Simone Biles departed the 2024 Paris Olympics with four medals overall and continued to solidify herself as one of the greatest Olympians in history.
However, as we learned over the past couple of days, not everyone was confident that she’d be able to rebound following a disappointing showing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. One of her doubters was revealed to be former NFL star Jason Kelce.
On Aug. 28, Wednesday’s episode of “New Heights,” which is a podcast he does with his brother Travis Kelce, the now-retired center revealed he was skeptical about Biles due to her age. He explained to a puzzled Travis Kelce that gymnasts are usually younger, and at 27, Biles is technically past the prime of typical gymnasts at the Olympics.
“We watched like every girl go and do the floor routine,” Kelce said. “And Simone Biles was the last person. And I’m like, you know she’s getting older. She’s a little bit… we’ll see how she looks.”
A comment that led to the Kansas City Chiefs star expressing his disbelief and questioning if Jason truly believed that. Jason admitted that he did think that initially, but was more than willing to admit he was wrong about Biles.
“She is the anomaly because she jumped higher than everybody,” Jason Kelce said. “It wasn’t even close.
“Like, you watch all these people do the floor routine, then it’s Simone’s at the end, and within the first three seconds, you’re like, oh, that’s different,” Jason said. “She just jumped five feet higher than everybody else that has done this.”
Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
On top of adding three more gold medals to her trophy cabinet, Biles also left Paris as the most decorated gymnast in history. She also hinted at the fact that she may not be done adding medals to her tally, hinting at possibly competing at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles when making an appearance on “TODAY” earlier this month.
“You never say never. The next Olympics is on home turf, so you just never know,” Biles said. “I’m just gonna relax and see where life takes me.”
If Biles is able to compete at the 2028 games, Kelce will likely have learned his lesson about doubting the GOAT.