Tokyo 2020 - Three more years for Simone Biles? Gymnastics star may consider 2024 Olympics in Paris

ByRichard Newman

Published 08/04/2021 at 09:07 GMT

The American says her French coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi have “kind of guilted” her to consider Paris, possibly in a specialist event rather than the all-around competition. The 24-year-old is heading to Tokyo looking to build on her four Olympic gold medals from Rio 2016, and is working on a routine no woman has ever landed.

American gymnastics star Simone Biles admits she is thinking about continuing on until the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Arguably the greatest female gymnast of all-time, Biles is preparing to try and add to her five existing medals at the Games, having also acquired 25 podium places at World Championships.

Across those two competitions, the 24-year-old has won an astonishing 23 golds and is working on a routine which no woman has ever landed in competition for Tokyo.

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With four skills already named after her, Biles says she will be attempting the Yurchenko double pike vault, which she plans to try out at a pre-Games event first. If she lands it, it will be the fifth element in the sport’s rulebook, the Code of Points to be named after her.

It looked likely that Tokyo would be her last Games, but she says her French coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi are tempting her to go a little further.

“Right now my main focus is the (Tokyo) Olympic Games," said Biles.

"After, we have a tour that has been put together and I am really excited to go around the U.S. with all the girls and do that 36 city tour.

Afterwards I am not so sure because Cecile and Laurent are from Paris and so they have kind of guilted me into at least being a specialist and coming back.

"But you know the main goal is 2021 Olympics first, tour and then we will have to see."

There is a possibility, then, that a stripped-back Biles will compete in targeted individual events in Paris rather than the all-around.

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Although the sport often comes with a young retirement age, there is a recent trend for gymnasts to go on further than what might be considered traditional, and though Biles will be 27 by the time the next Games come around, she is undoubtedly one of the world’s most committed and in-shape elite athletes.

Biles has been widely praised for speaking up about the abuse she suffered from former USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar, and calling out her governing body for past failings, but she says it is something she has had to grow into.

“Now that I kind of found my voice”, she said. “I feel like not only can it benefit me, the team and the people that I'm supporting and advocating for, but it kind of helps everybody and people get to see a little bit of who you are just besides an athlete and what you stand for.

“I feel like I’ve really found my voice and used that for good in the world on social media platforms”.

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