"No way to tell what my story would be" - When Simone Biles opened up about life-changing sentence she ever wrote

Simone Biles once opened up about a sentence she wrote that changed her life. As a young gymnast, she dreamt of competing at the 2012 London Olympics. However, the criteria required athletes to compete in the Olympic events only after having turned sixteen.

In 2011, Biles started contemplating appearing at the London Olympics, but being only 14 back then, she was concerned about her ineligibility. She began pondering the next Olympic edition (2016 Rio Games), by when she would have been nineteen, an age where, according to her, most gymnasts lose motivation to compete and are likely to get injured.

In her autobiography, Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance, Biles reflected on the moment of doubt and the mental shift that motivated her to continue her passion for the sport.

"I knew that many gymnasts got injured, had already peaked, or simply lost the motivation to compete by age nineteen, which was how old I’d be when the next Olympics rolled around," Biles wrote. "There was no way to tell what my story would be eight years into the future. “I don’t know if I will make it,” I scribbled. Feeling deflated, I closed the notebook."

She added:

"After staring into the dark for a few minutes, I switched back on the light, picked up the notebook, and wrote one more sentence: “I want to go the farthest I can.” Looking back now, that was the most important sentence I’ve ever written."

Simone Biles made her Olympic debut at the age of 19 at the Rio Olympics

Simone Biles of the United at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Getty Images)

Simone Biles made her Olympic debut at the age of 19 during the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At her first games, she bagged four gold medals in team, all-around, vault, and floor exercise, and one bronze in the balance beam event.

The legendary gymnast collected her first gold medal in the team event, alongside Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman.

Biles continued her dominance and clinched her first individual gold medal in the all-around. She earned the feat by recording 62.198 points to surpass teammate Aly Raisman and Russia's Aliya Mustafina, who posted 60.098 and 58.665, respectively. So far in her career, she has collected 11 Olympic medals, becoming America's most decorated Olympic gymnast.