MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Simone Biles is heading back to the Olympics. So are some of her friends.
The gymnastics superstar earned her third trip to her sport’s biggest stage with a victory at the U.S. Olympic Trails on Sunday night, posting a two-day total of 117.225 to earn the lone automatic spot on the five-woman team.
Three years removed from the Tokyo Olympics — where she dropped out of several finals to prioritize her safety and became a touchstone for the importance of mental health in the process — Biles is returning to the Games as ever at 27.
“Trusting the process (of my coaches), I knew I’d be back,” Biles said.
Piles didn’t go it alone.
Reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey, 2020 Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles and 16-year-old Hesley Rivera made the five-woman team on Sunday night. Jocelyn Roberson and Leann Wong are alternates.
A trip to France has never really been in doubt for Biles since returning from a two-year hiatus last summer. All he has done in the last 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and his eighth and ninth national championships – two achievements – while further cementing his status as the sport’s all-time great.
Biles will be the prohibitive favorite to retain the Olympic gold she won in 2016, although there is plenty of work ahead of the women’s qualifiers on July 28.
She pulled back after landing the Yurchenko double pikes vault, a testament to both the difficulty of the vault and the immense power she generates during the performance, something few male gymnasts attempt and even cleanly land less.
Biles bounced off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, though she wasn’t as frustrated as she was during a sloppy performance Friday that spelled her out for all the world to see.
Biles finished with her signature event, the floor exercise. Despite being a small step across the border, there was an unprecedented world-class glitch that recently attracted an outcry. From pop star Taylor SwiftThe song “Ready For It” opens Biles’ routine.
He stood up from the stage to a standing ovation, then sat down on the steps to take a moment in his last competitive round on American soil.
Next stop, Paris, where the Americans are trying to return to the top of the podium after finishing second to Russia three years ago.
Piles, who will step onto the floor at the Percy Arena in four weeks’ time, is not one to leave Tokyo.
She has taken deliberate steps to ensure that her life is no longer defined by gymnastics. Biles married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023, and the two are believed to be building a home in the northern Houston suburbs shortly after Biles returns from Paris.
Biles heads to France as the face of the US Olympic movement, though she knows well that more than a few of the millions who will be watching next month will test whether the demons that derailed her in Tokyo resurface.
She put safeguards in place to protect herself — including at last year’s world championships — when there were still moments of anxiety. He sees a therapist weekly, even during the competitive season, which he hasn’t done in preparation for the 2020 Games.
Biles and the four other women who will join her in France will be considered favourites, especially since Olympic champion Russia has been unable to compete as part of the war in Ukraine.
Biles’ unmatched longevity — she hasn’t lost a meet since 2013 — and the Americans will take their oldest women’s team to ease rules regarding name, likeness and uniform rules at the NCAA level. Carey (24), Chiles (23) and Lee (21) must simultaneously cash in on their newfound fame and continue the competition.
They rely on that experience to get back to the moment during a sometimes painful encounter that saw the top contenders. Shilize Jones, Sky Blakely And Kayla DiCello Walk out with leg injuries weeks before opening ceremonies.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
