Back on top of the world
Arguably best gymnast of all time, Biles carries sport on her shoulders
BOSTON — On the competition floor, Simone Biles in 2018 is as Simone Biles was in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 — the best female gymnast in the world, arguably the best of all time, with the determination and the ability to be even better.
Life away from the floor, however, is considerably changed — some of it through the inevitable transition from 16-year-old wunderkind to 21-year-old adult, some of it through the continuing implosion of the sport to which Biles has devoted much of her life.
Even as Biles returned to competition after a two-year absence at USA Gymnastics’ national championships that conclude Sunday night, lawyers were huddled in New York, working on mediation to settle one of the myriad lawsuits filed against the federation in the Larry Nassar case.
Also, two of Biles’ former teammates, Madison Kocian and Kyla Ross, were on her television screen, speaking of how they, too, were violated by Nassar under the guise of medical care. With Kocian’s disclosure, four of five members of the 2016 Olympic team — Kocian, Aly Raisman, Gabrielle Douglas and Biles herself — have identified themselves as among Nassar’s victims.
In a year so characterized by sorrow and recriminations, Biles’ return to competition has been one of the sport’s few visible high spots — so much so that it was not out of the question to consider whether at 4 feet
8, standing on two cranky feet with bummed-up toes, Simone Biles of Spring, Texas, is being asked to carry the collective weight of USA Gymnastics on her shoulders.
“That’s a lot of the feedback I get,” she said. “It’s kind of crazy. It’s not fair to me, because I can’t carry the whole gymnastics world on me, but I guess it’s kind of exciting that I can bring some happiness back to the sport.”
Biles, however, continues to push the envelope in terms of routine difficulty and competitive determination as she gears up for what likely will be a return to the world championships in Doha, Qatar, and a run-up to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Even with a layoff of almost two full years, including a round of promotional appearances, a new boyfriend, a new dog and her first tentative steps toward independent adulthood, Biles appears just as fast, just as strong, just as determined, if not more so, as when she won four gold medals and a bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
While she still is prone to fits of giggles and “that’s crazy” responses to myriad developments, she also can be direct and to the point when the occasion warrants, as when she was asked Friday night while she continues to add new skills when her existing skills are good enough to lap anyone in the world.
“Because it’s what I’m capable of,” she replied.
Similarly, Biles demonstrated this weekend that she is assuming some of the veteran leadership that befits her status in the sport.
Other than appearances before congressional committees, USA Gymnastics and its president and CEO, Kerry Perry, have not answered detailed questions about the operational changes coming to the sport and its efforts to enact reforms that will prevent the rise of another abuser in the mold of Nassar.
Biles disclosed in a social media post in January that she had been abused by Nassar but has not joined in any of the lawsuits against Nassar, USA Gymnastics or former national team coordinators Bela and Martha Karolyi, whose Sam Houston National Forest ranch housed the former national team training center where several gymnasts have said they were abused by Nassar.
She described feeling guilty about the realization she had been abused but then wrote, “It was not my fault. No, I will not and should not carry the guilt that belongs to Larry Nassar, USAG, and others.”
In a Twitter message posted after Thursday’s CBS News interviews with Ross and Kocian, Biles wrote, “this breaks my heart. Sobbing … but they’re SO strong. Inspiring. I love y’all!!”
Asked this week if she was satisfied with the direction of the federation, Biles said, “I’m not sure yet. Hopefully it’s going in the right direction, but nobody can know until Kerry Perry speaks up.”
Biles said she has “not had too much interaction” with Perry, and when asked if she would like to hear more from the CEO, replied, “Yes, it’s her job.”
Such comments, said Valorie Kondos Field, the longtime gymnastics coach at UCLA, reflects that while others within USA Gymnastics have the titles, Biles has the power if and when she chooses to use it.
“She’s the only reason they shut down the (Karolyi Ranch training center) when they did,” Kondos Field said. “They need her desperately. Desperately.
“Simone is going to do what is right. She has great people around her. I love the fact that she is in such a position of power. Right now, USA Gymnastics needs Simone Biles more than Simone needs USAG.”
Biles’ recent remarks also are in keeping with what Ron and Nellie Biles, her parents, describe as her more independent spirit in the months following her triumphs at the Rio Olympics.
“What you’re observing is a young adult, one who is more mature than the Simone of two years ago,” Nellie Biles said.
Appreciates naps now
Nellie Biles describes Simone’s life at 21 as a hybrid existence.
“She decides when she wants to be independent,” Nellie Biles said. “She can be an adult when she wants to be, and then give her a couple of hours and it’s ‘Dad, can you do this for me? Dad, can you do that?’ I’ll say, ‘I thought you were an adult,’ and she’ll say, ‘I know, but I still want you to do this.’ ”
She has the freedom to spend as much time as she wants at the Biles home while also retaining a residence elsewhere. She’s always at the family home for Sunday dinner, Nellie Biles said, but otherwise cooks for herself and does her own laundry.
“I still struggle with wanting to tell her what to do, but I also find myself listening more now. When we get together now, it’s quality time. We talk about things she would like advice about, and if she wants to be silly and giggly and whatever, we enjoy that, too.”
Also, two years removed from teasing her older Olympic teammate Aly Raisman as “Grandma” for her insistence on postpractice naps, Simone Biles now indulges in a postpractice snoozle.
“She said, ‘Mom, now I appreciate naps,’ ” Nellie Biles said.
When not napping or spending time with her boyfriend, former Ohio State gymnast Stacey Ervin Jr., and her French bulldog, Lilo (who recently enlivened a family dinner by showing up on the patio after having tracked down and dispatched a rat), Biles spends 34 hours a week training at the family gym, World Champions Centre in Spring, with her new coaches, Laurent Landi and Cecile CanqueteauLandi.
The Landis took over for Biles’ longtime coach, Aimee Boorman, who moved in late 2016 for a gym in Florida. Biles said she has taken on more responsibility for her own training, pacing herself as needed, but understands she can’t rest on her laurels in a competitive sport.
The Landis said they frequently remind Biles that she chose to come back to gymnastics on her own terms and that she shouldn’t focus on trying to save USA Gymnastics by herself.
“She wants not to care too much about what people say, but sometimes it pushes her a little bit,” Cecile Canqueteau-Landi said. “She loves the sport, and she wants everybody to be able to move on. So she is happy to have this, but it adds pressure, for sure.
“She does so much on a daily basis, not just with gymnastics but with the way she carries herself, She is a good example for people in a lot of way. Her family keeps her down to earth, and so does her charity efforts. That keeps her grounded.”
The latter was on recent display when Biles, in conjunction with her affiliation with Mattress Firm, met with a group of young men and women who were about to exit the foster care system to the daunting challenge of independent living.
Biles was in foster care before she and her younger sister, Adria, were adopted as children by Ron, her grandfather, and Nellie Biles, and she said she hopes to be an example to others who had a longer, more difficult route through the foster care system.
“They hold a special place in my heart,” she said. “I would have been lost. I’m still a little lost at 21. Everybody has to find their way, and we want to help make the path as easy as possible. They all want to persevere. Talking to them, some of them have already found their passions in life, which is exciting at such a young age.”
Kondos Field, the UCLA coach, saw a similar attitude when she was recruiting Biles to attend UCLA. The family arrived in Los Angeles the day after Kondos Field underwent her first chemotherapy session, but she kept the appointment and had started her recruiting pitch when Biles stopped her.
“Before I got into a full sentence, she touched my arm and said, ‘Miss Val, I don’t mean to interrupt, but can I ask a question?’ ” Kondos Field said. “I said, ‘Sure,’ ” and she said, ‘How are you feeling?’ In that moment, I became the biggest Simone Biles fan. Here was a 16-year-old girl I expected to be on her phone, and her first question was how I was feeling.”
‘Tenacious competitor’
Five years and five Olympic medals later, Biles continues to exercise her passion for gymnastics, a love of the sport that explains her perseverance at an age when most elitelevel performers in the U.S. have moved on.
“She is a tenacious competitor,” said Tom Forster, the new high performance coordinator for USA Gymnastics. “She is very nice, but she does not like to lose.
“She has such great technique and such talent. For her to be able to bounce off the floor is critical in our sport, and she does it so effortlessly. But on top of that, her technique is wonderful. Often you don’t get both.”
Forster reaches back a couple of decades in time and upward, in terms of Biles’ diminutive stature, in assessing her continued impact on the sport.
“I would assume that if you were on the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, you would probably hang your hat on that,” he said. “That was a period of history (for the NBA), and this is really historic for our sport. So to be a part of gymnastics at this time is pretty cool.”
There has been, in some limited quarters, murmuring about the attention given to Biles when she has been away from center stage while others, like Hurd, defending national champion Ragan Smith and others have been representing the federation.
“Clearly she is the greatest of all time, and she is just amazing,” Hurd said before competition began. “But I would hope that maybe one of us can come close to catching her.” Perhaps they can. “If they want to do something about it they need to get bouncier and better and keep pushing it,” Forster said. “And then are going to push.”
And Simone Biles, in turn, will push back.
“I don’t want to disappoint anybody, and I don’t want to let myself down out there,” she said. “I always want to give my best performance for me and for everyone else.
“I still have passion for this sport, and I still feel that I have more to give. And that is what brings you back.”