MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — They all had a reason to come back. Each of them.
Simone Biles will move past those harrowing two weeks in Japan three years ago, when the gymnastics superstar prioritized her mental health and safety over fame, a decision that inspired some and infuriated others.
Suni Lee wants to prove — perhaps more than anything — that the all-around gold medal she won while Biles watched from the stands was no fluke.
Jordan Chiles will turn the team silver she helped win at the 2020 Games into gold.
Jade Carey will be an official member of the five-woman Olympic team after earning her way to Tokyo as an individual qualifier, a path that is not available to the United States this time around and, frankly, one that it had no interest in exploring again anyway.
They’re all returning to the unique spotlight – oh, and 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera, too – that only the sport’s biggest stage can provide.
Their reasons are deeply personal. But their motivation is not.
“This is definitely our redemption tour,” Biles said after securing a third trip to the Olympics by winning the U.S. trials Sunday night. “I feel like we all have more to give.”
Perhaps none more so than Biles, who, at 27, is the oldest American to compete on an Olympic gymnastics team since the 1950s. She didn’t expect to still be doing it for nearly a decade after becoming a crossover sensation at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
And there she is. She’s still working. She’s still fighting. Not to silence the critics who keep mentioning her on social media wondering if she’s going to “give up” again, but because she remains determined to make the most of her remarkable talent.
“Nobody’s forcing me to do it,” said Biles, who posted a two-day total of 117.225 to win the all-around by nearly six points over Lee. “I wake up every day and I choose to work out in the gym and come out here and perform for myself. Just to remind myself that I can still do it.”
And do it at a level that no one else in her sport – and when she’s at her best, perhaps in the sport in general – can match.
A trip to France has never really been in doubt since Biles returned from a two-year break last summer. All she’s done in the past 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and win her eighth and ninth national championships – both records – while doing the hardest gymnastics of her life.
She will be a heavy favourite when she steps onto the Bercy Arena pitch, although there is plenty of work to do before the women’s qualifiers on July 28. Still, there are things to clean up over the next four weeks.
Biles backpedaled after landing her Yurchenko double pike jump, a testament to both the difficulty of the jump and the immense power she generates during a skill that few male gymnasts attempt and even fewer perform. ‘land as cleanly.
She jumped off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, though she wasn’t as frustrated as during a botched performance Friday that left her uttering an expletive for the world to see.
Biles finished with flying colors on the floor exercise, her signature event. While she took a small step out of bounds, she also displayed unmatched world-class tumbling that recently earned her a special mention by pop star Taylor Swiftwhose song “Ready For It” opens Biles’ number.
She stepped off the podium to a standing ovation, then sat at the top of the steps to enjoy what could be her last competitive run on American soil for a while. Maybe ever.
Biles evaded questions about what lies ahead. It can wait. It’s been a long and winding road to get back to this moment. She plans to try to enjoy it while being part of a team that will have “a lot of weight on our shoulders.”
She believes that she and her teammates are better placed to handle this situation. That is why
“It’s really good that Tokyo gave us the opportunity to open the stage for this debate,” Biles said. “So I think now the athletes are a little more in tune and we just trust our instincts. »
And Biles had the instinct to come back, she had to do it on his terms. This meant taking intentional steps to ensure that her life was no longer defined by her gymnastics.
She married Chicago Bears guard Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023 and the two are building a house in the northern suburbs of Houston that they hope to move into soon after Biles returns from Paris.
Biles heads to France perhaps as the face of the American Olympic movement, even though she is well aware that the more than a million people watching the competition next month will be watching to see if the demons that derailed her in Tokyo resurface.
And while she still experiences moments of anxiety, including during last year’s world championships, she has put protective measures in place. She meets with a therapist every week, even during competition season, something she didn’t do in preparation for the 2020 Games.
The Americans will bring their oldest women’s team ever to the Games, as Biles’s unmatched longevity — she hasn’t lost a competition she started and finished since 2013 — and the NCAA’s loosening of name, image and likeness rules have made it possible. Carey, 24, Chiles, 23 and Lee, 21, will continue to compete while enjoying their newfound fame.
They drew on this experience during a sometimes grueling meeting which saw the main contenders clash Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely And Kayla DiCello They came out with leg injuries that put them out of the race weeks before the potential realization of a lifelong dream.
Watching good friends leave the arena in tears reminded us how thin the line between succeeding and not succeeding can be. Biles has been on the right side of that line longer than she expected. She’s going to try to take advantage of it, with the pressure and everything.
She may have taken things too lightly in 2021. She intends to not let that happen this time around.
“I feel like success is what I make it,” she said. “I feel like at the moment I managed to participate in the Olympic trials and be part of the Paris Olympic team. So we’ll see from there.
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PA Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/jeux-olympiques-de-paris-2024