MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — They all had a reason to come back. Each of them.
Simone Biles will forget those harrowing two weeks in Japan three years ago, when the gymnastics superstar prioritized her mental health and safety over her fame, a decision that inspired some and infuriated others.
Suni Lee wants to prove – perhaps more than anything in the world – that the all-around gold medal she won while Biles watched from the stands was no fluke.
Jordan Chiles will turn the team silver medal she helped secure at the 2020 Games into gold.
Jade Carey will officially be a member of the five-woman Olympic team after earning her spot in Tokyo as an individual qualifier, a path that wasn’t available to the United States this time around and, frankly, one she had no desire to explore again anyway.
They’re all returning to the unique spotlight — oh, and also 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera — 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 on Sunday night. “I feel like we all have more to give.”
No one is more gifted than Biles, who, at 27, is the oldest American to join an Olympic gymnastics team since the 1950s. She never expected to still be doing the job almost a decade later becoming a 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 sport in general – can match.
A trip to France has never really been in doubt since Biles returned from a two-year hiatus last summer. All she has done in the past 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and claim her eighth and ninth national championships — both records — while performing the toughest gymnastics of her life.
She will be a big favourite when she steps on the pitch at Bercy Arena, even if she still has a lot of work to do before the women’s qualifiers on 28 July. However, there are things to sort out over the next four weeks.
Biles reversed after landing her Yurchenko double pike, a testament to both the difficulty of the vault and the immense power she generates during a skill that few male gymnasts attempt, much less land as cleanly.
She jumped off the beam after failing to land her side jump, although 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 a flourish on the floor exercise, her signature event. While there was a small step out of bounds, there was also an unmatched world-class tumbling that has recently attracted attention. by pop star Taylor Swiftwhose song “Ready For It” opens Biles’ routine.
She stepped off the podium to a standing ovation, then sat at the top of the steps to enjoy the moment, which could be her last competition on American soil for a long time. Maybe forever.
Biles has sidestepped 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 she and her teammates are in a better position to deal with it. That’s what lasts.
“It’s really nice that Tokyo gave us this opportunity to open up this stage for this conference,” Biles said. “And so I think now the athletes are a little bit more tuned in and we’re just trusting what our gut is telling us.”
And Biles had the instinct to come back, she had to do it on her terms. That meant taking intentional steps to ensure 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 encounter that saw the main contenders face off Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely And Kayla DiCello They came out with leg injuries that took them out of the mix weeks before a lifelong dream could potentially come true.
Watching her friends leave the arena in tears reminds her of how thin the line between success and failure can be. Biles has been on the right side of that line for longer than she thought. She’s going to try to make the most of it, despite the pressure.
She may have gotten a head start in 2021. She intends not to 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/paris-olympics-2024
