2 Big Names Return to Gymnastics Competition

Next year's Summer Olympics in Paris could be particularly epic for fans of US gymnastics: Two huge names are returning to competition, with the Paris games in mind. Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee will participate in the US Classic on Aug. 5 outside Chicago, NPR reports. It's the final qualifying event for the national championships, which will be held later that same month in California. The AP notes that Biles also used the US Classic "as her comeback meet" in 2018 after she took a two-year hiatus following the 2016 Rio Olympics. Olympics.com frames the event as the beginning of a "comeback" for both competitors:

• Biles hasn't competed since the Tokyo Olympics, which were held in 2021 after being delayed a year due to the COVID pandemic. She withdrew from much of the competition for mental health reasons as well as a case of "the twisties," when gymnasts lose spatial awareness while in the air. She won a silver medal as part of the women's team. The most decorated US women's gymnast ever, Biles, 26, would also be the oldest woman to make the US Olympic team if she does so next year.

• Lee, Biles' teammate, went on to win the individual all-around gold in Tokyo after Biles withdrew from competition. She then, as NPR puts it, "made the uncommon post-Olympic-gold move" of going on to compete in college gymnastics. But the now-19-year-old's sophomore season ended due to a non-gymnastics-related kidney issue. In April, however, she made it clear she still has her sights firmly set on Paris 2024.

Biles won the individual all-around gold in 2016, and if both she and Lee make the 2024 squad, it would be the first time the US team included two individual all-around winners. The US Olympic team trials are next June, and the games start in July. (More Simone Biles stories.)