Gymnastics GOAT Simone Biles has opened up about the painful mental health breakdown she suffered at the 2020 Tokyo Games—while revealing that she hid all her memorabilia from that ill-fated event inside a “forbidden Olympics closet” at her home in Texas.
Biles, 27, who lives with her husband, NFL pro Jonathan Owens, in a four-bedroom property in Spring, TX, explained that she used one of those rooms to house her Tokyo Olympics gear after returning from the Games, where she was forced to drop out of multiple events while struggling with a condition known as the “twisties.”
The Olympic gold medalist—who has now been named as Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year—spoke to the outlet about the “little-used” guest room where she hid away her leotards and other items from the 2020 Games, admitting that she would occasionally go in there and pull them all out while “weeping.”
Simone Biles has revealed to Sports Illustrated that she has a “forbidden Olympic closet” inside her Texas home where she hides her memorabilia from the Tokyo Games.
Having left a large question mark hanging over her career after Tokyo, Biles shut down any and all doubt about her abilities when she returned to the Olympics in Paris 2024, cementing her status as one of the sport’s greatest icons by walking away with a haul of four medals—three of them gold.
And while she has yet to confirm her official retirement, she told Sports Illustrated that she is ready to focus on new challenges, including completing work on a home that she and Owens are building outside of Houston.
The home, which is nearing completion, has been more than a year in the making, with Biles sharing regular updates about the progress on the property on her Instagram account.
Most recently, she shared several stunning images of the waterfront abode, revealing glimpses at the kitchen, swimming pool, and custom laundry room, as well as the expansive three-door garage.
The photos revealed that the swimming pool’s foundation had been laid, the structure was almost complete, and it just needed an overhaul of the surrounding space—as well as some water to fill it with.
