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 Becomes the Most Decorated U.S. Olympic Gymnast
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.”
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.”
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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.”
