Simone Biles has 11 Olympic gold medals, five gymnastics moves named after her, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and the title of Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year. And although that’s a pretty impressive list of accomplishments, the rest of world would selfishly love to see her add to her medal count at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
But in a January 2 feature story in Sports Illustrated, the 27-year-old gymnast reflected on her career and got real about her future in the sport.
After struggling with mental health issues during the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo and a bout of the twisties that forced her to withdraw from the team and all-around finals, Biles showed up and showed out at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, winning four medals, including the gold in the women’s all-around competition.
But when asked what would need to be on the line to get her to compete in her home country in 2028, Biles responded “life and death.”
“Because I’ve accomplished so much, there’s almost nothing left to do, rather than to just be snobby and to try again and for what? I’m at a point in my career where I’m humble enough to know when to be done,” Biles said.
She added that being married to Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens has her thinking about the impact another Olympics might have on their future family plans.
“When you’re younger, it’s like, prom, college. Now it’s like, starting a family, being away from my husband,” she said. “What’s really worth it?”
While she hasn’t decided to walk away from the sport completely, Biles isn’t ready to start thinking about her legacy just yet.
“I don’t think the reality has set in of what I’ve exactly done in the sport,” she said. “I can see it, and I hear it from people, and I see a glimpse of it, but the full magnitude I don’t think I’ve realized just yet. I don’t think I’ll realize ’til maybe I retire and look back in a couple years like, ‘damn, she was good.’ Because I can see that, but I do it every day. So for me, it’s normal.”