Gymnast Kara Eaker, double world team champion with the United States, announced her retirement from gymnastics at the age of 20 as she lamented in a letter posted on her social media channels having suffered “verbal and emotional abuse” on the University of Utah team.

“I accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Utah because I truly believed the school was a place where I could contribute to the community, be a strong asset to the gymnastics team, and be free to develop myself and future career,” Eaker wrote in an Instagram post.

“For two years, while training with the Utah Gymnastics team, I was a victim of verbal and emotional abuse. As a result, my physical, mental and emotional health has rapidly declined.

“During my recruiting process, I was promised a ‘family’ within this program and a ‘sisterhood’ with my teammates, who would accept me, care for me, and support me. But instead, after I entered as a freshman, I was heartbroken to find the opposite in that I was training in an unhealthy, unsafe, and toxic environment.”

Brought to the point of tears

The former teammate of Simone Biles added that she was ridiculed, sometimes even “to the point of tears in front of the whole team”.

“I was scared to death by the loud and angry outbursts from the coach, ‘What the hell is wrong with you!’ What the f-ck are you doing!’ ‘You better get your sh-t together!’ and ‘Pull your head out of your ass!’

“The words are so intense and hurtful that it feels like a knife that’s stabbed so deep in my body that there’s no way to pull it out.

“I am speaking out for all the women who can’t because they are mentally debilitated and paralyzed by fear.

As she mounts her comeback after two years away from international competition, Simone Biles had doubts she could do it — as recently as this year.

In an interview with Olympics.com, the seven-time Olympic medalist shared that she had to conquer her fears in the gym, and that her fellow gymnasts encouraged her along the way.

“I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to compete again, cause there was multiple times this year, where I was in the gym and I was like, I’m actually terrified of this full in,” Biles, 26, said. “Like, I’m not doing it again, never gonna do it, and then I was like, you know what, I’m just gonna come back another day, another day.”

She added, “But I also think the girls on the team really helped me with that, because they were like no, Simone, just come in, like come on. And I’m like, okay you’re right, I can’t give up now because then I’ll forever be afraid of it.”

On Sunday in the preliminaries at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship, Biles landed her signature now-namesake vault, the “Biles II,” also known as the Yurchenko double pike vault.

The five-time all-around world champion posted an all-around total of 58.865 to lead qualifying, according to the Associated Press.

In August, the iconic gymnast spoke to PEOPLE about returning to competition after being two years removed from a very public battle waged during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with the dreaded “Twisties,” which led her to recalibrate her mindset, if not her approach.

“I feel like in the very beginning I was very nervous, obviously to step back out there because a lot of athletes when they take a couple years off, you have a little bit of doubt if you’re going to even be the same athlete you were, how strong you were going to be,” she told PEOPLE.

She added, “I think I’ve always had the competitive drive, so I don’t think that taking the time off taught me a lot about the competitive side of me. I think it was more about the personal side and getting to truly take care of myself mentally and physically and make sure everything is in tune so that whenever I am competing everything goes well.”

And as she vies for her sixth all-around world championship, she shared with Olympics.com that she’s also bringing a fine-tuned perspective about it all.

“Before everybody defined success for me, even if I had my own narrative that I wanted, so now it’s just like showing up, being in a good head place, having fun out there, and whatever happens happens,” Biles said.

Simone Biles and husband Jonathan Owens are one step closer to finishing their dream home!

In a series of photos posted to Biles’ Instagram Story on Monday, the olympic gymnast gave her followers an update on the construction of her new Texas home that she’ll share with her husband.

The first snap revealed the unfinished exterior of her abode that was still covered in plaster and surrounded by leveled dirt. “Tiles are in,” she captioned the photo.

Biles was excited to share that the “frames for the sliding doors are in,” in a snap that unveiled more of the bare wooden beams in the interior space.

Another image revealed a clear shot of Biles’ “favorite view” that she’ll be able to enjoy with Owens once their home is complete. The house appears to sit directly beside a body of water and is surrounded by lush greenery.

Continuing the tour, the newlywed wrote, “Can’t decide if this is the hallway of my dreams or the ones that are in my nightmares lmao,” beside a photo that showed a door frame and high ceilings starting to take shape.

The gymnast, 26, and Green Bay Packers player, 28, first teased they were building a house together in September when Biles posted a carousel of photos captioned, “Loading… 🏠🤍🛠.”

The post included a photo of the pair holding hands at the construction site along with a shot of Owens walking through the empty hallways of his soon-to-be pad

Biles and Owens legally married at the 1910 Harris County Courthouse in Houston in April, just one month before tying the knot again in an elaborate ceremony in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The destination wedding was attended by 140 guests and Biles donned four different dresses throughout her big day.

In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE ahead of the wedding, Biles revealed she was “actually very surprised” when Owens proposed to her in Feb. 2022, explaining, “I didn’t know it was coming. He’s very good at secrets.”

“I started shaking really bad because then I was like, ‘Wait, hold up. What if he proposes?’ But I didn’t want to get my hopes up … and then he did it,” she continued. “And I was just like, I kind of had a feeling, but I wasn’t sure.”

Kelly Clarkson is a Simone Biles fan!

The singer and host of The Kelly Clarkson Show, 41, showed her appreciation for the Olympic gymnast in a post shared on Instagram Saturday.

“Look, I would settle for the ability to do a kart wheel like @simonebiles” Clarkson began her caption, which was posted alongside an image of a teary-eyed Biles, 26, holding up her medal after winning women’s all-around gold at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium earlier this month.

“She is magnificent!! My gosh, I feel blessed to just get to watch her!” the “Since U Been Gone” crooner concluded her caption.

Back in 2021, Biles and fellow gymnast Jordan Chiles appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show via video call while they were on the Gold Over America Tour.

During her guest appearance, Biles revealed that athletes on the tour warmed up to Clarkson’s song “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).”

The singer then showed the audience a fun clip of the Gold Over America Tour group dancing on stage along to the song while wearing pink workout gear and black zip-up sweaters.

Biles recently shared her delight at having a fifth gymnastics skill named after her in an Instagram post.

“World championships!!!!! Whew Antwerp will always hold a special place in my heart,” the Olympic gymnast began the caption of her post, which was written alongside a series of photos of her in competition and on the medal podium, including the shot posted by Clarkson.

“The first time I got a skill named after me was in this arena & 10 years later I got my 5th skill named….” she continued.

“I’m speechless. I’m honored. I’m excited and I’m blessed! Doing it for the little girl who fell in love with the sport!!!!!” added Biles, before concluding her post by writing, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the love & support 🖤.”

After she became the first woman to successfully perform the Yurchenko double pike during the championships earlier this month, the National Governing Board of Gymnastics announced that the skill would be named “Biles II,” meaning the gymnast had received a fifth skill named after her.

“She is a role model for many young women around the world, and now she is back,” said psychologist Robert Andrews, American gymnast Simone Biles’ primary therapist.

10 years after taking charge of Biles’ mental health, Andrews talked with the Spanish media “Relevo,” where he revealed the secrets to treating a world-class athlete.

“I worked on this with Simone from March 2013 to July 2017,” the specialist indicated during the talk.

He explained that he was free to talk about part of the treatment because the gymnast had already done it in her book and biographical film.

The therapist recalled that the hardest battle he and Biles faced was “fighting that old culture of stoicism where it seems like a gymnast is not having fun.”

Another challenge was the insecurity of someone who is considered the best gymnast of all time. “She wasn’t very sure of herself. Simone didn’t really believe in herself. That’s what we started to work on, helping her develop her confidence,” he said.

Andrews explained that to overcome these obstacles they had to “work hard to keep her empowered and so that she could continue to appear that way despite a culture that did not allow it.”

Simone gets the reward

Her psychological hard work paid off in 2013, when she won the first of three consecutive world medals in the individual all-around: Antwerp 2013, Nanning 2014, and Glasgow 2015.

“At the Rio Games, she won four Olympic golds and one bronze medal,”Andrews recalled, although he admitted there could have been five golds if not for an ill-timed slip on the balance beam.

Biles’ success also deeply impacted the specialist’s career: “I had to hire four people in my practice due to the work overload that arrived in 2016.”

One of the keys to success in treating the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic champion was helping her “take her foot off the accelerator or, in other words, not use so much energy,”Andrews explained.

He detailed that a couple of years ago, she was struggling to master a new skill for her routines, so he texted her: “Remember the concept of taking your foot off the gas.”

He highlighted the courage she displayed to pause her career in 2016 to care for her mental health despite the barrage of criticism. “I think the best example is that she retired and not only made that decision for her mental health but also her physical health.”

“What Simone did was defend herself mentally, physically, and emotionally,” said Andrews, and he also highlighted that the athlete’s example“gave many athletes permission to ask for help.”

Simone Biles recently became one of the most successful gymnasts in the world by earning her 37th medal, and while many news outlets are talking about her success including the respected Wall Street Journal, they made a mistake that could’ve been corrected, however, they left it as is.

The Wall Street Journal used a photo of another gymnast when promoting a tweet

The Wall Street Journal made an embarrassing mistake when writing their piece called “Simone Biles is officially the most decorated gymnast in history” which was set to give praise to the Olympian, however, they used a photo of a different gymnast.

In digital media, many things could be corrected by editing the article, however, before they even tried to change it, Simone Biles caught wind of what happened and called them out with a simple, yet, powerful tweet.

Simone Biles saw the tweet of the WSJ sharing the article on the platform and simply replied to the publication with “This picture isn’t even me, Try again.“.

Immediately, users on the platform started bashing the tweet, “This is really rather poor. One of the world’s greatest sporting icons just happens to be American, and you, an American newspaper, can’t even stretch to using the correct picture of her, at one of her greatest triumphs. What does one call that.” A user commented on Biles’ publication.

The Wall Street Journal had promoted the tweet and then deleted the post, but not before she caught the mistake, according to The Spun, the WSJ apologized to Biles and then changed the photo to an accurate one.

“I am sorry they did this to you. Congratulations though on all you have accomplished in the last few days. You are amazing.” Added another user.

Simone Biles had an exceptional comeback to competitive gymnastics winning four gold medals at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Simone Biles closed out an incredible comeback meet after a two‑year layoff by winning gold on the balance beam and floor exercise at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships as Britain’s Jake Jarman became world champion for the first time by winning the men’s vault competition.

“When I woke up this morning, I felt good,” Jarman said. “I just had a good feeling. I think it’s not really sunk in yet; it will probably sink in when I get home and relax. I’m just super happy to take my career to this stage.”

Biles, after two years away from international competition, has seamlessly resumed her dominance with five medals in Antwerp, winning gold in the all-around, team, balance beam and floor exercise competitions in addition to silver on the vault. Biles has a record 37 medals at world championships and Olympic Games.

It has been clear for some time that Jarman was capable of competing for world titles but last weekend his place in the final was in significant doubt. During the qualifying round the 21-year-old Briton fell while attempting his Yonekura vault, which packs in a total of three and a half twists.

“As soon as I sat that first vault down, I was definitely gutted, I was heartbroken,” he said. “Instantly, in my head, I was like: ‘I have not done it.’”

Such is the difficulty of his vaults, though, he scored well enough to sneak into the final. In the final, the difficulty of his two vaults was considerably greater than those of all of his competitors, who had no response after he nailed the Yonekura vault and the famed Dragulescu vault, a front double somersault with a half twist.

The final day of Biles’s comeback meet ended with a demonstration of her supreme mental strength and competitive fire. After a long, exhausting competition, the 26‑year‑old American saved her best balance beam routine for when it was most needed in the final, weaving through without a single balance check. Biles scored 14.800, edging out Zhou Yaqin of China by a tenth.

Biles closed out her meet by holding off Rebeca Andrade of Brazil to win her fourth gold medal on the floor exercise. Andrade, who beat Biles to gold on vault, has proven a worthy rival and their mutual admiration was clear. The 24‑year‑old enjoyed a historic championships herself, a bronze on the balance beam meaning she also left Antwerp with five medals.

Simone Biles has done it yet again, clinching her 20th gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship and leading the U.S. women’s team to their historic 7th consecutive victory.

There is no question that Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast that has ever set foot on the mat. Her domination in the sport has been unparalleled, and she has earned every bit of praise she has received as a gymnast.

However, there’s a solid argument to be made that she isn’t just the GOAT of gymnastics, but truly the greatest athlete of all time. Yes, I know, it’s a subjective title, comparing sports is like comparing apples and oranges and people will argue about who deserves that title the most. But hear me out before putting Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali or Jim Thorpe up against the 4-foot 8-inch wonder that is Simone Biles.

1. She has dominated her sport with the winningest record of all time

This is the easy argument, of course, and one that could be used for any athlete who holds the most gold medals and the most medals overall in their sport. Let’s just see this as the foundation of the GOAT house that Simone built.

Biles has now won 26 world championship medals (20 gold, three silver and three bronze) and seven Olympic medals. That puts her at the top of women’s gymnastics historical record and has her tied with Belarus’ Vitaly Scherbo for most gymnastics medals, male or female, earned on the world stage.

Simone Biles is is an effective team leader.

3. She stands out as an individual competitor and as a team leader

Gymnastics is both an individual sport and a team sport, and Biles has proven her skills in both. As an individual competitor, obviously, Biles is No. 1. But she has also led the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team to victory time and time again.

Biles’ teammates praised her leadership skills after she backed out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 (which we’ll get to in a moment). Though she was no longer competing herself, she stood on the sidelines and became her teammates’ best cheerleader. Her teammates and coaches said that meant the world, and Biles’ unwavering encouragement and support for her fellow gymnasts helped propel them to their own medal-winning performances.

To be able to dominate at the highest level as an individual and be an effective team leader is the mark of an exceptional athlete. Biles does both and makes it look easy.

Simone Biles is a serious competitor

4. She faced a devastating setback in her sport and came back on top

It’s not easy to maintain the status of being “the best” at a sport. Being the best and then having a major setback disrupt your career is even more difficult. Overcoming that setback and returning not only to a high level of competition but jumping back up to the very top is something only GOATs do.

Biles did it. After getting the dreaded “twisties” at the Tokyo Olympics, Biles did the right thing and dropped out of the competition. (The twisties cause a gymnast to lose their sense of place in the air, creating both a frustrating and incredibly dangerous situation.) She could have called it quits then and no one would have blamed her.

But she didn’t. She came back. And unlike some other star athletes who have pushed past their prime and lost some of their competitive edge, Biles is slaying once again, winning world titles like she was born for it.

She balances it with wisdom, but her competitive spirit is unstoppable.

Simone Biles is now 26. Most elite female gymnasts retire by her age.

5. She is well past retirement age and still dominating in her sport

Biles is 26 years old, which isn’t old by most measures, but she’s a bit of a grandma in the world of gymnastics. The average age for elite female gymnasts to retire is 22. There are other competitive gymnasts who are older than Biles, but they aren’t up there on the world championship podium with her. The main reason gymnasts retire so early is the wear and tear gymnastics puts on their bodies. Biles continually pushes her body to do what no one else can do, and she’s still going strong.

Her ability is unparalleled but her longevity is equally impressive. Peak time varies by sport, of course, but for a gymnast to be this dominant for this long is an incredible accomplishment.

Simone Biles is a tiny woman with an enormous legacy.

Honorable mention: She’s a woman in a GOAT field filled with men

Should being a female athlete make a difference? Well, the International Certification of Excellence in Fitness (ICEF) seems to think so, since they made a list of the 10 Greatest Athletes of All Time and there’s not a single female on it.

As the ICEF’s Top 10 list unwittingly demonstrates, male athletes are automatically thought of as better athletes than women, no matter the variables, which is silly. No one is putting Babe Ruth up against Muhammad Ali as having the same or even similar skills, so why are there no women at all on this list?

I’d put Simone Biles up against any of these 10 men for all-time athlete GOAT. Yes, even Michael Jordan, who holds the top spot. He holds records in his sport. He pushed the boundaries of basketball. He was an individual standout and a good team player. He overcame setbacks (more in his personal life than the sport itself, but still) and he came out of retirement twice to keep playing. Heck, he was even famous for defying gravity. Simone Biles has done all of that on a global level—and on a beam 4 inches wide.

Two years after her emotional Tokyo Olympics exit, US superstar Simone Biles made a spectacular and dramatic return to international gymnastics at the world championships on Sunday.

The 26-year-old successfully became the first female gymnast to execute a “Yurchenko double pike vault” now renamed “Biles II” during women’s qualifying.

Her ambitious return earned her 15.266 points, far ahead of the competition.

In total, she accumulated 58.865 points at the end of the four apparatuses and took the lead in qualifying.

A 19-time world and four-time Olympic champion, Biles arrived in Japan for the 2021 Olympics as the huge favourite thanks to her four titles won five years earlier in Rio.

However, she broke down in full view of a global audience, withdrawing from most of the events.

She then explained that she was fighting against “twisties”, a temporary mental block whereby gymnasts lose their sense of where they are in the air, with the risk of injury when they land.

She returned to action at the beginning of August and demonstrated that she had lost none of her incredible level.

She won the US Classic, where she obtained the best scores on vault, floor and beam, followed by a record eighth US all-around title at the national championships.

“I think what success means to me is a little bit different than before because before everyone defined success for me, even if I had my own narrative that I wanted,” Biles told Olympics.com prior to the world championships.

“So, now, it’s just showing up, being in a good head place, having fun out there, and whatever happens, happens.”

On Sunday, she also competed on the uneven bars for 14.400 points, balance beam where she scored 14.566 and then soared on the floor exercise for a reward of 14.633.

That paved the way for her spectacular vault.

Biles and her USA team will now go for team gold on Wednesday in Antwerp.

– Chiba inspires Japan –
Meanwhile, Kenta Chiba led the way as Japan dominated the men’s team all-around qualifiers.

With 258.228 points, they are four points ahead of the United States and Britain.

They also occupy the first three places in the individual standings.

With a total of 85.799 points, Chiba finished first ahead of teammate Kazuma Kaya (85.598) and Daiki Hashimoto (85.432), the reigning Olympic and world champion in the individual all-around.

Only two competitors from each country can compete in the all-around final, so Hashimoto should have been left out.

But his team, as the regulations allow, said they preferred to retain Hashimoto at the expense of Kaya.

The floor, pommel horse, rings and high bars were also dominated by the reigning Olympic champions of each apparatus.

The qualification rounds are also used to allocate the last team places for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands and Ukraine have secured their places joining China, Britain and Japan who were already qualified.

France, however, missed out on a berth at their own Olympics after finishing 19th in qualifying.

“We knew we had to achieve something almost perfect to qualify,” said one of the team, Jim Zona.

France also failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.