American gymnast Simone Biles suggested in a recent interview that her time as an Olympian may be over, even with the 2028 Los Angeles Games being held on home soil.
“I’ve accomplished so much, there’s almost nothing left to do, rather than to just be snobby and to try again and for what? I’m at a point in my career where I’m humble enough to know when to be done. If you go back, you’ll be greedy,” Biles told Sports Illustrated on Thursday after the outlet named her its 2024 Sportsperson of the Year.
In her Olympic career, which started in the 2016 Rio Games, she has won five individual gold medals and two more golds as part of the U.S. gymnastics team. She won three of them at the 2024 Paris Games.
Biles said as she has grown older, the things she is weighing against participating in the Olympics have changed.
“When you’re younger, it’s like, prom, college. Now it’s like, starting a family, being away from my husband. What’s really worth it?” Biles said. She married NFL safety Jonathan Owens, currently a player for the Chicago Bears, in 2023.
Biles had also suggested in an earlier interview that age is a factor in her possibly stepping away from the U.S. team.
“Everybody wants to know this question. I’m like, ‘Can’t I live? … First, I’m getting older. Twenty-seven is a little bit old for a gymnast. Outside of the gym, I’m young. Tequila, no hangover. But in the gym? I am old,” Biles told host Jimmy Fallon on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” in September, shortly after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
