Simone Biles Explains Why She Thought America Hated Her
The gymnast is about to embark on her third Olympic Games this summer in Paris.
Simone Biles has been and will always be the GOAT of women’s gymnastics. However, even the world’s favorite athlete has hard days. Everyone can recall the heartbreaking moment in 2021 when the 27-year-old gymnast had to pull out of the team final of the Tokyo Olympics due to a case of the “twisties”: when a gymnast loses spatial awareness and is unable to figure out when and where to land on their feet.
“America hates me. The world is going to hate me,” Simon recalled thinking during her “Call Her Daddy” podcast interview on Wednesday, April 17. “I can only see what they’re saying on Twitter right now. … If I could’ve gotten on a plane and flown home, I would’ve done it. I thought I was going to be banned from America ‘cause that’s what they tell you: ‘Don’t come back if not gold. Gold or bust. Don’t come back.'”
While remembering the moment when she struggled to land properly during a vault, the Olympian noted, “So, I open landed like that and as soon as I land, I kind of grin and I’m like, ‘S**t.'”
At the time, Simone didn’t suffer a major injury. However, the frightening ordeal caused her to pull out of the team final, giving Suni Lee a chance to take home the gold. Simone competed in the beam final, where she placed third overall and received a bronze medal.
Elsewhere in her latest “Call Her Daddy” interview, Simone remembered another situation that she and her husband, Jonathan Owens, had to navigate last year. In December 2023, Jonathan, 28, appeared on “The Pivot” podcast, where he said that men are “the catch” in relationships. The comment sparked extensive backlash on social media, which Simone said “hurt” her to see.
“I thought it was hilarious at first, and then [people] hurt my feelings,” she admitted. “One night, I broke down, and I’m like, ‘Why are you guys talking about my husband like this? Like, you don’t know him. You don’t know who he is. And if anybody’s met him, they know he’s the sweetest guy and will do anything for anybody.’”
The athlete continued, “I didn’t think anything of that interview, and he never said I wasn’t a catch. He said he was a catch. Because he is. I’ve never met a man like him. A lot of people that meet him are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want a man like that, like Jonathan.’”