Olympic all-around champions Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee will begin comebacks at 2023 U.S. Classic
Biles' last competition was the Tokyo 2020 Games two years ago, while Lee is returning from a kidney-related health issue that sidelined her earlier this year as she competed for Auburn University
Artistic Gymnastics
The last two Olympic all-around gymnastics champions Sunisa Lee and Simone Biles, both of the United States, have officially gotten their comebacks underway.
The duo are set to take part in the 2023 U.S. Classic on 5 August at Now Arena in the Chicago suburbs. The competition is the final qualifying event to the U.S. Championships.
Lee, who struck gold at Tokyo 2020, has been recovering from a kidney-related health issue that kept her out of the last several weeks of her sophomore season at Auburn University.
The 19-year-old said on social media in early April that the issue would not hold her back from dreams of Paris 2024.
“I have been dealing with a non-gymnastics health related issue involving my kidneys,” she wrote in a 3 April Tweet. “I will not stop pursuing my dreams for a bid to Paris in 2024. In fact, this experience has sharpened my vision for the future.”
In recent weeks things have seemed on track, as she's shared several impressive training videos including an original element off the balance beam.
Since the Games in Tokyo, Lee has been on a whirlwind, appearing on 'Dancing with the Stars' prior to starting her collegiate career at Auburn University. Her freshman year saw the Tigers soar to new heights, including a fourth place finish as a team. Their highest ever.
Lee was ranked among the NCAA's top all-arounders during the 2023 season until she was sidelined with her kidney-related issue.
Seven-time Olympic medallist Biles, who recently wed NFL player Jonathan Owens, has been quiet publicly about her plans to return to the sport, but didn't rule out a third Games in an exclusive interview in 2021.
“Right now, I'm trying to take it one step at a time. I really feel like I haven't fully got to process Tokyo yet," she told Olympics.com during her Gold Over America Tour in September 2021. "So, once I fully understand and process that, I'm sure it'll lead me towards which direction I want to go towards."
“In the back of my head, it's like, ‘Yeah, I'm going to do it’ but then my body and everything else tells me no,” Biles continued. “I have to gauge it. I'm not sure yet.”
The announcement Wednesday (28 June) that Biles had registered for the U.S. Classic was the first public indication of Biles' intentions. The gymnastics star has for the most part laid low since the end of her tour, only sporadically giving interviews that mostly focus on her engagement or nuptials.
Typically very active on social media, Biles - who first unveiled her history making Yurchenko double pike on Instagram and Twitter - has yet to post any training videos in recent memory.
If Biles, 26, were to qualify to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, she would be the oldest woman to make the U.S. gymnastics team in two decades. Annia Hatch was 26 at Athens 2004. The last U.S. woman to qualify for three Olympic Games in gymnastics was Dominique Dawes, who won medals at Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.
History would also be made if both than Lee and Biles qualifies to Paris 2024 as no U.S. Olympic team has ever had included more than one previous Olympic all-around winner.