USA TODAY International Edition
Balancing competition, fame
Armour: Biles on being face of Tokyo Olympics
INDIANAPOLIS – The notion of filling the void left by Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, of being the face of the Tokyo Olympics, it would be overwhelming if Simone Biles let herself think about it too much.
So she doesn’t.
Oh, she knows what’s coming. She remembers Phelps and Bolt being everywhere she looked in the months leading up to the Rio Games. Same before London. With both now retired, the Olympics needs a new icon and, as the world’s most dominant athlete these last four years – not just gymnast, mind you, athlete – Biles is the logical choice.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Biles acknowledged Monday, as she and the rest of the women’s national team did interviews ahead of their first training camp of the Olympic year.
“But I ignore most of it. I don’t really watch a lot of TV. So I think anything I see comes up on social media or is sent to me,” she said. “I don’t know. I like to take it day by day. But it is weird and it’s kind of scary. But, ehhh. We’ll deal with it when it comes.”
Biles is already familiar with life in the fishbowl. Her size – she’s 4- 8 – makes her immediately recognizable when she goes out. Her gravity- defying tricks have mesmerized people who can barely manage a cartwheel, and her willingness to own her greatness and use her voice on behalf of those who don’t have one have resonated with those who wouldn’t otherwise care about sports.
But she has learned not to get caught up in others’ expectations – her own are high enough. And her performance at last year’s world championships reminded her that preparation is the surest way to quiet the nerves.
Throughout the competition, women from pretty much every country were wobbling and bobbling on balance beam. Falls and errors have a way of being contagious, particularly on an apparatus that is a mere 4 inches wide and stands 4 feet off the floor.
Biles won the world title on beam in 2014 and 2015 and was the favorite for gold on the event in Rio. But her foot slipped on the landing of a front tuck, and she had to grab the beam to keep from falling off. Though she still won the bronze medal, the error shook her confidence.
“I was pretty proud of my bronze medal, but I felt disappointed that I let a lot of people down because it wasn’t a gold,” Biles said. “It’s a weird feeling. Especially going through it.”
Another wobbly performance at the 2018 world championships, which also earned her a bronze, only deepened her angst.
But coach Cecile Landi reworked Biles’ routine and, with it, her self- confidence. With one hit routine after another in practice, the doubts faded. So much so that when Sunisa Lee fell off the beam during team finals, where teams have to count all three scores on each event, the increased pressure didn’t faze Biles a bit.
Her 14.433 was the top score of the entire night on the event. She would go on to post the highest score on beam during the all- around final and win the individual beam title.
“At worlds, before I went up, I knew I was going to hit a routine. That was a different feeling, that I’ve never had before,” Biles said. “Before I was like, ‘ Eeesh, I don’t know how this is going to go.’ But at worlds, every routine I went up for, I knew there was no possibility of me falling. I was so consistent in training.”
Her beam title revived talk about Biles winning five gold medals in Tokyo, something no female gymnast has ever done. But Biles pushes that to the back of her mind, along with her looming status as a global superstar.
She didn’t come back following a one- year break after Rio to win medals or set records or become a global superstar. She did it to push boundaries and see what she was capable of.
“How mentally strong I am,” Biles said when asked how she is most different from four years ago. “Because in 2016, I thought I was pretty strong. But coming back – it’s not easy. You test yourself and your limits.”
There are plenty of athletes who dominate their sports. But those who make us rethink what is possible? Who remind us that the only thing exceeding the wonders of the human body are those of the human spirit?
They are rare, indeed. And Biles is every bit deserving of being in their company.