Simone Biles revealed her honest thoughts after splitting from her first boyfriend, Stacey Ervin Jr. The gold medalist also dished on her plans for the 2021 Olympics!
Sadly, this gymnast dream team is no more. Simone Biles, 23, confirmed that she split from her longtime boyfriend, two-time U.S. national champion gymnast Stacey Ervin Jr., 26, in her August cover story for Vogue that ran on July 9. The breakup happened in early March, after three years of dating.
“It’s hard being young and having that long of a relationship and then ending it,” Simone confessed during the interview. The Olympic gold medalist went public with her relationship with Stacey, who’s now an acrobatic performer at Walt Disney World, in 20017. However, Simone added that the breakup “was for the best.”
Stacey has not released his own statement on the split, but fans suspected the former significant others parted ways when Stacey didn’t publicly wish Simone a happy 23rd birthday on March 14. He was the talented gymnast’s first ever boyfriend!
Simone Biles pictured cuddling with her ex, Stacey Ervin Jr., alongside friends in Feb. 2018. (Instagram/@simonebiles)
Elsewhere in the interview, Simone revealed what her life looks like amid quarantine. Simone is now “starting to train” towards the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, after the worldwide coronavirus outbreak postponed this year’s Olympics. Since the middle of May, she has also returned to training at the World Champions Centre after a seven-week closure, albeit on a “mornings-only schedule.” Simone’s life is starting to feel “semi-normal” again.
“I think for athletes, it’s hard for us to be out of our element for such a long period of time,” Simone told the magazine, explaining why it was so strange to take such a long hiatus from training. “That kind of throws your whole balance off. Because you go to work out and you release endorphins. You get any anger out. It’s kind of our oasis. Without that, you’re stuck at home with your own thoughts. I’ve kind of let myself live in those thoughts, to read more deeply into them. At the gym, it’s a great distraction, so I never really live with my thoughts. Now it’s like, Okay, what are the depths of it?“