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Simone Biles leaves the 2024 Olympics in Paris with the experience being a smashing success, but there is one question that the superstar is tired of being asked.
What’s next?
After Biles won her 11th career Olympic medal and fourth at the Paris Games, NBC Sports’ Zora Stephenson posed the following question to Biles.
“You’ve won, you’ve persevered, you’ve won again, you’ve inspired. What else is there for you to do?” Stephenson said in the August 5, 2024, broadcast interview.
“Don’t ask that question,” Biles remarked with a smile in the gymnast’s typical polite fashion.
Stephenson quickly clarified her initial question, wondering what else Biles can still accomplish in gymnastics.
“I know you don’t want me to ask it. I’m not asking what’s next. I’m just asking what else is there for you to do in gymnastics?” Stephenson clarified.
“Nothing. Relax,” Biles responded.
Simone Biles on the ‘What’s Next’ Question: ‘Let Us Soak Up the Moment We’ve Worked Our Whole Lives for’
For context, Biles took to social media to give reporters a bit of advice prior to her final competition in Paris. The summary of Biles’ mindset: let athletes stay in the moment.
“You guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics,” Biles said in a series of August 4 messages on X. “Let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for.”
Will Simone Biles Compete at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles?
Biles has left the door open for potentially competing at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The gold medalist admitted that there is an appeal to potentially competing on home soil.
“Never say never. The next Olympics are at home, so you just never know,” Biles told reporters on August 3. “But I am getting really old.”
After completing her final event in Paris, Biles posted an epic photo with her four new medals from the 2024 Olympics.
“More than my wildest dreams 🥹,” Biles noted in the August 5 Instagram message.
Simone Biles: ‘I Think Everyone Wants to Be Famous, & Then When It Happens, You Almost Hit a Wall’
It is a story of redemption for Biles who withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Biles has been open about the mental health challenges that come with being famous.
“I think everyone wants to be famous, and then when it happens, you almost hit a wall and you have an identity crisis,” Biles told Vanity Fair’s Leah Faye Cooper in a January 10, feature titled, “Simone Biles Talks Marriage, WAG Life With Taylor Swift, and the Paris Olympics. “You’re like, Am I made out for this? Why did I wish for this?
“… I’m not saying that [people] scream and line up like I’m Taylor Swift, [but] I still get a lot of attention. When five people come up to me and they’re rushing for a photo, I just get a little flustered. My anxiety kicks in.”
Biles is sure to do plenty of interviews over the next few weeks. Just don’t ask the gymnasts what she is going to do next.
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