Simone Biles is confident in herself and her power – that’s been part of her entire journey at these Games.
And that’s why she felt comfortable using her voice to stand up for herself and her teammates with the whole world watching.
“It’s important because you have to teach them to use their voices,” Biles, 27, tells PEOPLE on Aug. 6, a day after she wrapped up the 2024 Paris Olympics with four more medals. “And if not, you’re a voice for the voiceless, which is fine.”
Biles takes her role as “team leader” seriously, she says.
“I just felt it was the right thing to stand up for them at that point, because they’re so young and haven’t fully come into their own,” says the champion gymnast — the most decorated American Olympic gymnast of all time. .
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That moment came earlier in the Games, when Biles appeared to clap back at former teammate Mykayla Skinner for comments criticizing the “talent” of gymnasts on this year’s Team USA roster: Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Hezly Rivera. After the “Golden Girls” won gold in the team final, Biles posted a photo with the caption, “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions ❤️🥇🇺🇸.”
Later, Biles and Chiles revealed that Skinner had seemingly blocked Biles on Instagram. (On Tuesday, Skinner — who previously apologized for her comments — said she was “heartbroken” by Biles’ headline and said she received “another barrage of hateful comments” afterward.)
Biles tells PEOPLE that “I know that someone standing up meant a lot [my teammates].”
Overall, this whole Olympic experience has been a 180 for Biles since the 2020 Tokyo Games. While Paris is now coming to an end for her, Biles says she’s “a lot easier, a lot more in a better place, mentally and physically, just happy with what I’ve been able to achieve and what I’ve done.”
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As she did during her time in Paris, Biles is quick to point out the importance of therapy in staging this comeback after battling the debilitating “twisties” in Japan.
“Having that therapy and that mental work meant everything to me, and I needed it badly,” she tells PEOPLE.
It’s similar to what Biles said after winning the all-around gold on Aug. 2, noting that she goes to therapy every week and continued it while in Europe. “I even saw my therapist this morning at 7 a.m. and there was a time change,” Biles told reporters at a press conference after the event. “She’s so amazing to let me do it these few days in Paris.”
Simone Biles.
Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for USOPC
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“I never thought I’d be on the world stage again, competing,” Biles said.
Biles covers this week’s issue of PEOPLE magazine, and in it, her loved ones highlight the advocate for herself and her team.
“Everyone knows Simone’s story, right?” says her mom, Nellie Biles. “All those times were really dark and stressful. Getting through that and being in this place where she’s enjoying doing what she wants and playing her sport the way she would have wanted to four years ago, and that never happened. But this is a rewrite of her story, and I think that’s great. He’s rewriting it on her terms because she’s in this place that she really may have wanted to be in for years.”
To find out more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com and check out the live coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympic newsletter, to deliver the biggest stories from the Games straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics starting July 26 on NBC and Peacock.
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Source: HIS Education