Gymnast Biles says she has gotten better
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Simone Biles wasn’t bragging. That’s never really been her thing. Her tone was confident but not cocky. Sincere without the swagger.
Yes, the defending Olympic champion — who returns to competition for the first time since the 2016 Games when she competes in the U.S. Classic on Saturday night — really does believe she’s better now than she was when she stepped off the podium in Rio de Janeiro two years ago with a record-tying fourth gold medal around her neck.
Asked on Friday how her gymnastics in 2018 stack up against the form she showed in Brazil — when Biles cemented her status as one of her sport’s all-time greats with 10 days of breathtaking performances that left her peers grasping for superlatives — Biles didn’t hesitate. She giggled a bit. But she didn’t hesitate. “I would probably beat her, yeah,” Biles said.
And it only took eight months.
Biles took a lengthy postOlympic breather to enjoy the perks of her newfound fame. She did Dancing With The Stars. She cut commercials. Made the talk show rounds. She moved into her own apartment. She found time for romance.
Then last fall she headed back into the gym her family owns in suburban Houston with no
firm plans and no timetable other than to see what she and new coaches Laurent and Cecile Landi could cook up. At 21, she’s taken more ownership of her routines. The weight of expectations she carried during the buildup to Rio de Janeiro is gone. No matter what happens during the rest of her career, she will always have those five Olympic — oh, and 14 world championship — medals.
They aren’t going anywhere. Neither is she. Let her get one thing out of the way: She didn’t have to come back. She wanted to. “I feel like I have a stronger mindset, and I’m not as nervous,” Biles said. “Not for this particular competition. I still have a lot of nerves I need to get out in the trainings that we have to come, but I feel like I’m in a better place. I trust my body more. I trust my gymnastics more. So overall I’m in a better place.”
Biles has an opponent none of the other women in the field have to face: her legacy. She hasn’t lost a meet in five years. Yet as great as she’s felt in practice, even she’s a little curious about how she’ll respond when the lights come on.
Maybe it’ll be the same as it ever was. Or maybe the nerves that got to her at the 2013 U.S. Classic, when she was removed from the all-around just before the vault after an iffy warm-up, will return, even if only for a minute.