TOKYO — For the first time all day, Simone Biles stumbled. Not on her routine, but over her words.
“There’s a lot of relief, obviously,” she said. “There’s—I don’t know. I don’t really know how I’m feeling right now.”
She barely remembered how she got here, standing in front of a microphone, with the most meaningful bronze medal of her life draped around her neck. She was not always sure what day it was. “I get so confused, because back home it’s 14 hours behind,” she said.
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A week ago she thought she might never compete as an elite gymnast again.