On The Tonight Show, The gymnastics legend reflected on her recent success at the Paris Olympics and looked ahead to what’s to come

Seven-time Olympic gold medalist medalist Simone Biles, who won four medals this year alone, has no immediate plans for the 2028 Games. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The gymnastics legend reflected on her recent success in Paris. She acknowledged that whether or not she’ll compete when the games are in Los Angeles is the burning question everyone wants answered — but for now, she’s looking ahead to her future outside of the gym.

“Everybody wants to know this question. I’m like, ‘Can’t I live?'” Biles told Fallon, laughing. She’s thought about it, but mostly about how her age plays a role in her position as a gymnast. “First of all, I’m getting older. 27 is a little old for a gymnast,” she said. “Outside the gym, I’m young. Tequila, no hangover. But in the gym? I’m old.” Biles joked that it would be easier if there was a way to tag in the competition by tapping someone else halfway through the beam, vault, floor and balance beam routines.

The Paris Olympics were a major accomplishment in their own right for Biles. It was a redemption tour of sorts for the athlete, who partially withdrew from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after experiencing “the twisties,” a disorienting condition that drastically affects a gymnast’s rhythm, balance and spatial awareness. “It meant everything, especially after Tokyo. That wasn’t my best performance or how I planned it,” she explained. “So to work hard mentally and physically and be back on the world stage, competing in the Olympics meant everything to me.”

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Now that Biles has established herself as the greatest gymnast of all time — so much so that she wears a diamond-encrusted goat pendant on a chain around her neck — she’s focused on maintaining her legacy as such. “As long as I’m inspiring the next generation and having fun and just making sure it’s not all about winning, but still taking a good step forward even if it doesn’t go your way, I think I would want to do that,” she added.