Photo:Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Simone Bilesis making peace with the dreaded “twisties.”
In a “Let’s Chat”Q&A on her Instagram Storyon Sunday, the four-time Olympic gold medalist shared that the uneven bars have “always” been the hardest event for her to come back to after a break, especially after the twisties largely derailed her 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Now that she’s training again, Biles said that she had to overcome an initial fear of “twisting” after a fan asked what her “hardest event to come back to” was this time around.
“It’s always bars … mentally and physically but this go around BABY!!! Twisting on any event,” the 26-year-old iconic gymnast wrote, adding: “IYKYK.”
Biles continued, “Mainly because when the twisties happen you go right into the gym and work on it. I took over a year off and THEN came back… So I was petrified. But I’me fine. I’m twisting again. No worries. All is good.”
The superstar athlete notablypulled out of the team competitionand later,all-around events, at the Tokyo Olympics, at the time citing mental health issues related to executing the complicated moves.
simonebiles/Instagram
The decision came after she attempted her first skill of the Olympic competition, a 2½ twisting vault, and quicklyknew something was off.
Biles later explained to reporters that she “had no idea where I was in the air,” and that she was “having a little bit of the twisties.”
Simone Biles.© Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images
She returned later in the competition to win a silver medal in the team event and a bronze medal in the balance beam final.
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With a combined total of 32 Olympic and World Championship medals, the decorated gymnast announced last month that she would return to the mat for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics at the 2023 U.S. Classic in August.
Biles has not yet announced whether she’ll try to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.Since the Tokyo games, she’s hit some major personal milestones,tying the knot with NFL player Jonathan Owensin an intimate courthouse wedding in April, then alarger ceremonyin Cabo San Lucas a month later.
source: people.com
