Simone Biles has already posted about her preparation for the 2028 Olympics.
Many assumed that Simone Biles would retire after her Paris “redemption tour” came to an end. But after winning her 10th Olympic medal in Saturday’s vault final, Biles said for the first time that the Los Angeles Games in 2028 could be in her future.
“Never say never,” Biles said. “The next Olympics is at home, so you just never know, but I am getting really old.”
The Olympics will be held in L.A. in 2028, the first domestic Summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996. If Biles makes it to that event, she will be 31.
After the “twisties” descended in Tokyo and forced her to withdraw from the majority of her events, Biles’ return to the Olympic stage seemed inevitable.
“I feel like we all have more to give, and our Tokyo performances weren’t the best,” Biles said at the Olympic trials in Minneapolis. “We weren’t under the best circumstances, either, but I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we’re better athletes.”
But at 27, Biles was already transcending age barriers in a sport notorious for brief careers and early retirements. Her appearance in Paris makes her the oldest U.S. Olympic gymnast in 72 years.
There are few boxes left to check in terms of Olympic achievement for the gymnast widely considered to be the greatest of all time.
Biles on Thursday became the first American to win the Olympic all-around gold medal more than once, joining Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union and Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia as repeat champions.
Both remain icons in a sport that has evolved considerably since they last competed in the 1960s.
Before Paris, Biles was already the most decorated gymnast in history from any country when including world medals in the tally, with 37 world and Olympic medals combined. After winning gold in the team event Tuesday, she became the most decorated American gymnast in the history of the Olympic Games, surpassing Shannon Miller’s seven-medal haul.
At a press conference after receiving her vault medal Saturday, Biles was asked whether the world would ever see her dominate the event again.
She said it would “definitely” be the last sighting of her iconic namesake vault, the Yurchenko double pike, or “Biles II.”