Simone Biles is back on top.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist made a triumphant return to gymnastics over the weekend and came out the all-around winner, at the Core Hydration Classic, with a score of 59.100.
“Tears of joy as I make this comeback, surrounded by the love you’ve shown! thank you for believing in me 🫶🏾,” Biles wrote in an Instagram post Sunday, next to a photo of herself punching the air in celebration.
On Twitter, the gymnast added: “happy to be back out on the floor! this journey has been a rollercoaster of emotions. thank you for believing in me. 🫶🏾”
“So damn proud of you baby ❤️❤️❤️,” Biles’s husband, NFL star Jonathan Owens, wrote in the comments section. “Makes my day seeing you so happy and back doing what you love, and having FUN!!! I love you so much 🤞🏽.”
The classic took place at the Hoffman Estates in Illinois, and marked Biles’s first competitive event since 2021. She finished in first place in the all-around, vault, floor routine, and balance beam. She placed third on the uneven bars.
Biles famously pulled out of several events at the Tokyo Olympics back in 2021. She said at the time that her “mind and body” were “simply not in sync,” and that she needed to work on her well-being and mental health. A year later, at the 43rd annual Simmons Leadership Conference, she said that walking away from the Olympic Games to focus on herself had been her “biggest win.”
Still, she told CNN this weekend that she had always planned to return. “I always kind of knew as soon as everything that happened in Tokyo,” she said. “So, this time I’m doing it for me, I worked a lot on myself, and I believe in myself a little bit more, just coming back out here and starting the first steps again.”
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.
