Simone Biles urges media to stop hounding athletes about their future, says they need time to 'soak up' their Olympic success

By Anirudh

Modified Aug 04, 2024 10:42 GMT

Simone Biles has asked for patience from the media, stating that athletes will need time to soak up their success before thinking about what the future holds for them. Biles has cemented her legacy as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On Tuesday (July 30), she performed impressively on all four apparatus, helping Team USA win the gold medal. In the women's gymnastics all-around final on Thursday, the 27-year-old, with a 59.131 overall score, bagged her sixth Olympic gold medal.

Later on Saturday, Biles performed her signature Biles II vault to score 15.300 (average of 15.700 and 14.900) and clinched the gold medal in the vault final. This took her Olympic medal tally to 10, following her five medals (four gold and one bronze) at the 2016 Rio Games and two medals (one bronze and one silver) at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Despite all the success, there have been a lot of questions about Biles' future, with many wondering if she would announce her retirement after she finishes competing at the Paris Olympics. Other athletes have also faced similar questions about their future, which did not seem to sit well with Biles.

The American took to social media and said that athletes must be allowed to enjoy their success before getting bombarded with questions about their future.

"You guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics," Biles wrote.

"Let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for," she added.

Following her win in the all-around, Simone Biles became only the third woman after Larisa Latynina and Vera Caslavska to win the all-around gold medal twice.

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Simone Biles: “After all these years of putting in the mental work in, it’s paid off”

Simone Biles at the 2024 Paris Olympics - Getty Images

While Simone Biles has been flying high in Paris, it was not all smooth sailing for her at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She struggled with “twisties” — a type of mental block that gymnasts face —and withdrew from the majority of her events.

She then took a two-year break, worked on getting better, and has returned to action looking better than ever. After winning three gold medals in the French capital, Biles said that all the work she put in to address her mental health has paid off.

“After all these years of putting in the mental work in, it’s paid off. So I’m super excited to be on this stage again,” she said. (via CNN)

“The Olympics is such a draining process for the athletes. It’s multiple days of competitions so you definitely have to be on top of your mental as well as your physical, so as long as we’re doing that then we’re good,” she added.

Biles could add two more Olympic medals to her name. She will participate in the balance beam finals and floor exercise finals on Monday.