The crowd fell eerily silent during the balance beam final at Paris 2024. And why not? Simone Biles was visibly irritated after falling off the beam. The US gymnastics legend, known for thriving under pressure, later voiced her frustration, saying she much preferred a roaring crowd to the quiet tension that filled the arena. “It’s the electric atmosphere that makes me feel strong and ready,” she explained, emphasizing how the energy of a packed stadium fuels her performances. But it has its downsides as well and Simone is not immune to that.

Coming off a significant hiatus after the Tokyo Olympics, Biles made a triumphant return to the US Classics, where she was greeted by a full house. The cheers and shouts from her fans lifted her spirits, reminding everyone just how much she feeds off the crowd’s energy. After her performance, Biles took to social media, sharing, “Happy to be back out on the floor! This journey has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Thank you for believing in me.” But the successful but intense journey in Paris took time to sync in and Simone’s sister Adria Biles had to chip in to handhold her sister in that.

Adria recently sat in an exclusive interview with Chris Osmond. There she revealed how Simone was surging with emotions after her 4-medal haul (three of which were gold) in the Paris Olympics, even a few days after the competition ended. The elder Biles did a FaceTime to Adria and poured out all the emotions.

Initially, Adria did not realize her sister’s emotions. But she found that Simone Biles was bawling and was overjoyed with her stupendous performance in Paris. “I wasn’t paying attention because like we always just like FaceTime and just like put the phone up and then just like do life and she was, I was like Hey girl, and I didn’t realize she was she was bawling, and I was like Hey girl, and she was like I’m done, and I was like yeah and she was like no I’m done, and I was like oh my God.” Adria got a hang of what was going on in Simone’s mind.

Simone had yet to fully believe what she had achieved.  So Adria went on to counsel her as she said, “Cry like you deserve every tear that is coming out of your eye.” Adria realized they were happy tears “but I think it takes her a moment to kind of, um, for things to kind of hit her well,” she added. Not only this year, Simone did almost the same during the Rio Olympics as well.

Adria recalled, “She did this after 2016 l think too like she came home and this is when she was still living at the house so like we were still living together at my parents house and um it had been like a week or two and I like walked into her room and we were watching videos of it and she just started, started bawling.” Seems like Simone could not fathom the fact that the years have passed, and she has established herself as the undisputed GOAT of female gymnastics. And she did not hide her feelings about that after her triumph in Paris.

Simone Biles told NBC News, “I think I was just so full of emotion and I finally released all of that. I was so proud, happy, bittersweet that the journey’s over. It’s so crazy. It happened too quick. My third Olympics!” In fact, apparently, despite Adria’s words to comfort her, Simone thinks it would still take her a long time to fully sink in. 

“I don’t think I will [sink in] until one day I decide to retire. But yesterday, once we got back to the village, I looked at Jordan [Chiles] and just started bawling my eyes out, And she was like, ‘I knew it was going happen — I just didn’t know when!’” Simone said on NBC’s “TODAY” show after the Olympics. With such overwhelming emotion and attachment for the sport, something that can unsettle terribly is the thought of stepping away from the sport, read retirement. But seems like she has no plans for that right at the moment.

“You know, you never say never. The next Olympics is on home turf. I’m just going to relax and see where life takes me,” Simone had told Hoda Kotb about the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. While it is the same emotional turmoil that crippled her during the Tokyo Olympics, it has some positive contributions as well.

Speak out, feel better: Simone Biles’ winning strategy

Simone’s hiatus with the twisties brought out the mental health advocate. Something that was taboo got widespread attention riding on Simone Biles speaking about it. In fact, during the Paris Olympics as well, she did not hesitate to open up about it. “I saw her [the therapist] about three or four times throughout this whole entire process, and it didn’t matter if it was before, all-around or after qualifications. I went back to the village and I got on a call with her and did my therapy session because that’s routine for me now,” Simone said.

She had to make that a part of her life as she got a hang of the crushing pressure of shouldering the expectations of an entire nation. And why not? Look at her performance at the 2013 World Championships and the 2016 Rio Olympics! In Simone’s words, she was carrying “the weight of the world” on her shoulders. She tried hard to carry that. But what makes her stand out is her ability to speak out when it is too heavy to carry.

“We also have to focus on ourselves, because at the end of the day, we’re human, too. We have to protect our mind and our body, rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do,” Simone had said back then, according to The Associated Press. Simone was fairly straightforward in her arguments as she said, “Put mental health first, because if you don’t, then you’re not going to enjoy your sport and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want to.” Such a display of courage did not go unnoticed as praises were natural to follow.

Simone Biles’ former coach thought she handled like a champ, slow but steady. Her husband Laurent Landi, a personal coach for Simone Biles thinks a major part of handling this is brushing aside those negative thoughts. “If you keep remembering what happened in Tokyo, it’s not good for you. So you want to take that away [from] your brain. It’s just a fluke,” he said. Dr. Leela Magavi, a Hopkins-trained psychiatrist who has frequently worked with student-athletes and professional athletes, also had all praise for Simone.

“It really does take courage and emotional strength,” Magavi had said to NBC back in 2021. Understandably, Simone’s family has been the mainstay of this. As she tries to sail through one more phase of emotional turmoil, we can only hope to see her handling it better than ever.