Will Simone Biles compete at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles?

Biles has acknowledged she is getting older but hasn't definitively ruled out competing in 2028 at age 31, which would make her the second-oldest American female gymnast in Olympic history after Marie Margaret Hoesly, who represented the U.S. in 1952.

After withdrawing from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to the "twisties," in Paris Biles provided the perfect comeback.

She secured her third gold medal, winning the vault final with an average score of 15.3, bringing her total Olympic medal count to 10, the most for a gymnast.

At 27, she proved her continued dominance by doing the Yurchenko double pike, known as the most difficult vault ever performed by a female gymnast.

She joined elite company by becoming the only woman to win two vault titles and the first American to win more than once in the Olympic all-around final.

Sources: Hindustan Times, NBC Chicago, Sun Herald, Sacramento Bee, NBC News, USA Today, New York Post, Diário do Grande ABC, Post and Courier, UOL, Boston Globe, HuffPost, Yahoo Sports, ClutchPoints, Daily Mail, Santa Maria Times, Heavy, Deccan Chronicle, Us Weekly, NBC Bay Area

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Legendary US gymnast Simone Biles on Saturday won her first competitive event since 2021 to the beat of Noa Kirel's Eurovision hit "Unicorn."

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The seven-time Olympic medalist claimed first place at the Core Hydration Classic outside Chicago, Illinois, scoring a 14.0 on the uneven bars, a 14.8 on the balance beam, a 14.9 in the floor exercise and a 15.4 in the vault. She finished in first place in the all-around, vault, floor routine, and balance beam while placing third on the uneven bars.

Video: Noa Kirel at Ben-Gurion International Airport

"It felt really good, especially after everything that's happened over the past year," Biles told CNBC, referring to her withdrawal from several events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to prioritize her mental health.

It was her first appearance after the unexpected departure. Fans cheered as Biles made a triumphant comeback accompanied by the track of the Israeli pop star who finished in third place in the Eurovision song competition in May.

"I always kind of knew (I'd return) as soon as everything happened in Tokyo," Biles told journalists. "So, this time I'm doing it for me, I worked a lot on myself and I believe in myself a little bit more. It's just coming back out here and starting those first steps again."

The 26-year-old gymnast also commented on the possibility of her competing at the Paris Olympics in 2024, saying that things are "heading in the right direction."

"We're still in the working steps," she said. "My main goal was this and then championships and then after that we'll look onto world and then we'll see, but so far it's heading in the right direction. But I still have to work on myself, I'm still going to do my therapy, I'm still going to put myself first."

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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US gymnast Simone Biles, who amazed the world on Tuesday when she decided to pull out of the team all-around competition on Tuesday due to mental strain, costing the US team a gold medal, has decided to forgo the final individual all-around event, she announced Wednesday.

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USA Gymnastics published a message on Twitter explaining that "After further medical evaluation, Simon Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition. We wholeheartedly support Simone's decision and applaud her bravery in prioritizing her well-being."

Biles will be replaced by Jade Carey, who placed ninth in the qualifications.

International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams had said earlier on Wednesday the IOC has "huge respect and support" for Biles.

Adams said mental health remained a big issue and that it was a matter the organization had been working on for some time.

IOC President Thomas Bach was seen in deep conversation with Biles on the floor of the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on Tuesday before handing out medals.

Biles was to appear in all six gymnastics event finals and a sweep of the gold medals would have given her 10, making her the most accomplished woman Olympian in any sport.

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The team's outfits looked similar to the others in the room as the arena lights gleamed off crystals crisscrossing their chests and down their crimson and white sleeves.

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But the German gymnastics team's new Olympic suits didn't stop at their hips.

For decades, female gymnasts have worn bikini-cut leotards. In qualifying on Sunday, however, the German team instead wore unitards that stretched to their ankles, intending to push back against the sexualization of women in gymnastics.

The Tokyo Olympics are the first Summer Games since Larry Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics national team doctor, was sent to prison for 176 years for sexually abusing hundreds of gymnasts, including some of the sport's greatest stars. At his sentencing, athletes – some of them Olympians – described how the sport's culture allowed for abuse and objectification of young women and girls.

Male gymnasts wear comparatively body-covering clothes: singlets, with loose shorts for their floor exercise and vault, and long pants on bar and pommel horse routines.

The German team first wore unitards at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in April.

Sarah Voss, a 21-year-old German, said they weren't sure they would decide to wear them again during Olympic competition until they got together before the meet.

"We sat together today and said, OK, we want to have a big competition," Voss said. "We want to feel amazing, we want to show everyone that we look amazing."

Their wardrobe revolution, while widely championed, has not so far started a trend. Leotards that leave the legs bare were worn by every other female gymnast during qualifying at the Tokyo Games.

At 4-foot-8, American superstar Simone Biles said in June that she prefers leotards because they lengthen the leg and make her appear taller.

"But I stand with their decision to wear whatever they please and whatever makes them feel comfortable," Biles said. "So if anyone out there wants to wear a unitard or leotard, it's totally up to you."

Matt Cowan, the chief commercial officer for GK Elite, the US' premier leotard manufacturer, said most requests for unitards now come from countries the require modesty for cultural and religious reasons. They have otherwise seen no rush toward unitards.

"Would we do it? Absolutely. We have the capabilities of designing it and doing it, and we have done it," Cowan said. "But from a consumer demand perspective, we are not there yet."

Gymnastics is often viewed as a sport best performed by very young women and girls. Biles, at 24, often jokes about being old; she recently called herself a grandma on social media.

But other nations have defied that emphasis on youth, including the Germans: Elisabeth Seitz is 27, Kim Bui is 32, Pauline Schafer is 24, and Voss is 21. Their average age is 26. Voss said that gymnastics customs should leave room for female bodies as they age and change.

Their outfits comply with the wardrobe rules of the International Gymnastics Federation. But that doesn't mean female athletes are generally free to cover their bodies as they choose.

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Just days before the Games began, the Norwegian women's beach handball team refused to play in bikini bottoms during European tournaments, opting instead for skin-tight shorts. For that, they received a fine for violating a wardrobe requirement.

But at gymnastics qualifying Sunday, the announcer over the loudspeaker called the outfits "very nice indeed." The German team did not qualify for the finals, but the announcer pondered if their team debut on the Olympic stage might increase unitards' popularity.

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