Simone Biles on mental health as she makes a comeback after a 2-year break

(6 Aug 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP AND SNTV CLIENTS MAY USE Hoffman Estates, Illinois - 5 August 2023 1. 00:00 SOUNDBITE (English) Simone Biles, gymnast: “Everything has fall into place. I feel really good about where I am right now, mentally and physically. I still think there are some things to work on throughout the night in my routines. But for the first meet back, I would say it went pretty well. I’m very very shocked, surprised. So I’m just, I’m happy, I feel a lot better now that that’s out of the way.“ 2. 00:30 SOUNDBITE (English) Simone Biles, gymnast: “Well, I definitely say you kind of have to take that mental break because if not, obviously your body will decide for you and that’s kind of what mine did in Tokyo. It was the worst timing but obviously, I’m very happy what happened just because I got to go and really focus on myself and I’m still continuing to work on myself and go to therapy and make sure everything is all in line so that in the gym, we can just focus on gym.“ 3. 00:53 SOUNDBITE (English) Simone Biles, gymnast: EXPLETIVE “I think I feel a lot better because I found ways to manage that. It’s like deleting Twitter and not trying to look at it and stuff like that because there are really nice comments, you have your supporters, your fans, like your day ones and then you have those really nasty ones that can get to you. But I really do feel like being an elite athlete, yeah, we’re expected to do what we do and to go through what we go through just because we’re so good at what we do, but at the end of the day, we’re kind of not normal. The things we do aren’t normal and yes, we go through normal people stuff. We have our own set of s**t that we go through. So to expect us to just drop it for an Olympics or whatever, it’s kind of hard to tell somebody that, especially when you’re at the top of your game. But at the end of the day, we have a really good team surrounding us that we can manage all of that stress and everything. So I do feel a little bit more positive going into this cycle.“ DURATION: 01:52 SOURCE: AP STORYLINE: US gymnast Simone Biles spent two years trying to distance herself from those strange days in Tokyo and all the outside noise that came along with it. She dove into therapy and slowly — very slowly — returned to training even though she wavered on whether she was really up for a third Olympics and all of the pressure and expectations that come with it when you’re considered the greatest of all time. It wasn’t until mid-spring that she committed to training seriously after talking about it over margaritas with her coaches. It wasn’t until late June that she committed to Saturday night’s US Classic in Illinois. And it wasn’t until she stepped onto the podium and heard the shrieks of support and the sea of handmade signs that the noise she’d been grappling with for 732 days finally fell silent. She was back in her safe space. Back in front of a crowd. Back in control. Back to being the Simone Biles — albeit a more mature, married, 26-year-old version — who has spent a decade redefining her sport. Confidence growing with every rotation, Biles soared to victory in her first meet since the Tokyo Games. Her all-around score of was five points better than runner-up Leann Wong. And made all the more remarkable by the fact she didn’t really pour herself into preparing until after her wedding to Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens in late April. The only time she seemed out of place at the NOW Arena was when she was introduced. The moment passed. Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: