Simone Biles yet to decide on competing at L.A. Olympics in 2028: ‘It would have to really excite me’

Simone Biles remains undecided whether her glittering, medal-filled Olympic career will have one final chapter in Los Angeles in 2028.

The U.S. superstar won her ninth, 10th and 11th Olympic medals at the Paris Games last summer, emphatically completing what she had labelled her “redemption tour” following the low of Tokyo.

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There, in 2021, she pulled out of the team final because of a mental block that gymnasts call ‘the twisties’, where competitors are disoriented and feel they are lost in the air.

In Paris, Biles won golds in all-around, team and vault — sealed with her signature Biles II, Yurchenko double pike — as well as a silver on floor.

Whether she returns to defend any of her titles remains up in the air.

“I have accomplished so much in my sport. For me to come back, it would have to really excite me,” Biles told French newspaper L’Equipe, in quotes carried by Reuters.

“You’re going to tell me that the perspective of the Games in Los Angeles is fascinating. And I will be there, whether on the apparatus or in the stands, I still haven’t decided.”

Biles’ 11 Olympic medals are the most by a U.S. gymnast. Only Larisa Latynina, a Russian former artistic gymnast, has more.

Biles admitted her efforts last summer took their toll on her body, something she will have to weigh when deciding whether to compete again in three years, when she will be 31.

“2028 seems so far away. And my body ages. I felt it in Paris. At the end of the competition, I went back to the village, I took the elevator and my body literally collapsed — I got sick for 10 days,” she added. “So, to be honest, I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Biles’ words come after she was named sportswoman of the year at the Laureus World Sports Awards for a record-equalling fourth time, moving alongside tennis great Serena Williams.

Rebeca Andrade, Biles’ competitor and friend, won the comeback of the year award after returning from three anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries to win four medals, including one gold, in Paris.

(Photo: Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images for Laureus)

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