Gymnastics Star Simone Biles Returning to Competition in August in First Meet since 2020 Olympics

US gymnast Simone Biles poses with her bronze medal for the artistic gymnastics women's balance beam apparatus at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP)
US gymnast Simone Biles poses with her bronze medal for the artistic gymnastics women's balance beam apparatus at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP)
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Gymnastics Star Simone Biles Returning to Competition in August in First Meet since 2020 Olympics

US gymnast Simone Biles poses with her bronze medal for the artistic gymnastics women's balance beam apparatus at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP)
US gymnast Simone Biles poses with her bronze medal for the artistic gymnastics women's balance beam apparatus at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP)

Simone Biles is back.

The gymnastics superstar plans to return to competition at the US Classic outside Chicago in early August, her first event since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

USA Gymnastics announced Wednesday that Biles, a seven-time Olympic medalist and the 2016 Olympic champion, is part of the women's field for the single-day event set for Aug. 5 at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates.

Biles has taken most of the last two years off following her eventful stay in Japan, 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.

The 26-year-old 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 US 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 US 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 US program.

Sunisa Lee, who won gold in the all-around final in Tokyo, will also be at the US 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 to defend her all-around title but to take another shot at gold on uneven bars, her signature event. She placed third on bars in Tokyo, due in no small part to the attention she received after becoming the fifth straight American woman to win the Olympic title.



Liverpool Leads the Way in Premier League, Gives Slot Club Record

05 October 2024, United Kingdom, London: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah celebrate with coach Arne Slot after the final whistle of the English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire/dpa
05 October 2024, United Kingdom, London: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah celebrate with coach Arne Slot after the final whistle of the English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire/dpa
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Liverpool Leads the Way in Premier League, Gives Slot Club Record

05 October 2024, United Kingdom, London: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah celebrate with coach Arne Slot after the final whistle of the English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire/dpa
05 October 2024, United Kingdom, London: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah celebrate with coach Arne Slot after the final whistle of the English Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire/dpa

Arne Slot earned a Liverpool record of nine wins from his first 10 games in charge after the club stayed on the top of the English Premier League on Saturday.
Diogo Jota’s ninth-minute goal at Selhurst Park held up to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and ensure Slot would be looking down on rival managers Pep Guardiola of Manchester City and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal heading into the international break.
Four-time defending champion City is second after beating Fulham 3-2 and third-placed Arsenal won against Southampton 3-1. Both trail Liverpool by a point.
Slot is making light work of filling the void left by Anfield great Jurgen Klopp, with no other manager in the club’s history winning so many of his opening games in all competitions, The Associated Press reported.
“It definitely is (very satisfying). And it’s actually also quite special if you know how many great managers Liverpool had,” Slot said. “But I also said last week I think that I hope they don’t only remember me in one, two, three, four, five years only for this. We are hoping to do more special things than this.”
Liverpool’s only defeat under the Dutchman was a shock 1-0 home loss against Nottingham Forest. Otherwise, it has been a perfect start for a man who had the ominous task of replacing Klopp, who won a full set of major honors including the Premier League and Champions League.
Slot looks likely to be the main challenger to City and Arsenal, who have been first and second respectively in the last two seasons.
Both of those teams survived scares to come from behind to win at home.
Alisson injury It wasn’t all good news for Liverpool after goalkeeper Alisson sustained a suspected hamstring injury and was substituted in the second half at Palace.
The Brazil international, who has only recently returned from a muscle injury, was holding the back of his right leg after limping off Selhurst Park and is likely to miss Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru.
Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister also went off with a groin issue that makes him a doubt for his country’s qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia.
Home rule City extended its unbeaten home run to 50 games in all competitions with victory against Fulham.
The sequence dates to November 2022 when Brentford won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium through Ivan Toney’s last-minute strike. City was knocked out of the Champions League quarterfinals by Real Madrid last season after losing a penalty shootout, but the game ended 1-1 after extra time and does not officially count as a defeat.
It took John Stones’ stoppage-time goal to preserve the record in a 2-2 draw against Arsenal last month and on Saturday two goals from Mateo Kovacic saw City fight back after Andreas Pereira fired Fulham into a 26th-minute lead.
Kovacic’s deflected strike leveled the score in the 32nd and he made it 2-1 in the 47th.
Jeremy Doku extended City’s lead in the 82nd before substitute Rodrigo Muniz set up a tense finish with Fulham’s second in the 88th.
Had Adama Traore been more clinical with chances in each half, City’s proud record might have been broken.
City is unbeaten in its last 30 games in the league.
Arsenal’s run Arsenal’s 400th home win in the Premier League era was secured only after being given a fright by second-from-bottom Southampton, which took the lead at Emirates Stadium through Cameron Archer 10 minutes into the second half.
Bukayo Saka set up goals for Kai Havertz in the 58th and Gabriel Martinelli in the 68th before Southampton twice hit the frame of the goal in search of an equalizer.
Saka then put the game beyond doubt with his third goal of the season in the 88th.
Flying starters After becoming the first team in Premier League history to score in the opening minute in three consecutive games, Brentford is slowing down.
The west London club’s fans had to wait until the second minute to cheer its first goal against Wolves on Saturday when Nathan Collins found the back of the net on the way to a wild 5-3 win.
Matheus Cunha equalized for Wolves two minutes later and Bryan Mbeumo restored Brentford’s advantage from the penalty spot in the 20th.
It was all square again when Jorgen Strand Larsen leveled in the 26th, then Christian Norgaard put the home team in front for the third time in the 28th.
Ethan Pinnock made it 4-2 in first half stoppage time.
A frantic finish saw Fabio Carvalho score a fifth for Brentford in the 90th and Rayan Ait-Nouri grab a consolation for last-placed Wolves three minutes later.
Unhappy return Newcastle's Anthony Gordon failed to score from the penalty spot on his return to former club Everton as Newcastle drew 0-0 at Goodison Park.
Gordon, who began his career at Everton before joining Newcastle last year, saw his spot kick saved by Jordan Pickford in the 35th to the delight of the home fans.
The point maintained Everton’s recent upturn in form and extended its unbeaten run to four games in all competitions after losing its first four in the league.
First win Leicester won for the first time since being promoted back to the top flight by beating Bournemouth 1-0.
Facundo Buonanotte struck the winner in the 16th at King Power Stadium.
Also, West Ham beat Ipswich 4-1 at London Stadium.