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The seven-time Olympic medalist will compete in the US Classic tournament in August after a nearly two-year hiatus.
American gymnastics phenom Simone Biles will compete in an event later this year, marking her first return to competition since the Tokyo Olympics.
In a rack On Wednesday, USA Gymnastics announced that Biles, a seven-time Olympic medalist and 2016 Olympic champion, would compete in the US Classic in August after a nearly two-year hiatus.
“Leaded by a trio of Olympic gold medalists, current athlete registrations for the 2023 U.S. Classic are full of Olympians, World Championship team members and international medalists,” the statement read.
Biles will be joined at the event by another Olympic all-around gold medalist, Sunisa Lee, who won the title for the USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were held in 2021 due to precautions for the COVID-19 pandemic. Biles took the all-around gold in 2016, during the Olympic competition in Rio de Janeiro.
The all-around title is considered one of the most prestigious in gymnastics, as the competition tests an athlete’s skills in multiple areas, through jumps, balance beams, uneven bars, and floor routines.
But during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Biles voluntarily removed herself from several events to focus on her mental health. She explained that she had the “twisties,” a condition where gymnasts lose their spatial awareness while performing complicated jumps.
“I had no idea where I was in the sky,” Biles told reporters at the time. “I could have hurt myself.”
Her decision to withdraw from certain events drew attention to the strain faced by elite athletes, though she ultimately competed on balance beam, earning a bronze medal. She remains tied with Shannon Miller as the most decorated American female gymnast at the Olympics.
Biles has since become an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness. She has also taken time to focus on her personal life, earlier this year she married National Football League player Jonathan Owens.
In addition to her mental health advocacy, Biles previously joined dozens of other women who said they had been sexually assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar, testifying before a 2021 Senate Judiciary Committee that athletes had “failed and we deserve answers.”
Last year, Biles received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the US.
The US Classic is one of the most well-known events on the USA Gymnastics calendar and is often seen as the prelude to the National Championships, which take place in late August in California.
The US Classic marked a reintroduction for Biles once before. In 2018, after a two-year hiatus from the Rio Olympics, she used the competition as a springboard for another spectacular run, including two world all-around championships in 2018 and 2019 and three more national titles.
It’s not clear if Biles plans to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, though she has hinted that she hopes to.
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