What's changed for Simone Biles since Tokyo Olympics? Her magic is ‘limiting social media': Exclusive

Simone Biles is determined not to let any chatter about her on the internet penetrate her mindset at the Paris Olympics, which means staying off one social media app in particular.

Coming off the criticism and emotional experience of the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the superstar gymnast told Hoda Kotb on TODAY July 17 that she has a plan when it comes to her phone.

"Limiting social media and stuff like that is going to be (important)," Biles said.

Biles said she plans on completely staying off X, formerly Twitter, during the Olympics while still using Instagram and TikTok.

"Insta is good. It’s a good way to connect," she said. "It’s a way to share what we’re going through. And TikTok. I’ve tried to make a little more TikToks, I’m not the greatest at that. I’m learning."

Biles is looking to add to her record-setting legacy by winning all-around gold and more in Paris. It comes three years after she withdrew from the team competition finals and all but one individual event in Tokyo after experiencing "the twisties," which left her disoriented midair.

She faced fierce criticism for her decision to withdraw. Biles spoke on an April episode of the podcast “Call Her Daddy” with Alex Cooper about dreading social media when she was struggling in Tokyo.

“As soon as I landed (my vault), I was like, ‘Oh, America hates me,’” she said. “‘The world is going to hate me. And I can only see what they’re saying on Twitter right now.’ That was my first thought.”

However, to her it's not about medals or silencing the online doubters in Paris.

"I would say the only thing I have to prove is to myself that I can get out there and do it again," she told Hoda.

She wants her legacy to be more than just record-setting medal totals.

"As long as I was having fun and doing what I love, then that’s all that you can do, because I don’t want to look back 50 years from now and be like, 'Wow, she was good, but she was so miserable,'" Biles said.

"And I think a couple times I might have thought that, but now I’m just like, 'Wow, look at her go. She’s having so much fun. She’s loving what she’s doing, who she’s doing it with.' So really, just embracing that moment."

The most decorated gymnast of all time is taking what she's learned in the years since the Tokyo Games to fortify her for the competition in France.

"I’m a little bit older, more mature, so just being unapologetically me," she said.

She also said another practice has helped her mindset this time around.

"Therapy," she said. "I think before I was kind of pushing down my trauma, and now I’ve learned to speak on it and kind of release that. I think we used to think of therapy as a weakness, and now I think of it as a strength."

She roared all the way back to win her sixth all-around world title in 2023, but her return to competition was not a foregone conclusion. She considered that her career might be over after Tokyo.

"It took awhile, because I was watching gymnastics on TV, but then, every time somebody twisted (in midair), I was like, 'Oh, my gosh,'" Biles said. "So I feel like, one day I just woke up and I was like, 'OK, let's try this again.'"

Even her coaches were skeptical at first.

"I was like, 'OK, I want to go to the Olympics again.' And they were like, 'No,'" Biles said. "And I was like, 'That’s strange. That’s so weird.'

"And then they were kind of like, 'Get back in the gym. Get your skills back. Let’s see if you actually want to do this so that we’re all collectively deciding that we’re really going to go for it.'"

Biles is also pushing the boundaries of a sport where many competitors see their careers end by the time their teen years are barely over.

No competitor over 20 has won the women's all-around Olympic gold in gymnastics since Věra Čáslavská of the former country of Czechoslovakia captured it at 26 in 1968. Biles was 19 when she won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and American star Suni Lee was 18 when she brought it home in Tokyo.

The oldest woman to ever win the all-around gold was Maria Gorokhovskaya of the former Soviet Union, who did it at 30 in 1952, which was the first year that women's individual gymnastics events were contested at the Olympics.

While Biles said 27 is "old" for a gymnast, she was not discouraged to compete by anyone due to her age.

"No, but I think there were speculations like, now you see girls like (Team USA teammate) Hezly (Rivera), she’s 16, and I look at her like, 'Wow,'" Biles said. "She has such a long career ahead of her."

In her quest to defy the sport's age limits, she also will have her support system by her side in Paris.

Her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, will be in attendance in France with Biles' parents, Nellie and Ronald. None of them were able to travel to the Tokyo Games because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented any spectators from attending.

"I think it’s going to be just like Rio, having family there to support whatever we need, but really just having fun, embracing that moment, making those memories," she said. "I’m excited that I get to do it with my family."

With all the changes she's made since the Tokyo Olympics, she enters Paris ready to shine on the world's biggest stage.

"I think we’re going to get the job done," she said. "I feel really confident."

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

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