After winning a silver medal in her last event, the floor in the Paris Olympics, then 27, Simone Biles looked happy! But once she returned to the Olympic Village, she could barely walk and had to take the elevator because she felt drained. And for the next 10 days, she remained sick. That experience made her realize how much her “body ages.” But it also raised questions about what comes next, especially with LA 2028 coming as a home Olympics. For a while, nothing was decided, but finally Simone Biles opened up about whether she would be part of it.

“Obviously, home country’s hosting it, so it’s going to be exciting,” Biles said while attending the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid, where she was also announced as a Laureus Ambassador. She spoke about the atmosphere she is most looking forward to, saying, “I’m excited to see the Opening Ceremony, the Closing Ceremony, just seeing the atmosphere change.”

But she didn’t reveal if she would be there as an athlete or simply as a spectator, and that is where the catch begins. If she decides to return as an athlete, she could draw inspiration from Michael Phelps, who made a successful return to the 2016 Rio Olympics, winning five gold medals after battling personal challenges following his first retirement after the 2012 London Olympics.

Since Paris 2024, Simone Biles has not returned to elite gymnastics training or competition. Instead, she stepped away from the sport and took a long break after the Olympics. In late 2024, she joined the Gold Over America Tour, a gymnastics show across the United States.

During this time, her focus slowly shifted to personal life as well. Simone Biles spent more time with her husband, Jonathan Owens, who was playing in the NFL for the Chicago Bears during that period. She was seen attending games to support him, often showing up in stadiums in customized outfits for almost 18 months.

The couple also managed to take time for themselves outside of their careers, including a delayed honeymoon in South Africa, which they were not able to go on earlier due to their commitments in 2023.

Simone Biles also explored life outside gymnastics in small but noticeable ways. She tried different sports like horse riding, figure skating, and more. More recently, she traveled to Italy for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 in February with Owens. But she stayed away from gymnastics entirely, and even admitted, “I haven’t even watched gymnastics.”

All of this shows one clear thing. She is active, but not in training mode. Still, LA2028 remains open. Simone Biles confirmed she will be in Los Angeles when the Olympics happen, but her role is still undecided. “I will be there, whether on the apparatus or in the stands, I still haven’t decided,” she said. For now, LA2028 is not a comeback promise. But what Paris 2024 made clear was that her body was already pushed to its limits before the games began.

Simone Biles and the strain of Paris 2024

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simone Biles reached a point where her body was clearly under heavy strain. She later shared that things were getting difficult even before her final events. While getting ready for the uneven bars, she revealed, “I feel like my body is slowly starting to shut down. Like, it’s ready to be done. But tomorrow, I compete in the last two finals there are for women’s gymnastics.”

She was not talking about quitting in the moment, but about exhaustion building up after years of training and the pressure of competing at the highest level again. Biles even revealed she had become a reserve for the bars final. Even then, she still had to prepare like an active competitor in case she was needed.

Despite feeling drained, Simone Biles still pushed herself to compete in the remaining finals: “I will be doing beam and floor.”

In the balance beam final, things didn’t go her way. She had a fall during her routine on an acrobatic element, scoring around 13.100 and finishing 5th, missing out on a medal. In the floor exercise final, she performed one of the hardest routines in the sport. She stepped out of bounds twice, which cost her deductions, but she still delivered a strong performance and won the silver medal with a score of 14.133.

Soon after the Games, Simone Biles also stepped away from one of her most difficult vaults, the Yurchenko double pike. So the way Paris unfolded showed how much her body was being pushed at this stage, especially with her own reflections about recovery and age, feeling different now. Whether she returns to the LA28 Olympics as a competitor or is only seen in the stands is still something that remains to be seen.