It’s no secret that Simone Biles was fighting through a calf injury at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The injury initially occurred during her 30-second warmup before her floor performance in the qualifying round Sunday, but it didn’t seem to cause her issues during competition despite being seen limping on the sidelines.
After competition concluded, Biles joined NBC’s Mike Tirico in primetime for an exclusive interview where she was seen wearing a boot.
“We are thrilled. In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Simone Biles, her medals and something on your foot with us. Congratulations,” Tirico said as he opened the interview, pointing out the elephant in the room. “First off, how’s the calf?”
Biles made sure to let everyone watching know her injury isn’t serious and they are just being careful so she doesn’t have to miss her Gold Over America tour that starts Sept. 17.
“Calf is good. Just precautionary. Making sure –because we still have tour after this — to heal up and all of that stuff. So just a little bit of soreness,” Biles told Tirico.
Biles was able to compete in every event she qualified for without an issue, despite what looked to be a serious injury. On Sunday, Biles was seen telling coaches, “It’s really bad,” before she left the area with staff. She returned to her team a short time later, still limping as medical staff taped her leg.
“It hurts to push off,” she was heard saying.
Coach Cecile Landi said the issue popped up a couple of weeks ago and described it as minor.
Landi and her husband Laurent — who have long served as Biles’ personal coach in Texas — encouraged her to take a breath and keep going as Laurent applied heavy doses of tape to her leg.
“We told her to remind herself, like she’s capable of doing it,” Landi said. “She knows she’s got it and it’s OK and then she did. So, really excited for her.”
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Biles still stepped out to compete in floor, following a heartbreaking error from teammate Jade Carey, who suffered a disappointing fall.
She nailed her routine, completing her signature move “The Biles II,” but was again seen limping away. She still could be seen warming up vault after the floor event before rolling out her calf on the sidelines.
Biles was determined not to let the 2024 Olympics be a repeat of Tokyo as she crawled on the floor in pain to approach the vault in women’s gymnastics’ first competition Sunday.
Aiming to avoid putting pressure on her leg due to a calf injury, Biles stood tall and proceeded to nail her exceptional vault routine. After her performance, she hopped down the steps on one foot.