Simone Biles has revealed she managed to win gold at the 2023 Gymnastics Championships – despite having a shard of metal ‘flake off’ from the bars and cut her eye.
The 26-year-old Olympian secured the individual all-around title in Brussels earlier this month – for the sixth time – before going on to win the women’s balance beam and floor finals in dominant fashion on the last day.
She was pictured appearing to wipe tears from her eye as she took to the podium to collect her medal earlier this month.
But, now the gymnastics champion has revealed, although she did feel emotional – she had actually damaged her eye on the bars.
Simone Biles revealed she won gold at the 2023 Gymnastics Championships despite a shard of metal from the bars cutting her eye
The champion was seen wiping her eye and looking emotional while celebrating her gold on the podium after winning the women’s individual all-around final
Chatting to presenters Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on the Today show, she said: ‘I definitely was emotional, but not to the point of tearing up.
‘But actually, after, that night we had drug testing and all of these things, and I ended up with only one set of eyelashes left and I looked pretty crazy at the end of the night.
‘But the doctors looked in my eye, and somehow I had cut my eye.’
Explaining how the injury occurred, she added: ‘I think since the bars are brand new, sometimes they flake off and they had been falling in our eye so I had a cut on my eye, actually.’
Her admission comes after she previously told reporters: ‘I was emotional because it was my first worlds here 10 years ago and now my sixth one, so it is crazy, but I swear I do have something in my eye that’s been bothering me for like four hours and I cannot get it out.
‘So while I was looking up there, it was like a combination of both.’
Simone took home an impressive four gold medals at the World Championships, taking her medal count up to a record-breaking 37 – making her the most decorated gymnast of all time.
Her recent success comes just three months after returning to the sport following a two-year absence.
It seemed as though Simone was crying – but she revealed on the Today show that she had in fact cut her eye
Simone in action on the parallel bars during the women’s individual all-around final
She spoke to Today show presenters Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on Thursday
‘I don’t feel like it’s the end-all, be-all anymore,’ Simone said of her current relationship with gymnastics.
‘Before I kind of felt like that, and I get to go home to my husband, to my dogs, to my house, and all of the things. It feels really good.’
Earlier this week, Simone gave fans a glimpse at the Texas mega mansion that she and her NFL star husband, Jonathan Owens, are building together.
She uploaded some photos of the building progress to her Instagram Stories, while sharing her excitement over being another step closer to finally calling it her home.
Simone recently uploaded some photos of the sprawling Texas mansion she’s building with her NFL star husband, Jonathan Owens
The Olympian shared a snap of the outside of their huge property
Simone first revealed that she and Jonathan, who wed in April, were building a home together in March.
At the time, she shared a selfie of her and the football pro standing on a large piece of bare land, which she captioned: ‘A home is made with love and dreams. Cheers to breaking ground.’
Since then, she has continuously documented the progress on her Instagram.
‘Can’t decide if this is the hallway of my dreams or the ones that in my nightmares lmao,’ she joked in another snap, which featured a long corridor that was still in the midst of being constructed.
She also posted a photo of a stunning lake surrounded by greenery, which sits right outside the house’s newly-installed glass sliding doors.
‘This is my favorite view,’ she gushed.
