Simone Biles is the Thanos of gymnastics. The inevitable final boss of the sport, and once again she’s assembled the Infinity Stones and clicked her fingers.
Simone Biles is back and she’s ready to Thanos snap the Olympics
The GOAT is back and dominating once more.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Biles won her NINTH national championship over the weekend, qualifying for yet another Olympics. It was a foregone conclusions that Biles would be in Paris if she wanted, but we didn’t know how the time away from the sport was going to affect her in major competition. It had been a solid season for Biles, but nationals represented her biggest test — and she didn’t disappoint.
Biles took a significant break from the sport after leaving the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after suffering from “the twisties,” a term for losing spacial awareness that is common in the sport. At a crossroads, and unsure whether she would gain back her ability — Biles took some time to rest her body and attend to her mental health, without making any guarantees about her future. However, in a Michael Jordan-esque comeback, Biles announced in the Summer of 2023 that she was returning to gymnastics, with an eye on closing out her career in Paris.
Traditionally a sport that requires unbroken training and dedication, it was with a small amount of trepidation that we saw Biles return to competition. Would she be the same? Would the GOAT have to settle to come back and be second best? We learned quickly that no, she was still Simone-damn-Biles, and this weekend’s performance at nationals cemented it.
All-Around
1. Simone Biles — 119.75
2. Skye Blakely — 113.85
3. Kayla DiCello — 110.8
Balance Beam
1. Simone Biles — 29.6
2. Suni Lee — 29.1
3. Skye Blakely — 28.65
Floor Exercise
1. Simone Biles — 30.3
2. Kayla DiCello — 27.8
3. Tiana Sumanasekera — 27.5
Uneven Bars
1. Simone Biles — 29.05
2. Jordan Chiles — 29
3. Skye Blakely — 28.85
Vault One
1. Simone Biles — 30.8
2. Skye Blakely — 29.4
3. Jade Carey — 29.1
Vault Two
1. Simone Biles — 30.425
2. Skye Blakely — 28.925
3. Jade Carey — 28.85
Team USA could be bolstered in Paris depending on the status of Shilese Jones. A member of the 2022 and 2023 gold-winning team at the World Championships, the 21-year-old Jones was sidelined from competition with an injury. She is petitioning USA Gymnastics to be allowed back in time for trials, where she’ll hope to make the team there.
A potential union of Biles and Jones for the first time on an Olympic team would undoubtably make Team USA the favorites to win gold in Paris. For now the world will need to contend with the fact that Simone Biles is back, and she’s ready to snap her finger at the Olympics once more.
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