On her way to making her second Olympic team, Simone Biles ran into doubts. Sometime during night two of U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials Sunday, they found a way into her head.
Could she be as spectacular as everyone thought she should be? Could she perform as well as she thought she was capable of?
As the night unfolded, even in front of a crowd that adored her, Biles found it hard to maintain her confidence. She took hops backward on her vault landings and made mistakes on the uneven bars. On the 4-inch wide balance beam, she wobbled, put her hands down on it and then fell off, stomping away after completing her stunningly difficult dismount, as her eyes filled with tears.
To end her night, she stepped out of bounds twice during her floor exercise routine, though the fans did not care. They cheered as she flew so high on her tumbling passes that she seemed to threaten to scrape the arena’s ceiling. A sea of cellphones rose in the stands to record her. Security guards and food workers rushed from the hallways to the edge of the stands to peek at her.
But Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, cared.
“Simone, night one, kicked Simone, night two’s butt,” she said, referring to her performance Friday when she dominated the field by nearly 3 points, a chasm in a sport where competitors are often separated by less than a point.
“At the end of the day, it is what it is,” she said. “It wasn’t my best performance. I kind of got in my head today.”
Biles, 24, still finished first in the all-around at Olympic trials, ahead of Sunisa Lee, 18, of St. Paul, Minnesota, to continue her winning streak that began in 2013. If Biles successfully defends her all-around Olympic title, she will be the first woman to do so in more than 50 years.
Her supporting cast in the team event in Tokyo will be Lee, Jordan Chiles, 20, from Vancouver, Washington, and Grace McCallum, 18, of Isanti, Minnesota. They will try to win the team gold medal for the United States for the third consecutive games.
Two other gymnasts, Jade Carey, 21, and MyKayla Skinner, 24, were named to the Olympic team as individual competitors who will serve as event specialists.
Biles and Lee earned automatic berths by finishing first and second in the all-around at the trials. Carey had already secured her spot by virtue of her strong finish in the International Gymnastics Federation’s World Cup series. A USA Gymnastics committee chose the other Olympians after meeting for about 30 minutes once the trials were over.
Chiles was an obvious pick. No one, not even Biles, has been as consistent this year.
At Biles’ invitation, Chiles moved to Texas in 2019 to train at Biles’ gym. It appears to be the best career decision Chiles has ever made.
Chiles has performed 24 consecutive routines this year without a major mistake, an amazing accomplishment in events with minuscule margins for error. Just a few years after she considered quitting the sport because of an overbearing coach and trouble rediscovering her groove, Chiles showed off her explosive and fun floor exercise to end her night. She bent over and put her hands on her knees in a mix of relief and exhilaration.
She had done more than enough to make the Olympic team, and Biles had expected that. The two are both coached by Cecile and Laurent Landi — who now are both going to the Olympics as coaches because each athlete may take one coach — and have grown as close as sisters. On Sunday night, Biles gave Chiles a necklace with the Olympic rings on it, similar to the one she wears, and Chiles immediately put it on.
Juliet Macur
c.2021 The New York Times Company
Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations
