In the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Simone Biles had a massive comeback, winning two gold medals. But she credits one thing with helping her return from a “mental injury” at the 2020 Tokyo Games: therapy.
“Three years ago, I never thought I’d step foot on the gymnastics floor again just because of everything that had happened,” she told reporters at a press conference after winning the individual all-around medal. “But with the help of [my coach] Cecile [Landi], I got back in the gym and worked really hard mentally and physically. Even this morning at 7:00 a.m., I saw my therapist. And there’s a time change, so she is so amazing for allowing me to do that these couple of days here in Paris.”
“I was just making sure I’m mentally well, and I think you see that out on the competition floor,” she added.
Simone does therapy “religiously” every Thursday, adding in sessions “whenever I need it” before big competitions.
During her remarks, Simone reflected on the Tokyo Games, telling reporters that she was “so nervous about getting injured physically that I kind of neglected my mental health.”
Ultimately, Simone backed out of those Games with a case of the “twisties,” a gymnastics phenomenon where someone can no longer do a twisting skill they’ve done many times in the past.
“It was a mental injury,” she said. “I think that was almost harder than physical because whenever you go to the doctor and you have a physical injury, they tell you three to six weeks, three to six months, all of that stuff. And so this, [there were] no time tells.”
Simone said she’s “proud” of the work she put in to even compete in Paris, since “I never thought I’d be on a world stage again, competing.”
The individual all-around was a nail-biter, with Brazilian silver medalist Rebeca Andrade pulling ahead of Simone at times. (2020 champion Suni Lee took home bronze.) During her third—and likely final—Olympics, Simone joked that Rebeca was “way too close.”
“I’ve never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes and it brought out the best athlete in myself,” she shared. “I’m getting uncomfortable guys. I don’t like that feeling! I was stressing!”
This isn’t the first time that Simone has opened up about her mental health. In January, Simone shared that she’d been prescribed Lexapro for anxiety. She has previously discussed using a worry journal to cope with symptoms.
Simone even introduced therapy to her husband, football player Jonathan Owens.
“She said, ‘I think you need to see someone,’ and I’m like, ‘See who?'” Jonathan told Netflix cameras during her docuseries Simone Biles Rising. “It’s a humbling thing because you have to go back and look at yourself in the mirror.”
Simone is set to compete in the individual vault, floor, and beam events.
Go, Simone, go!