Paris 2024 Olympics - Artistic Gymnastics - Women's Qualification - Subdivision 1 - Bercy Arena, Paris, France - July 28, 2024. Ruby Evans, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Abigail Martin, Rebecca Downie and Alice Kinsella of Britain during the Women's Qualification. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
PARIS (Reuters) -A radiant Simone Biles made her long-awaited Olympic return at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, drawing boisterous cheering and clapping from an ecstatic, star-studded crowd in the French capital.
The most decorated gymnast in history is returning for her third Olympics after suffering from the "twisties" at the Tokyo Games, a term used by gymnasts to describe the temporary loss of spatial awareness they can experience when doing high-difficulty elements.
Biles withdrew from the team finals in Tokyo, raising questions about whether she would ever set foot in an Olympic arena again.
But after a two-year hiatus and with the help of her teammates and a therapist, she made a glorious return in Paris that reinforced her status of one of the greatest athletes of all-time.
The 27-year-old Biles began the competition on the balance beam, arguably the most difficult apparatus to start on, receiving a competition-leading 14.733 points.
Biles, wearing a shimmering leotard featuring thousands of Swarovski crystals, smiled and exhaled as she looked up to the scoreboard after her first of four apparatus events.
Celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Tom Cruise and Anna Wintour were in the crowd to witness Biles' return.
"I think she just competes by herself," British gymnast Ruby Evans said. "We've never had anyone like her before and I don't think we ever will, ever again."
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Rory Carroll, Chang-Ran Kim and Karen Braun; Editing by Ed Osmond and Pritha Sarkar)
