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US gymnastics star Simone Biles has announced a comeback after a two-year break from competition. The 19-time world champion and four-time Olympic champion will compete at the US Classic in Chicago in early August, the national gymnastics association (USA Gymnastics) announced on Wednesday. It will be her first competition since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
28.06.2023 22.00
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The 26-year-old will show off her skills at the one-day event on August 5 alongside other Olympic and World Championships medalists. The current enrollment list includes 12 Olympic and 16 World Championship team members, USA Gymnastics said. “Together they have won 60 Olympic and World Championships medals, 12 at the Games and 48 at World Championships.”
32 of these 60 medals are attributed to Biles alone. In addition to the exceptional athlete from Ohio, Sunisa Lee and Jade Cary will also be there in Chicago. Lee has a total of eight major event medals, including all-around gold in Tokyo. In addition to Olympic gold in floor exercise in 2021, Cary also won five other medals at major events.
Reuters/Mike Blake Biles won four gold medals at the Rio Olympics
Mental problems made public in Tokyo
Biles had made mental problems public during the 2021 Olympic Games and therefore renounced several starts. For the gymnastics star there was “only” the bronze medal on the balance beam and silver with the team in Japan. The 25-time World Championships medalist and four-time Olympic gold medalist at Rio de Janeiro 2016 was among hundreds of gymnasts and their parents who sued former US team doctor Larry Nassar for sexual abuse. Since then, she has spoken openly about her emotional distress.
APA/AFP/Lionel Bonaventure At the Tokyo Olympics, Biles lost his balance and subsequently struggled with mental health problems
In hindsight, Biles described her start in Tokyo as a mistake. “If you look at what I’ve been through in the last seven years, I should never have been part of the Olympic team again,” the record world champion told New York Magazine in September 2021.
Now Biles, who recently married NFL player Jonathan Owens, is making her comeback at the US Classic. After the 2016 games in Rio, the US star ended a two-year break from competition in Chicago in 2018.