Coming off a stunning comeback in which she won four gold medals and a silver after a two-year international absence, Simone Biles had every reason to celebrate her renewed dominance and a historic performance that marked as the most decorated gymnast of all time. .
Instead, facing the press on Sunday evening at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Biles stood firm. She didn’t care about the medals.
“I had to prove to myself that I could still get out of here,” she said. “I could prove all the haters wrong, that I’m not a quitter, this, that and the other. For me, I didn’t care. As long as I’m out there again, squirming and enjoying gymnastics again, who cares?
Two years ago, when she was forced to withdraw from the Olympics after suffering from “twisties”, completely losing her awareness of the air, Biles withdrew from the sport. Even earlier this year, she wasn’t sure if she would return to gymnastics. As she worked hard to address her deteriorating mental health, she embraced therapy, focusing on the present moment rather than the future. She learned to say “no” sometimes.
The joy with which Biles was able to compete throughout the event was his greatest triumph. By standing up for himself and having the clarity to prioritize his mental and physical health during one of the most important moments of his career, Biles likely extended his career. His decisions over the past two years will have a greater lasting impact, both within and beyond his sport, than any unrivaled new skill.
Biles’ determination to stay in the moment and not look to the future was such that she has been reluctant to even mention the Paris Olympics since returning to competition. Yet the obvious consequence of the Antwerp results is that Biles has re-established herself as the dominant force of the sporting right in the run-up to Paris.
But she’s not the only star. Brazilian Rebeca Andrade shared all five podiums with Biles in Antwerp, and it was exciting to see the 24-year-old pushing the world’s best gymnast with the promise that there is more to come. Biles seemed to genuinely appreciate the presence of a worthy rival. While they competed hard, both athletes demonstrated courtesy and thoughtfulness throughout the match. After the event, Biles and Andrade danced at the post-event gala.
Older gymnasts will continue to dominate pre-Paris narratives. Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion, announced in July that she was returning to training and planned to return in 2024, having not competed since the Rio Olympics. The relentless criticism and abuse from the 2012 and 2016 Olympics also had a destructive effect on Douglas’s mental health, leading him to a much longer withdrawal from the sport.
Eight years is a long time between competitions, but Douglas is only a year older than Biles and the 27-year-old is so talented that he will be taken seriously. Sunisa Lee, the all-around champion in Tokyo, will also try to return to a second Olympics after serious kidney problems this year.
After incredible performances in Tokyo and then last year in Liverpool, Antwerp proved to be a disappointing outing for the British gymnasts until Jake Jarman produced an incredible vault performance on the final day. Jarman has been capable of surprisingly difficult skills for a long time, but things are falling into place. The 21-year-old now has the confidence to be a world champion and he continues to improve as an all-around gymnast.
Despite his fall in the pommel horse final, Max Whitlock’s performance in Antwerp made it clear he will be in the mix as he attempts to defend his Olympic pommel horse gold for a third time . The fight for gold with the clean and elegant Irishman Rhys McClenaghan, now a double world champion, will be one of the highlights of the event.
Meanwhile, Alice Kinsella produced an admirable performance to finish seventh in the women’s all-around final after learning of Jessica Gadirova’s withdrawal through injury just minutes before the start of the final and the women will compete for another team medal in Paris. Antwerp stressed, however, that Gadirova remained their only consistent individual medal threat. Considering she qualified third in the all-around and in four of the five individual finals, she’s pretty darn good.
While women’s gymnastics continues to trend toward older, longer careers, men’s gymnastics is the youngest it has been in years. Hashimoto Daiki continued his dominance by cementing his status as the first teenage Olympic men’s all-around champion by winning his second world title at age 23. However, last year’s champion, 23-year-old Zhang Boheng, chose not to compete in Antwerp. Instead, he won the Asian Games just over a week earlier, scoring more than three points more than Hashimoto. Their battle in Paris will be huge.