Simone Biles is set to make her return to gymnastics competition this summer and she'll do it all in a Chicago suburb.
Marking her first meet since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the four-time Olympic gold medalist will take part in the U.S. Classic in Hoffman Estates on Aug. 4-5.
The annual national championship event is slated to be held at the NOW Arena with ticket prices starting at $78.
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“It is exciting to think about the level of talent and historical legacy of the field that may compete at U.S. Classic,” USA Gymnastics Chief Programs Officer Stefanie Korepin said in a 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.”
Biles, 27, has still not revealed any plans for the 2024 Olympics, which are set to be held in Paris next summer. She said last summer that she was undecided on a comeback, but that she would be in Paris in some capacity, as an athlete or otherwise.
Biles has taken most of the last two years off following her eventful stay in Japan in the summer of 2021, where her decision to remove herself from multiple events to focus on her mental health shifted the focus from the games themselves to the overall wellness of the athletes.
She served as a cheerleader as her American teammates won the team silver then sat out the all-around, vault and floor exercise finals she had qualified for while dealing with what is known as “the twisties” — a gymnastics term for when an athlete loses their spatial awareness when airborne.
Biles returned for the balance beam final, where she won a bronze medal that tied Shannon Miller's record for most Olympic medals by an American female gymnast. She hinted at the Paris 2024 Olympics but only after taking a lengthy break.
The last two years have been a whirlwind of sorts. She headlined her post-Olympic tour in the fall of 2021 and married NFL player Jonathan Owens — now a defensive back for the Green Bay Packers — this spring.
Biles has also become one of the most vocal advocates for athletes finding space to protect their mental health after her stand in Japan put the issue front and center. While the conversation around the subject is constantly evolving, Biles' return to the sport she dominated for nearly a decade suggests an athlete who wants to go out on her own terms.
The U.S. Classic is one of the marquee events on USA Gymnastics' annual calendar and typically serves as a warm-up of sorts for the national championships, this year scheduled for late August in San Jose.
Biles used the Classic as her comeback meet in 2018 following a two-year hiatus after her record medals haul in Rio de Janeiro. It took her all of two hours to show she remained the gold standard in her sport, setting the stage for another spectacular run that included two more world all-around championships in 2018 and 2019 and three more national titles.
Things could be different this time around, in more ways than one.
Biles courted the spotlight during her run-up to Tokyo, becoming in many ways the face of the U.S. Olympic movement. She appears to be taking a more subdued approach with the Paris Games about a year away. She's kept her various social media channels almost entirely gymnastics-free, instead using them to highlight snippets of her personal life.
And for the first time since rising to stardom as a teenager in 2013, Biles won't have to shoulder the burden of being the standard bearer for the U.S. program.
Sunisa Lee, who won gold in the all-around final in Tokyo, will also be at the U.S. Classic after spending two years competing at Auburn, where she helped spearhead a massive uptick in interest in collegiate gymnastics.
Lee missed the second half of her sophomore year with the Tigers while grappling with health issues but is eyeing a return to the Olympics not necessarily to defend her all-around title but to take another shot at gold on uneven bars, her signature event.
Lee placed third on bars in Tokyo, due in no small part to the attention she received in the immediate aftermath of becoming the fifth straight American woman to win the Olympic title.
Biles became adept at navigating the various demands of her time as her stardom rose. She appears to be plotting a more subdued path as she tries to make a third Olympic team, a rarity for an American female gymnast. Dominique Dawes (1992, 1996 and 2000) is the only U.S. woman in the last 50 years to be selected for three Olympic teams.
Then again, Biles is also competing at a time when it is becoming more commonplace for elite gymnasts to compete well into their 20s and beyond.
The easing of name, image and likeness rules at the NCAA level have allowed Lee and several other top Americans like Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Leanne Wong to not be forced to choose between competing collegiately and cashing in on their Olympic success.
Carey, the 2020 Olympic champion on floor exercise and the 2022 world champion on vault, has spent the last two years at Oregon State. Chiles, who won a team silver in Tokyo and added three medals — including silvers on floor and vault — at the world championships last fall, has thrived at UCLA. Wong, the 2021 world championship silver medalist, has helped Florida reach the national finals each of the last two years.
They will all arrive in Chicago sharpened by having competed regularly since Tokyo.
Biles, by contrast, is in a different place. She's maintained since she left Japan that she wouldn't rush into any decision attempting to make a run at Paris, stressing all along that she would only return to the sport she dominated for so long because she wants to and not out of a sense of duty.
Registering for the Classic is but one step in several that she'll need to make over the next 14 months. The key for her will be to find the right balance that she mastered while experiencing the kind of crossover success reserved for select few Olympic champions.
See the full lineup below:
Senior Women Simone Biles Skye Blakely Charlotte Booth Jade Carey Dulcy Caylor Jordan Chiles Chloe Cho Melanie de Jesus dos Santos Kayla DiCello Leigh Anne Elliott Madray Johnson Katelyn Jong Levi Jung-Ruivivar Avery King Sunisa Lee Myli Lew Kaliya Lincoln Nola Matthews Zoe Miller Avery Moll Ella Murphy Brooke Pierson Michelle Pineda Joscelyn Roberson Paloma Spiridonova Ashlee Sullivan Tiana Sumanasekera Brynn Torry Leanne Wong Kelise Woolford Lexi Zeiss Alicia Zhou Junior Women Isabella Anzola Sage Bradford Sophia Buechler Charleigh Bullock Payton Chandler Ally Damelio Tatum Drusch Reese Esponda Catherine Guy Jayla Hang Cambry Haynes Jazmyn Jimenez Claire Pease Gabriella Pierson Hezly Rivera Simone Rose Izzy Stassi Tyler Turner Carly Weinberg Trinity Wood Senior Men Saran Alexander Javier Alfonso Ashton Anaya Drake Andrews Michael Artlip Arthur Ashton Danny Beaupre Fuzzy Benas Jeremy Bischoff Cameron Bock Ethan Boder Crew Bold Brandon Briones Hunter Brunett Syam Buradagunta Matt Burgoyne Taylor Burkhart J.R. Chou Kelton Christiansen Asher Cohen Matt Cormier Tate Costa Clayton Cunningham Aidan Cuy Brando Dang Alex Diab Isaiah Drake Carson Eshleman Luke Esparo Will Fleck Mike Fletcher Colin Flores Tyler Flores Nicky Franz Jack Freeman Brigham Frentheway Kristian Grahovski David Grossman Ian Gunther Tas Hajdu Dallas Hale Jacob Harmon Jackson Harrison Will Hauke Kazuki Hayashi Christopher Hiser Asher Hong Patrick Hoopes Evan Hymanson Alex Istock Johnny Jacobson Michael Jaroh Ayden Johnston Paul Juda Leo Koike Nikolai Kolesnikov Jordan Kovach Charlie Larson Andrew Layman Sam Lee Toby Liang Troy Lipis Riley Loos Youssef Mahgoub Evan Manivong Zachary Marckx Christian Marsh Connor McCool Evan McGrath Ronan McQuillan Izaiha Mlay Yul Moldauer Stephen Nedoroscik Kameron Nelson Brandon Nguyen Troy Nuesca Zachary Nunez Maxwell Odden Maddox Pabellon Jesse-Lee Pakele Caden Peacock William Pearce Adriel Perales-Valencia Vahe Petrosyan Curran Phillips Samuel Phillips Micah Puckett Dominic Ramalho Kellen Ryan Garrett Schooley Amari Sewell Mac Seyler Tyler Shimizu Daniel Simmons Landon Simpson Caden Spencer Brendan Strom Blake Sun Ryan Swatscheno Parker Thackston Ethan Thomas Tyler Tran Matthew Underhill Colin Van Wicklen Ryan Vanichtheeranont Kyle Walchuk Cailen Walker Colt Walker Nate Warren Evan Wenstad Donnell Whittenburg Shane Wiskus Tucker Yasunaga Nick Yeatts Ignacio Yockers Khoi Young Will Young Gavin Zborowski Junior Men Emilio Bracken Serra Tyler Burgess Nick Deng Joseph Hale Jesse Hanny Conor Heary Kyler Hinson Xander Hong Will Horenziak Gage Kalley Maddox Kinderdine David Moroney Wade Nelson Tristen Nye Eli Osuna Divier Ramos Wyatt Reynolds Dean-o Roberts Misha Romo Lukas Ross Michael Scheiner Oleksandr Shybitov Grey Westmore |