Olympian gymnast Simone Biles 'almost dies' following alarming medical emergency
Olympian Simone Biles almost died following an alarming medical emergency.
The 29-year-old American gymnast, whose 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history, took to social media over the weekend (6 June) to open up a little more about the near-fatal incident.
Biles shared an image of herself wearing three hospital bracelets to Instagram Stories along with the overlay text, which read: "I’m not one to normally share things like this because I value privacy in today’s age, but almost dying wasn’t on my bingo card earlier this week."
Advert
In the health update, the athlete told her 11.8 million followers that the ordeal was even more frightening given that her husband, Jonathan Owens, with whom she tied the knot in 2023, was out of town during the emergency.
"This was one of, if not the scariest experience of my life," she continued, "especially since Jonathan was in Indy for practices."
Biles was referring to her husband’s preseason NFL training for the Indianapolis Colts.
Biles carried on: "I’ve been in bed resting this week, I’ll explain sooner or later but s/o to my close circle who reached out, checked in, visited & or sent flowers."
She concluded the Instagram Stories post writing: "Loooovveeee y’all."
The gymnast also shared photos of the flowers she had received while in hospital, as well as a photo of herself resting in bed while her two dogs kept her company, captioned: "I'll be here."
In the latter snap, Biles also shared a screenshot of her heart rate, which was 126 bpm.
According to the British Heart Foundation, a normal resting heart rate (RHR) for a healthy adult typically ranges between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm).
While Biles didn't go into any detail about what happened on this occasion, saying she will 'explain sooner or later', she has been previously very open about her health in the past.
Last year, she explained how competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, which saw her impressively take home three gold medals and one silver, impacted her body.
"I went back to the village, took the elevator, and my body literally collapsed," she told L'Equipe, the Associated Press' French sports outlet, in April 2025. "I was sick for 10 days."
"The other day, we were sprinting in the garden with friends," she added. "I had aches and pains for three days."
Rhiannon Ingle