“Stay home and stay focused,” Simone Biles, 23, captioned the short clip she posted to Instagram on Apr. 10. In the video, Simone shows off all her muscles and one of the exercises she does to maintain them. On a piece of equipment that mimics the parallel bars, she starts in a squatting position before swinging her legs out in front. Simone then pulls her legs back and does a handstand, like it was natural. She doesn’t even seem stressed, judging by the nonchalant look on her face. She almost seems a bit bored, like she’d rather be on a plane headed to Japan.
While such an athletic feat is commonplace for a gold medalist, her fans were incredibly impressed to see just a glimpse of her workout. “I’ll have to try this today! Go Simone!!!!!” wrote Katie Couric. Jordin Sparks wrote, “Wow. Just…wow.” Model Lexi Woo called Simone her “QUEEN,” and others chimed in. “Just a casual kitchen workout. Holy crap!” “the f*cking core strength.” “Wonder woman is definitely a girl named Simone.” “Thank you, Simone, for the example you set of how to stay focused and strong – no matter what.”
Simone will have to maintain that “strength and focus” for another year. In the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the International Olympic Committee decided to postpone the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo to 2021. While Simone has said she has no doubt that she can maintain her physical form, it’s the mental strain that’s the real challenge. “It’s just the mental strain of going in the gym day-in day-out, day after day putting in that work going toward that goal,” she told the Washington Post said. “I feel right now we’re kind of emptying our gas tank. I was so ready to have that experience in three months; now it’s pushed back another 15 months. That takes a toll on your mind.”
The Tokyo Games’ postponement means she needs to continue to put aside her mistrust of the USA Gymnastics organization after if failed to protect her and the hundreds of other victims of serial predator Larry Nassar. “Yes, I really feel like that plays a huge factor: dealing with USAG another year,” she told the Washington Post. “It’s almost as if I feel like, since I have another year, something else is going to go wrong. Or [USAG] is going to do something wrong again. Maybe it’s the year for them to get it right.”
Simone, when speaking for the first time after the Olympics were postponed, said she “cried” after hearing the news. “But ultimately it was the right decision. We need to make sure that everyone in the U.S. and around the world is healthy and safe.”