Star gymnast Biles poised for August return to competition

US gymnast Simone Biles with her bronze medal for the artistic gymnastics women's balance beam apparatus at the 2020 Summer Olympics. USA Gymnastics announced Wednesday that Bileswill be part of the field at the US Classic outside of Chicago on Aug. 5. (File/AP)
Short Url
Updated 29 June 2023
Follow

Star gymnast Biles poised for August return to competition

  • USA Gymnastics announced Wednesday that the four-time Olympic gold medalist was entered in the August 4-5 event
  • Biles electrified the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where she won gold in team, all-around, vault and floor exercise as well as a balance beam bronze

LOS ANGELES: Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles is poised to compete in August for the first time since mental health and safety concerns cut short her Tokyo Olympics campaign, entering the August US Classic near Chicago.

USA Gymnastics announced Wednesday that the four-time Olympic gold medalist was entered in the August 4-5 event, which would be her first since she withdrew from most of her events in Tokyo in 2021.

“Registration...does not guarantee participation,” USA Gymnastics warned in the statement.

“Every athlete is at a different place in their season and career, and we will support each of them, wherever they are in their journey,” said USA Gymnastics chief programs officer Stefanie Korepin.

Biles electrified the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where she won gold in team, all-around, vault and floor exercise as well as a balance beam bronze.

She entered the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as a heavy favorite to win as many as five gold medals.

She hadn’t lost an all-around competition since 2013 and her build up to the Games included mastery of a daring Yurchenko double pike vault that had never before been seen in women’s competition.

However, she would depart Tokyo with only team silver and a balance beam bronze, however, her campaign cut short after she experienced the “twisties” — the phenomenon in which gymnasts lose the ability to orientate themselves in mid-air.

Biles withdrew from the team event after performing on one apparatus and later withdrew from the all-around competition and the finals for vault, uneven bars and floor exercise, saying at the time she needed to prioritze her mental health.

Biles said in a video released after Tokyo that her problems had been building for a while.

“I wouldn’t even say it started in Tokyo. I feel like it was probably a little bit deeper-rooted than that,” Biles said.

“I think it was just the stress factor. It kind of built up over time, and my body and my mind just said no. But even I didn’t know I was going through it until it just happened.”

“It just sucks,” Biles said in the video. “But I know that I helped a lot of people and athletes speak out about mental health and saying no. Because I knew I couldn’t go out there and compete. I knew I was going to get hurt.”

After the Tokyo Games, in September 2021, Biles testified before a US Senate committee looking into FBI failures in investigating sexual abuse by former gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.

Nassar received a life sentence after pleading guilty in late 2017 and early 2018 to sexually assaulting women and girls while working as a sports medicine doctor at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.

In recent months Biles’s popular social media feeds have featured not gymnastics but news of her personal life, including her marriage to NFL Safety Jonathan Owens, then with the Houston Texans, in April.

When Owens signed with the Green Bay Packers in May she endeared herself to Green Bay fans by soliciting suggestions on what to see and do in the couple’s new town.

Biles has won 25 world championships medals, 19 of them gold, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden in 2022.

Although she hasn’t outlined her plans, the US Classic is roughly a year out from the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Biles has used the event to launch a comeback before.

She returned to competition at the meeting in 2018, having taken a break after her stunning Rio Games campaign.


Alcaraz and Sabalenka set sights on Australian Open fourth round

Updated 23 January 2026
Follow

Alcaraz and Sabalenka set sights on Australian Open fourth round

  • Spanish world number one Alcaraz came through a tough three-set arm-wrestle in round two
  • Top seed Sabalenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, faces Russia-born Austrian Anastasia Potapova

MELBOURNE: Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka return to the Australian Open battlefield on Friday with fourth round berths at stake, joined in the fight by third seeds Coco Gauff and Alexander Zverev.
Spanish world number one Alcaraz came through a tough three-set arm-wrestle in round two and faces another tricky encounter against French 32nd seed Corentin Moutet.
The 22-year-old has again been handed an afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena, once more following Sabalenka on to Melbourne Park’s center court.
The Belarusian top seed Sabalenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, faces Russia-born Austrian Anastasia Potapova to kick-off day six where temperatures are forecast to soar.
Alcaraz, who is bidding for a career Grand Slam of all four majors, said his testing 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2 victory over Yannick Hanfmann in round two served him well.
“I’m still getting used to the conditions, getting used to playing better,” said the six-time Grand Slam winner.
“Just happy that I’m just improving every day after every match. So hopefully being better in the next round.”
Alcaraz has never gone past the quarter-finals in his four trips to Australia.
Should he beat Moutet, he will meet either American 19th seed Tommy Paul or Spanish 14th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to make the last eight once again.
Sabalenka, as the overwhelming favorite, was upset by Madison Keys in last year’s final but insists revenge is not her motivation.
“I look at each match as a new match, new opportunity. I have also been working really hard,” she said.
“For me, it doesn’t matter what was in the past. For me, it’s the new match.”
Like Sabalenka, Gauff has been impressive so far, saying she was “near perfect” in making the third round.
She faces fellow American Hailey Baptiste, ranked 70, on Margaret Court Arena.
World number three Gauff takes to the court after Russia’s three-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev, who lines up against Hungary’s Fabian Marozan.
Last year’s beaten finalist Zverev has dropped a set in both his opening two matches and will have a tough encounter in an evening clash on John Cain Arena against British 26th seed Cameron Norrie.
Women’s seventh seed Jasmine Paolini and men’s 10th seed Alexander Bublik are also in action.
Home hope and sixth seed Alex De Minaur has again been awarded the night match on center court, this time against dangerous American Frances Tiafoe.
Eighth seed Mirra Andreeva rounds out the day’s action on Rod Laver Arena in a clash with Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse.