"Bounce back from Tokyo"- Simone Biles highlights her inspiring takeaways after winning three gold medals at the Paris Olympics

Simone Biles recently said that one of her successes in Paris was bouncing back from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics setback, besides the accolades. The 11-time Olympic medalist withdrew midway from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to 'twisties', but came back strong in the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning three golds and a silver in the French Capital.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles faced 'twisties', a mental block that causes a gymnast to lose sync between their mind and body while performing mid-air elements. She first pulled out of the team warm-ups, then the all-around and team finals, and later from the floor and vault finals, citing mental health concerns.

Shortly after the setback, she stepped into the first edition of the Gold Over America tour to normalize discussions around mental health and inspire the following generation of athletes. Simone Biles turned into a mental health advocate and issued a strong message, ''It's okay, to not be okay".

In September this year, the Olympian is on her second GOAT edition, having concluded seven shows already. In a recent off-mat conversation, when asked about her key Paris takeaways, Simone Biles, while seemingly referring to Olympic medals as 'hardware', talked about the lessons she and her teammates imparted to the audience. She said (via Young Hollywood on YouTube):

"We brought home some hardware but really the lessons that we learned and the bounce back that we had from Tokyo was truly inspiring. Not just for us as athletes and to give us that confidence but I think we shared a lesson with our audience that 'its okay to not be okay' and you can still go and do great things afterwards. There's power in being vulnerable and that's really exciting," Biles said (at 0:42).

Three of her Tokyo Olympic teammates, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, and Jade Carey joined Biles at the 2024 Paris Olympics on what Biles dubbed the 'redemption tour'.

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Simone Biles on feeling 'relieved' after winning medals at the Paris Olympics

Simone Biles with her gold medal after winning the Women's Vault Final at the 2-24 Paris Games; Source: Getty

Simone Biles was at the forefront of criticism after leaving the Tokyo Olympics without much success since she was a heavy favorite as the reigning Rio Olympic champion. In a conversation with Alexandra Raisman on August 28, Biles acknowledged competing under pressure at the 2024 Games and feeling relieved after winning a medal. She said (via Olympics on Instagram):

"I think what I've come to the conclusion of is there's such high expectations on me that I'm supposed to win, so whenever I do win or get whatever medal that is, I feel a relief off my shoulder, like I did it, I'm done, let's move on to the next," Biles said.

Following the Tokyo Olympics, Biles was on a two-year-long hiatus and returned in 2023 at the US Classic.