Simone Biles Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images
Simone Biles has one thing to say to everyone asking whether she’ll compete in the 2028 Olympics: “Can’t I live?”
“Everybody wants to know this question,” the 11-time Olympic medallist said as she found herself in the hot seat once again on the Wednesday, September 4, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Biles, 27, then told host Jimmy Fallon: “I’m like, ‘Can’t I live?’”
The gymnast went on to joke that she might be too old to compete in the next Summer Olympics, which will take place in Los Angeles.
“First, I’m getting older … 27 is a little bit old for a gymnast,” Biles told a shocked Fallon, who responded that she’s a “baby.”
“In real life, like, aging like fine wine,” Biles explained. “But for a gymnast, old. Outside of gym, oh yeah, I’m young! Tequila. No hangover. But in the gym, I am old.”
“Maybe if we do, like, tag?” Biles then quipped. “If we could do tag beam, vault, floor, bars. Like, tag somebody else?”
Simone Biles is small in stature — just 4-foot-8 — but her reputation looms large. The Texas native started taking gymnastics classes at age 6 and earned an invite to the junior national team camp by 14. She had several world championship gold medals before she made her Olympics debut in Rio de Janeiro at […]
Biles became the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history during the 2024 Paris Olympics, taking home three gold and a silver, bringing her total number of medals to 11. She went into the Olympics with seven medals, tying Shannon Miller, who competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.
After winning gold in the women’s vault event in August, Biles didn’t rule out potentially competing again in Los Angeles.
“Is this my last? Definitely [my final] Yurchenko double pike,” Biles quipped during an August 3 press conference. “I mean, I kinda nailed that one. … The next Olympics is at home [in Los Angeles]. So, you just never know. But I am getting really old.”
Tom Cruise at 2024 Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony with Simone Biles and Karen Bass.P Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
On Wednesday’s The Tonight Show, Biles also revealed that the most nervous she felt during the Paris Olympics was not in competition, but handing the Olympic flag to actor Tom Cruise during the closing ceremony.
“I’m always tripping, falling down stairs,” she said. “That was the most nervous I was for the whole entire Olympics. I was like, ‘OK, I have to hand the flag off. Don’t mess it up. Don’t mess it up.’ I was terrified.”
Simone Biles came to win at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and that’s precisely what she did. The gymnast, 27, ultimately walked away with four medals at the conclusion of the summer games. Biles took home three home gold medals in Paris, winning the women’s artistic individual all-around, women’s vault and team all-around with Suni Lee, […]
As for meeting the Mission: Impossible star, Biles couldn’t have been more impressed.
“He was so sweet, so nice, down to earth,” she said of Cruise. “He brought flowers. He got to meet my mom.”
