Simone Biles Returns to Training

“I couldn’t walk after the first two or three days, but after we got over that hump, it was good,” she said on Tuesday before being honored at the 34th annual March of Dimes Sports Luncheon in Manhattan.

Biles returned to work in Texas on Nov. 2 under a new coach, Laurent Landi, having been out of the sport on a self-imposed break since winning the individual all-around and team golds in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016.

“It’s been pretty crazy, but it’s been good,” she said. “I’m more excited than I thought I would be and I already have all of my skills from the Olympics and I haven’t been doing gym for a year-and-a-half, so that’s kind of exciting.”

Biles hopes to return to competition next summer at the U.S. Classic. By the next Olympics, in 2020, she will be 23, ancient by elite women’s gymnastics standards.

“That’s the ultimate long-term goal,” she said of the Tokyo Games, “but I try not to think too far ahead of myself.”