Simone Biles has said she was scared to return to the United States after pulling out of a gymnastics final at the Tokyo Olympics while grappling with the “twisties.”
The 27-year-old gymnastics legend — the most decorated athlete the sport has ever seen, with 37 world and Olympic gold medals — has spoken out about the huge pressure she felt from at home and abroad when she withdrew from the team final at the Games in the summer of 2021.
“America hates me. The world is going to hate me. I can only see what they’re saying on Twitter right now,” she recalled feeling in an interview with the Call Her Daddy podcast, which was provided exclusively to “TODAY.” The full podcast is due to be published on Wednesday.
Biles stunned millions watching around the world by failing to execute her vault routine and landing awkwardly. She pulled out of the team final and the individual all-round final, sparking a conversation about mental health and the pressures of elite sports.
Biles explained at the time that the “twisties” is when a gymnast loses spatial awareness mid-air and can’t judge when and where to land.
“So, I open landed like that and as soon as I land, I kind of grin and I’m like, ‘S—,'” she said in the preview clip.
Biles managed to compete in the beam final, taking home the bronze medal — an achievement she rated as her most meaningful in a glittering Olympic career.
“If I could’ve gotten on a plane and flown home, I would’ve done it. I thought I was going to be banned from America ‘cause that’s what they tell you: ‘Don’t come back if not gold. Gold or bust. Don’t come back,'” Biles said on the podcast.
It remains unclear if Biles will compete in the Paris Olympics, which kicks off in the French capital in 100 days’ time.
But Biles has strongly hinted that is her goal.
She told “TODAY” last year: “I would say that’s the path I would love to go, so I wouldn’t mind if you put it in the ‘yay’ section.”
Biles ended a two-year break from elite competition in 2023, coming back to win an eighth individual title in the U.S. before winning a sixth world all-round title a few weeks later.
She is due to compete at the U.S. Classic in Hartford, Connecticut in May.
The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics is on July 26.
