Don’t expect to see Simone Biles at the 2028 Olympic Games. In a new interview with Sports Illustrated, as she was named Sportsperson of the Year, Biles said it would be “greedy” to return to the Los Angeles Olympics for another run.
“Because I’ve accomplished so much, there’s almost nothing left to do, rather than to just be snobby and to try again, and for what?” she told the publication. “I’m at a point in my career where I’m humble enough to know when to be done.”
“If you go back, you’ll be greedy. Those are the consequences,” Biles added. “But that’s also your decision to decide. What sacrifices would be made if I go back now? When you’re younger, it’s like, prom, college. Now it’s like, starting a family, being away from my husband. What’s really worth it?”
Biles spoke on the Tonight Show about weighing her options back in September, shortly after returning from the Paris Games. “Everybody wants to know this question. I’m like, ‘Can’t I live?’” Biles told Fallon, laughing. “First, I’m getting older. 27 is a little bit old for a gymnast.”
Biles is the first woman in U.S. Olympic gymnastics to win two all-around gold medals since Vera Čáslavská in 1968. The win added to her collection as the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast in history with nine medals. And at 27 years old, she is also the oldest woman to secure the all-around title since 1952.
Speaking to SI, the gymnast said she had yet to digest her true impact on the sport. “I can see it, and I hear it from people, and I see a glimpse of it, but the full magnitude I don’t think I’ve realized just yet,” Biles said. “I don’t think I’ll realize ’til maybe I retire and look back in a couple years like, Damn, she was good. Because I can see that, but I do it every day. So for me, it’s normal.”