MINNEAPOLIS — Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Simone Biles’ more than decade of redefining what’s possible in gymnastics is how she’s stayed healthy all the while.
She knows the danger that lurks around every turn, every twist, every landing. Blocking it all out and forging ahead may be her greatest skill, and it was put to the test Friday night at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Before Biles could even jump on the uneven bars, her first event, Kayla DiCello’s hopes of joining Biles in Paris ended when she ruptured her right Achilles tendon a few feet away from the vault.
Shortly afterwards, the six-time world championship medallist’s status was thrown into uncertainty as Cirice Jones gingerly pulled her off the floor with a leg injury.
It’s all too much to take in, even for a 27-year-old who has made the impossible seem impossibly easy for so long.
In her words, the whole tournament was “very stressful and very heavy.”
still.
“If we can do this, we can do anything,” she added.
That led to some uncharacteristic sloppy moments early on, but Biles’ signature brilliance shone through late, earning her a total score of 58.900 points and putting her in position to automatically qualify for the five-person team, to be announced Sunday night.
Still, the sight of my two colleagues crying as they left the room was unforgettable, and it was all accompanied by a constant sense of fear that never goes away, no matter how long I’ve been in the job.
“There’s some anxiety,” said Laurent Lundy, Biles’ longtime co-coach. “Okay, am I the next one to get hurt? What’s going to happen to me?”
Randy’s advice was simple and straightforward, and for a long time it was the most effective way to communicate with the biggest stars of the U.S. Olympic movement.
“You can’t control this,” Randy told her, “so control what you can control.”
She did, and there was no doubt that even on nights when she wasn’t at her best, she remained in control of her gymnastics and, perhaps most importantly, her emotions.
Biles was forced to curse on camera after an uncharacteristically sloppy and shaky balance beam performance, but she also received a standing ovation for her Yurchenko double pike vault, which is named after her in the competition’s scoring rules and is one of the most difficult vaults in the world, men’s or women’s.
Same for Biles, who will head to Paris as the favorite to win after winning the Olympic all-around gold medal she won as a teenager in 2016.
A lot has happened since then – marriage, multiple world titles and a memorable trip to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – and she has withdrawn from multiple finals to focus on her mental health.
She took two years off competition after returning from Japan but has looked as good as ever for the best part of the last 12 months, joking that she’s “aging like a fine wine” after winning a record ninth national title earlier this month.
Biles doesn’t seem to be alone.
Jordan Childs, 23, is on track to qualify for the Olympics just as she was three years ago. She finished in the top six in all four events on Friday, a remarkable performance considering an injury earlier this year put her chances of competing in Paris on the line.
Not so much now. But Childs laughed when asked if her previous experience here helped her navigate the mixed emotions of a competition that could change the lives of the five women whose names will be called at the end of the competition.
“No,” Chiles said, “I was just saying this this morning. I was like, ‘No matter what tournaments I’ve ever been in my life, this is the most stressful tournament of my career,’ because it’s like, you find out that night whether you’re going to be there or not.”
Chiles appears set to make a comeback on the sport’s biggest stage, as does reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee.
The 21-year-old Li, who has been battling kidney-related health issues for the better part of the past two years, delivered impressive routines on the uneven bars and balance beam in front of his home crowd, taking third place.
Following Lee was the reigning Olympic champion on floor exercise, 24-year-old Jade Carey. Carey, who has deftly straddled the line between collegiate and elite gymnastics for the past three years, finished second to Biles on vault and fourth on floor exercise.
The biggest question heading into Sunday is who will finish in fifth place. One of the younger competitors among 13, 18-year-old Jocelyn Roberson, came in with a strong set on floor exercise to take fifth place.
But USA Gymnastics officials have stressed that they are not committed to taking the top five finishers in the standings at the end of qualifying in 2021, as was done under their predecessor.
Kariya Lincoln had the second-best score on floor exercise, Hezly Rivera seems to improve with each competition, and 2020 Olympic alternate and four-time world championship medalist Lianne Wong has plenty of international experience.
Jones, the top U.S. gymnast outside of Biles when healthy, has spent much of the past two years essentially considered a sure thing to win, but that likely ended before the competition even officially began.
The 21-year-old arrived at Target Center with a slightly torn labrum in her right shoulder and then sprained her left knee after landing awkwardly while warming up for vault.
She left the stage briefly but returned to be introduced with the other skaters. She skipped the vault in her first rotation but persevered again on her specialty event, the uneven bars.
Jones, who still managed a respectable score of 14.625 despite a slightly weaker performance, carefully left the podium, spending a few minutes speaking with the medical staff before leaving for good.
It’s unclear whether Jones will try on Sunday. What’s clear — and has been clear ever since she made her senior debut in 2013 — is that Biles is there and so are the others.
