After withdrawing from most events at Tokyo 2021 to prioritize her mental health, Simone Biles returned triumphantly at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning three gold medals and one silver to become the most decorated Olympic gymnast in history.
Simone Biles made one of the greatest comebacks in Olympic history at the 2024 Paris Games, returning to competition after a three-year absence to win four medals — three gold and one silver — and cement her status as the most decorated gymnast in Olympic history. At 27 years old, competing in what she has indicated will be her final Olympics, Biles proved that her extraordinary talent and competitive fire remain unmatched.
Biles won gold in the team all-around, individual all-around, and vault competitions, while earning silver on floor exercise. Her total Olympic medal count rose to 11 — seven gold, one silver, and three bronze across three Olympic Games — surpassing the previous record for any gymnast in Olympic history. Combined with her 30 World Championship medals, Biles stands alone as the most accomplished gymnast the sport has ever seen.
“At 27 years old, competing in what she has indicated will be her final Olympics, Biles proved that her extraordinary talent and competitive fire remain unmatched.”
What made her Paris performance especially meaningful was the context. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in 2021), Biles withdrew from five of six event finals after experiencing "the twisties" — a dangerous condition in which gymnasts lose their sense of spatial awareness while performing aerial skills. Her decision to prioritize her mental health over competition sparked a global conversation about athlete wellbeing and helped destigmatize mental health discussions in elite sports.
In the years between Tokyo and Paris, Biles was open about her therapy journey and the work she put into recovering both mentally and physically. Her return to competition at the 2023 World Championships, where she won four gold medals, signaled that she was fully back. But Paris confirmed it definitively.
Her vault performances were particularly remarkable, featuring a Yurchenko double pike — a skill so difficult that no other woman in the world competes it. The vault is now officially named "the Biles II" in the gymnastics code of points, joining the "Biles" on floor and "Biles" on beam as skills named in her honor.
Beyond the medals, Biles's legacy extends to her advocacy for athlete mental health, her role as a survivor who testified about abuse in USA Gymnastics, and her demonstration that stepping away and returning stronger is not weakness but courage.
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