Simone Biles Makes Big Admission About Twisties Flashbacks After Winning Gold

Given what happened to her during the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, no one would have blamed Simone Biles for battling nerves ahead of the women’s artistic gymnastics team all-around final on Tuesday.

But Biles didn’t let that happen. She met with her therapist in the morning hours before the competition, putting her in a good headspace to block out all distractions and deliver a spirited performance on vault, locking up a score of 14.9 and helping the U.S. win its first gold medal in the artistic team all-around final since 2016.

Biles admitted after the event that while her twisties scare creeped into her mind for the briefest of moments as she made her way down the runway toward the vault, she was determined not to let history repeat itself.

“I was like ‘Yes, please no flashbacks or anything,’” Biles told the Associated Press . “But I did feel a lot of relief. And as soon as I landed I was like ’Oh yeah, we’re going to do this.’”

Biles’ teammate Jordan Chiles even admitted it was a serendipitous moment of catharsis for everyone when the 27-year-old now five-time gold-medalist landed her vault.

“Hallelujah; no flashbacks, no nothing,” Chiles said. “Because I was like, ‘Oh, okay, I need her to just do her normal.’ So me jumping up and down was just relief.”

Biles played a key role in leading USA to gold. Her vault set the tone, and she and Suni Lee had standout performances on balance beam while Chiles pulled off a memorable performance in the floor exercise.

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