Simone Biles earned a spot on the U.S. gymnastics world championship team after winning the U.S. Women’s World Championships selection event on Tuesday.
The triumphant victory comes as she makes her fierce return to elite competitive gymnastics in August after a two-year break.
At 26, Biles will be the oldest American woman to compete at the world championships in more than 50 years, having narrowly earned a victory over silver medalist Shilese Jones in the all-around on the first day of selection camp at Katy, Texas.
She is the only American in history to be selected to compete in six world championships, which will be held in Antwerp, Belgium, later this month.
The seven-time Olympic medalist finished the competition with an overall score of 55.70, just 0.4 points ahead of Jones.
Biles earned her spot on the U.S. gymnastics world championship team on Tuesday
Biles, 26, returned to competitive gymnastics in August after a two-year break for mental health reasons.
It was a rough start for Biles, starting the competition by falling during her transition from low to high bar during her opening uneven bars routine and ending up in 10th place after the first event.
She lost 0.5 on beam for a break between vaults and went out of bounds twice during the floor exercise.
His errors gave Jones the opportunity to get ahead of Biles; however, she hit the floor during her uneven bars routine.
She performed her bold signature, Yurchenko’s double pike, although she fell due to over-rotating the move and losing points.
Chellsie Memmel, a 2008 Olympian and USA Gymnastics women’s program manager, said she hugged Biles and congratulated him on making the world team afterward.
“She was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know what happened,’” Memmel said, recalling her conversation with Biles after the event.
“(I said) ‘Get it out here,'” Memmel said. “We’ll just move on. She knows it wasn’t even close to her personal best, but that’s OK for now.
Biles earned one of six spots on the World Championship team, with the other five team members expected to be named after the second day of competition Wednesday evening.
Biles said earlier in the month that she would “love” to have the opportunity to try for gold again at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Biles performed a Yurchenko double pike on vault during the competition, which became his signature
In 2019, Biles made history after landing a dizzying height double triple twist tuck during a training session for the competition, which had previously only been performed by a man.
Biles withdrew from Tokyo Olympics saying she ‘had a bit of a twist’
“Twisties” are a temporary loss of spatial awareness in the air that can be potentially dangerous.
The gymnast returned to competition in August after a two-year break.
Biles is among more than 150 gymnasts abused by former coach Larry Nassar over two decades
“Back where it all began, see you in Belgium,” Biles said in an Instagram story after the competition, referring to her debut at the Worlds 10 years ago, winning gold in the all-around and on floor exercise, in addition to silver on vault and bronze on balance beam.
The elite gymnast became the oldest American women’s all-around champion in modern history to be part of a world team since at least 1970, when Doris Fuchs Brause competed at the 1966 Worlds at age 28 years.
Biles decided to take a break during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to “twisties,” which is a temporary loss of spatial awareness in the air.
She chose to take a “mental health break” following her struggles at the Tokyo Olympics, later implying that her shock withdrawal was linked to the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of pedophile doctor Larry Nassar .
Biles was mid-competition when she withdrew from the individual event at the Olympics. She did not issue her own statement, but retweeted a supportive statement from former gymnast turned fitness trainer Andrea Orris, which read:
“We’re talking about the same girl who was molested by her team doctor throughout her childhood and adolescence.
“This girl has experienced more trauma at the age of 24 than most people will ever experience in their lifetime.”
An official told DailyMail.com at the time that Orris’ message “sums up everything Simone feels and wants to say.”
Biles is among more than 150 gymnasts who were abused by Nassar, the former national team doctor, during his 30-year career, and in 2019 she revealed that the trauma of the abuse left her struggling with suicidal thoughts.
In 2019, Biles made history after landing a dizzying height double triple twist tuck during a training session for the competition – a move previously only performed by a man.
Biles admitted it was ‘different’ being married ‘long distance’ to Jonathan Owens, 28 who lives in Wisconsin
The lovebirds tied the knot on April 22 and had a lavish wedding in Cabo San Lucas, but “less than a week later” Owens was signed to the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin.
The beloved gymnast may have taken a break from competition in recent years, but her personal life has been anything but a break.
In the spring, she married NFL player Jonathan Owens, tying the knot on April 22 in a luxurious wedding in Cabo San Lucas.
However, there was no honeymoon period for the newlyweds, with Owens, 28, signing with the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin “less than a week later.”
Last week, the Olympian, who loves Spring, Texas, appeared on Today, admitting that the struggle of not seeing her husband regularly had “been different,” but that she “cherished the moments” the couple spent together .
The couple remains “busy and focused” on their careers until they have the opportunity to reunite again.