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Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, and the rest of Team USA gymnasts are enjoying the magic of New York City after coming back from the Tokyo Olympics.
On Wednesday, the Olympians visited Times Square blending among the sea of tourists unaware of their precedence. Biles and Lee roamed around in the Big Apple alongside teammates Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum and Jade Carey.
The athletes snapped pictures, recorded videos, had ice cream, and even went shopping. Simone treated herself to a brand new $3,200 Louis Vuitton tote to continue walking around the city and shopping at Aritzia and H&M.
The girls also traveled to New York City to have a live special appearance on the Today show. The team spoke to anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb about the experience in Tokyo, and Simone Biles shared that her sudden withdrawal from the competition is related to the traumatizing abuse she endured with disgraced pedophile doctor Larry Nassar.
“Now that I think of it, maybe in the back of my head, probably, yes, because there are certain triggers that you don’t even know. And I think [the abuse] could have [affected me],” she said to Kotb.
Biles is not retiring from the sport yet, and she is leaving open the possibility of returning to the Olympics in 2024.
On July 27, Biles surprised the world when she decided to step out after her rocky performance on the vault. According to the six-time Olympic medalist, her decision came after experiencing “the twisties.” A phenomenon that confuses gymnasts to the point where they lose control of their bodies and can’t distinguish space and dimension in midair.
Although Biles qualified for all the individual all-around event, vault, floor exercises, and uneven bars events, she preferred not to compete to avoid getting hurt. “Physically, I feel good; I’m in shape,” she confirmed on TODAY. “Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and moment. Coming to the Olympics and being head star isn’t an easy feat, so we’re just trying to take it one day at a time, and we’ll see,” she said at the time.
Biles secured the bronze medal during the beam competition. She told NBC’s TODAY the medal has a special meaning. “It means more than all the golds because I‘ve pushed through so much the last five years and the last week while I’ve even been here. It was very emotional, and I’m just proud of myself and just all of these girls, as well,” Biles said. “I didn‘t really care about the outcome. I was just happy that I made the routine and that I got to compete one more time.”