Simone Biles entered the 2024 Paris Olympics as one of the most high-profile athletes in the entire competition. In fact, one might even go as far as saying that the 27-year-old had the most eyes watching her throughout the Games.
With so much demand for anything and everything Simone Biles, it comes as no surprise that the media coverage on her was nothing short of overwhelming. In fact, at a certain point in the competition, it seemed like the cameras were already getting in her way.
In a recent exclusive interview with former Olympian Aly Raisman, Biles talked about the pivotal moment during her gold medal-winning performance in the individual all-around final.
After opening the event with a tremendous performance on the vault, Biles surrendered the lead to Brazilian gymnast Rebecca Andrade after Simone committed a mistake in the uneven bars. At that point, Biles had to collect herself ahead of two more rotations.
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In between routines, as Biles was doing everything she could to recenter her focus, the cameras were, quite understandably, all over her. When asked if the intrusion affected her at the moment, Simone admitted that it actually did not.
“You know what’s actually crazy is everybody’s like, ‘There were so many cameras around you, so many cameras,'” she told Raisman. “I think I was so tuned in on refocusing with myself that I didn’t even notice them. So I was just taking a minute and I was like, ‘Okay, going through my cues, what helps me? Where do I feel most at peace? How do I get back to that spot?’
“So I didn’t even notice all the cameras and maybe that’s just because when we’re competing, we’re so used to all the cameras anyways. So yeah, it was like nobody existed in that time but me, myself and I.”
This speaks volumes of Biles’ elite ability to block everything off. As she said, she’s already gotten used to it at this point, but at the same time, there’s no denying that it takes a ton of mental strength to be able to tune out at such a pivotal moment.
True enough, Biles went on to dominate in the beam and the floor routines to finish with a final score of 59.131. That was more than enough to win the gold medal in the all-around final ahead of Andrade (57.932) and USA teammate Suni Lee (56.465), who finished second and third, respectively.
Truly, there is no one like Simone Biles.