podcast with his brother, Travis Kelce. He said that he was unsure if Biles could live up to her GOAT status at this year's competition as she is 27 and older than most of the other gymnasts competing. (as quoted by page six.com)

"We watched like every [Team USA gymnastics] girl go and do the floor routine and Simone Biles was the last person and I’m like, you know she’s getting older. She’s a little bit... we’ll see how she looks," said Jason.

Replying to this, Travis called Biles an "anomaly," to which Jason said:

"She is the anomaly because she jumped higher than everybody and it wasn’t even close."

However, after visiting the Paris Olympics with his wife Kylie, the former NFL player's assumption about Simone Biles changed as he witnessed her floor routine. He said that within the first three seconds of her routine, he knew it was 'different'.

"Like, you watch all these people do the floor routine, then it’s Simone’s at the end and within the first three seconds you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s different,' said Kelce. "She just jumped five feet higher than everybody else that has done this."

Biles won three gold medals in the individual all-around, team all-around, and vault. Along with this, she also won a silver medal in the floor routine.

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Simone Biles opened up about her feelings after the Paris Olympics

In a recent interview with Olympics.com, Simone Biles spoke to three-time Olympic champion Aly Raisman about her feelings after the end of her Paris Olympics campaign on August 11, 2024. She opened up about the hard work and said that she now feels that the weight is off her shoulders.

"A lot of training with Cecile and Laurent (Landi), a lot of hours with my therapist, making sure all the ducks are in a row so that I can perform as well as I want to," said Biles. "So, after all is said and done, a lot of weight is off my shoulders."

She added:

"I feel so much better now that it’s done because we know how hard that is especially to attain something that is so big and to just even do it again was an amazing accomplishment to just make the all-around final and then to come out with a gold medal I was like, 'Oh my gosh I did it’ but I still can’t believe it."

Following her exploits, Simone Biles became the most decorated US Olympic gymnast of all time.