Simone Biles told followers on Thursday that she had undergone a medical procedure, posting a photo of herself in a hospital gown and surgical cap beside her husband, Indianapolis Colts safety Jonathan Owens.
"His birthday but he takes me to get my procedure," Biles wrote on her Instagram Story. The photo was taken on July 22, Owens's birthday, indicating the procedure had already happened by the time she posted.
Biles did not say what the procedure was. She also did not say whether it was connected to the health scare she described in June, when she wrote that she had come close to dying.
What she has said about June
That earlier post is the reason this one drew attention. Biles shared a photo of her wrist covered in hospital bands and wrote that "almost dying wasn't on my bingo card earlier this week," calling it one of, if not the, scariest experiences of her life. She said she had been placed on bed rest immediately, and noted that Owens had been in Indianapolis for Colts practice when it happened.
She has not disclosed a diagnosis, a cause, or the nature of her recovery. Biles said at the time that she generally keeps such things private but felt compelled to share, and that she would explain "sooner or later." When a fan pressed for an update days later, she answered that she was not ready to talk about it just yet.
That is the full extent of what is publicly known. Much of the coverage this week has been framed around a "mystery" illness, but there is no mystery to solve so much as a person who has declined to discuss her medical history and has asked for time.
What she has been doing since
Biles has stayed largely quiet on the subject while returning to public life. She appeared at the ESPY Awards in New York on July 15 and has traveled since the June episode, including a recent trip to the Dominican Republic.
The 29-year-old has been away from competitive gymnastics since the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won three gold medals and a silver. Her health update lands in the middle of an unusual stretch for the sport: Suni Lee, the 2020 Olympic all-around champion, announced a comeback in mid-July, joining fellow Paris teammates Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera. Katelyn Ohashi returned to competition this month after 13 years away.
Biles has said she remains undecided about whether to pursue a fourth consecutive Olympic team in 2028. She has not tied that decision to her health, and nothing she has posted suggests the procedure affects it either way.
A note on what we do not know
Biles is among the most visible athletes in the world, and her June post was unusually direct about how frightening the episode was. That combination invites speculation, and there has been plenty of it.
But she has given no medical detail, no timeline and no diagnosis, and there is no responsible way to fill those gaps from the outside. What is confirmed is narrow: she was hospitalized in June, she described it as near-fatal, she had a procedure on July 22, and she has said she will explain when she is ready.
