Simone Biles Says She Had ‘No Anxiety’ While Competing at 2016 Rio Olympics: It Was ‘A Breeze’

Simone Biles reflected on her first Olympic experience , sharing that she felt more carefree during the games in Brazil compared to Tokyo and Paris.

"My first Olympics was such a breeze in 2016 Rio,” Simone, 27, explained during her Netflix documentary, Simone Biles Rising Part II, which premiered on Friday, October 25. “I had no anxiety. Purely there for like, to have fun, make memories, let’s see what happens."

Since competing in the 2016 Rio Games, Simone returned to the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, bringing her medal count to 11. This achievement makes her the most decorated Olympian of all time, across both men’s and women’s events.

"I set very high expectations for my very first Olympics,” she admitted to the cameras. “Walking away with five medals, four of them gold, which I just now realized the other day how like rare that is. To see how far the journey has come from 2016 Rio, that’s just wild. But it is really exciting."

In her second Olympics in Tokyo, Simone withdrew from four major events due to experiencing the "twisties." Despite this, she earned a silver medal in the team event and a bronze on the balance beam. “We did the best we could with the circumstances we were given,” she explained of the experience.

Simone saw the 2024 games in Paris as an exciting opportunity, admitting she was in a “significantly better” space than she was in Tokyo.

“I'm excited and I'm in a good headspace, so I don't have those doubts anymore,” she continued. "Making my third Olympic team, I think the hard part is now because the goal is different. The goal is to win the Olympics. I would like team gold and all-around gold."

And she did just that, delivering an outstanding performance and securing four medals: three gold and one silver. However, it didn’t come without its challenges, as Simone injured her calf during the floor exercise warm up , telling her coach that the muscle “pulled, like, all the way.”

Despite limping on the sidelines and getting her calf heavily taped for the competition, the Ohio native executed an impressive routine and went on to win the silver medal in the floor exercise final. She also took home gold in the team competition, the individual all-around and vault during the 2024 Paris games.

“After the competition, I asked, ‘How did you do it in so much pain?’” former Team U.S.A. gymnast Aly Raisman revealed during the documentary. “And she said, ‘I couldn’t have people tell me I was a quitter again.’”

As footage of her warmup fall played in the background, Simone admitted, “I feel like elite athletes are pretty tough, so we’re just, through pain or pleasure, we’re ready for whatever. So mainly, what you’re seeing here, I was just trying to over-rotate for good measure, and I did just that, and almost knocked [my coach] Laurent out. But it was good.”

After the 2024 Paris Games, Simone wore a walking boot for “precautionary” reasons as she prepared to participate in the “Gold Over America Tour,” which visited 30 arenas across the U.S. after the Olympics.

“Calf is good. It’s just precautionary, making sure, because we still have tour after this to heal up and all of that stuff,” she told NBC on August 6. “So, just a little bit of soreness.”