After a return to gymnastics competition that included winning historic U.S. and world all-around titles in 2023, American gymnastics superstar Simone Biles has won the Laureus World Comeback of the Year, the organisation announced Monday (22 April) at a ceremony in Madrid.
The award is Biles’ fourth Laureus World Sport Award after previously winning Sportswoman of the Year three times (2017, 2019, 2020).
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“I am so honoured. It is unbelievable every time I’m nominated for an award, so I can’t thank you guys enough for recognizing the work that I do,” Biles said in a pre-recorded acceptance video. It’s been a dream come true since I was a little girl to be receiving awards like this one day, so thank you for making my dreams come true. I also want to say congratulations to all the other nominees.”
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Biles made global headlines after withdrawing from several finals to priortise her mental health as she dealt with what gymnastics call ‘the twisties,’ where the body and mind fall out of sync. She returned to competition, claiming the balance beam bronze medal, but also having started a worldwide conversation about mental health.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson praised Biles for her example.
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“It’s not new that this is a very difficult position to be in, to be an athlete competing in front of millions of people with all of the expectation, it’s not new. It’s always been very difficult for athletes. But it has been very refreshing to see that now fans can accept that this is very difficult, and some times of athlete and needs to take time off,” said Johnson. “I thought Simone Biles back in 2021 during the Olympics was just an amazing moment for sport, but also for people outside [of sport]. You saw people outside of sport, as well, start to realise that this is important. Mental health is important, and so having that conversation, I think, has been fantastic, and another example of where sport can be in areas of society that are really important for people.”
After her second Olympic appearance, Biles stepped away from the sport, unsure of her future.
“I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to compete again because there were multiple times this year where I was in the gym and I was like, ‘I’m actually terrified of this full-in, like I’m not doing it again, never going to do it,'” Biles told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview last year.
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“And then I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to come back another day, another day.’”
