She endured a disastrous qualification at the home Olympics on July 28, 2024. Starting on uneven bars, an early fall in the routine led to a low score, followed by a shaky beam with a near-fall, then a sluggish floor routine that ended with a failed double flip. Her vault was the only strong piece, though still unremarkable. The team finished with a combined score of 158.797, placing 9th, well outside the top eight. Individually, she landed 33rd in the all-around, far from the top 24 needed to advance to the all‑around final. A tearful exit capped off a deeply disappointing campaign. Her next step? Working with Simone Biles.

Melanie de Jesus dos Santos‘ next step was joining Simone Biles’ Gold Over America Tour in fall 2024—a celebration-style gymnastics showcase running from September 16 to November 3 across 32 U.S. cities. It offered a low-pressure, fun-focused environment—exactly what she needed to rediscover joy in the sport after the Olympic letdown. Here’s how it helped her.

“[The tour] was the best thing that could have happened after the Games. I truly believe that if there hadn’t been that tour after the Olympics, it would have been even harder to bounce back,” the French gymnast said in an interview with the Olympics.com on June 24, 2025. “Knowing myself, if I hadn’t had the tour, I would have shut down. I would have just stayed home doing nothing.” Santos was not doing great after her Olympic performance. Back then, she had said her mental strength had collapsed despite all her preparation. Feeling like her hard work over the past two years was for nothing, she called the day a complete loss with “nothing positive.”

As per the Olympics interview, “In Martinique, she was reminded of who she is. On the tour, she was reminded of what sport had brought into her life.“After the Paris Olympics, she returned to her birthplace in Martinique for a week as part of Golden Soul, a short documentary by Agathe Breton. There, she relaxed with family, playing dominoes, fishing from childhood memories, and rediscovered her personal identity away from elite gymnastics.

“What I loved was the vibe when we were all on the bus together – we’d talk about the show, watch movies – it was like a pyjama party every night. Those were really my favourite moments,” recalled de Jesus dos Santos. “When we had rest days, we had time to explore the city we were in. I found that super cool, especially with friends from all over.” Another interesting story about this tour and the bus was shared by Katelyn Ohashi. She told how they slept in the bus most nights [in built-in bunks] unless they had an off day, when they got to have a bed [in a hotel]. “She found it fun because you go to bed and wake up with your girlfriends,”

“That tour really helped me continue doing gymnastics, and, more importantly, to enjoy it again because we don’t get many opportunities to do gymnastics with that much fun,” she said. “There’s no pressure, and that was amazing. It’s a really unique feeling. Doing gymnastics without pressure was something that really helped me.” Simone Biles’s Gold Over America Tour was like a vacation for the gymnasts, who, instead of sweating extra hard on the apparatus on their free days, explored host cities together, savoring the chance to bond and enjoy downtime outside of their routines.

It had no judges or scores, so gymnasts performed without competitive pressure. It focused on joy, self-expression, and storytelling rather than perfection. Not the first time Simone Biles has helped anybody.

The friend that Simone Biles is

Simone Biles might have recently been a subject of criticism, but it is undeniable that the gymnast has stood up and helped her fellow when it was needed. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simone noticed German gymnasts being blocked from seats by non-athletes on a packed bus to Bercy Arena. She intervened, requesting seats be freed so the gymnasts, like Sarah Voss and Pauline Schaefer‑Betz, could sit. Voss shared the incident on her Instagram stories after the podium practice, praising Biles for her support. “Not only standing up for herself and her mental health but also fighting for us to get a seat (on) the overly packed bus toward the arena,” she wrote.

Talking of mental health, Simone had to step out of the Tokyo Olympics because she struggled with Twisties, but she remained in the arena to support her teammates. She was seen loudly cheering from the stands while Sunisa Lee competed in the individual all-around and vault/uneven bars finals. “Simone came back and was the best cheerleader. They needed that as well, to see that she was okay and she believed in them,” Biles’ coach, Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, told PEOPLE.

In 2018, after Rebeca Andrade’s second ACL tear, she sat alone and uncertain outside the hotel lobby in Qatar. Simone Biles approached her, sat by her side, and quietly said, “Don’t give up. You’re talented, and you’re going to get past this.” That moment, filled with empathy, sparked a turning point in Andrade’s recovery. Fast forward to the 2023 World Championships vault final: Andrade outperformed Simone, claiming gold. In an instant of graceful sportsmanship, Simone pretended to lift an invisible crown from her own head and placed it upon Andrade’s—then later danced with her at a celebration, joyfully honoring her rival and friend. Simone Biles is quite a friend, don’t you think?