It didn’t take long for Simone Biles to assert her dominance and remind everyone why she’s one of the greatest gymnastics athletes of all-time. The four-time Olympic gold medalist made her official return to competition on Saturday (August 5) at the 2023 Core Hydration Classic and she put on quite the show.
She scored a 14.8 on the balance beam, 14.9 with her floor exercise, and a 15.4 on the vault – all of which ranked No. 1 in the field. She also finished third on the uneven bars en route to an all-around score of 59.1 – which was 5.0 points more than the second place finisher, Leanne Wong. Biles is officially back!
It was a competition that featured several powerful storylines – including the return of reigning champion Sunisa Lee, who has been sidelined due to a kidney issue since February. Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey also made their return to elite competition, but one storyline trumped the rest – Biles’ dominance.
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Simone Biles’ return to competition comes more than two years after she withdrew from the individual all-around finals, vault finals, floor finals, and uneven bars finals at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She cited mental health concerns after struggling with ‘the twisties’ and has been out of competition ever since.
Her return was announced in late-June when Team USA announced the athletes who were competing at the Core Hydration Classic. While she made no mention of it prior to that, her name was on the list and it proved her intent to qualify for the U.S. Championships and compete at the World Championships.
In order to do so, she would’ve needed to compete (and receive a score) in at least two events on August 5. And while that’s exactly what Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey did in their returns, that’s not what Simone Biles did on Saturday. Instead, she competed in every single event for the all-around title.
It’s something that wasn’t revealed until the rotation schedule was released roughly an hour before the event started – so it came as a surprise to just about everyone outside of her inner circle. It made her return that much more exciting and her performance has everyone looking forward to what’s next.
Simone Biles Was ‘Really Nervous to Compete Again’
In a post-meet interview, Simone Biles humbly said she thought the night ‘went really well’ – adding that everything fell right into place and that she feels ‘really good’ about where she is right now (not just physically, but mentally). While she admits there are some things to work on, she’s happy with her win.
"After everything that transpired in Tokyo, the amount of outpouring of love and support that I had on Twitter, on Instagram and in the arena was just really shocking and surprising to me that they still have so much belief in me," she said in the interview – adding that she was ‘really nervous to compete again.’
She’s now shifting her focus to the 2023 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships – which are being held August 24-27 at SAP Center at San Jose in San Jose, California – as she continues her preparation for a shot at her sixth world all-around title at the 2023 World Championships in Belgium in October.
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No matter what happens, Simone Biles has had herself a legendary career since making her senior debut in 2013. She has won seven Olympic medals (4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) and 25 World Championships medals (19 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze) in her career and has broken a plethora of records in the process.
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