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Athlon Sports
Simone Biles' Sister Reveals Big-Time Wish About Her Gymnastics Future
By Joe Vitale,
1 day ago
United States gymnast Simone Biles recently completed her third Olympic Games at the 2024 Paris Olympics. With 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals to her name, Biles holds the title of the most decorated gymnast of all time.
Biles has been practicing the sport since she was six years old after a daycare field trip to a gymnastics center got her hooked. Now 27, it would make sense that the final curtain will soon be closing on Biles' historic career. Given the intense physical demand the sport requires, the average retirement age for elite female artistic gymnasts usually falls within the 21-25 range.
In fact, the average age of the 2024 U.S. women's gymnastics team in Paris was 22.7 years old. That's the fourth-oldest squad the U.S. has ever sent to the Olympics and the oldest since the 1952 games held in Helsinki, Finland. As for Biles, she became the oldest female gymnast on a United States roster since the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, which featured 35-year-old Marie Hoesly.
Americans and international fans of the sport have been preparing for Biles' approaching retirement for some time now. While they want Biles to compete as long as humanly possible, her younger sister, Adria, has a different hope for Biles' gymnastics future.
"Every beam routine she did, I was like 'oh, this is about to be the last one," Adria told Chris Osmond on the "Chris Osmond Show."
Biles is also married and settling down with her husband Jonathan Owens, 29, who plays defensive back for the Chicago Bears and is about to embark on the 2024 NFL season, which will be his seventh in the league.
The couple got engaged in February 2022 and tied the knot in April 2023. Though Owens was with the Bears at their mandatory training camp over the summer in Lake Forest, Illinois, Chicago granted him time off to support his wife in Paris, where she won three gold medals and one silver.
Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens kisses his wife, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.
Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
When asked if Adria Biles thinks her sister is ready to 'throw in the towel,' she said she 'hopes so,' citing Simone's relationship and love for travel.
"Listen, I hope so," Adria Biles replied. "Because I know how much she loves her husband and loves watching him play. I hope she can just enjoy that and take a break that she deserves. And she loves to travel so I hope that she can do that."
Next up for Biles will be the Gold Over America Tour (GOAT), which she will headline and be joined by other gymnasts. The Gold Over America Tour will provide fans with a "pop concert-style" feel and will cover 30 cities between Sept. 16–Nov. 3.
However, the next Summer Olympics will be held in the United States, possibly incentivizing the American hero to stick it out another four years and compete in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
She'd be 31 years old, which would undoubtedly be a massive story in itself. It would make her the second-oldest female gymnast to ever represent the United States at the Olympics.
"And if she's not done, then I guess I'll be back in the stands," Adria Biles said. "But if she is done, then job well done."
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