American gymnast Simone Biles looked poised for victory at the 2024 Summer Olympics as she and the other members of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team conducted a podium training at Paris’ Bercy Arena on Friday.
During practice, Biles stuck a complex vault, the Yurchenko double pike. The move is considered the most difficult vault in women’s gymnastics, and it was renamed the Biles II in 2023, after she became the first woman to land it in international competition. It requires a round-off entry onto the springboard, a back handspring onto the vaulting table and two flips with straight legs.
Coach Cécile Landi said Biles is “getting more and more comfortable with” the complicated maneuver.
“I don’t see it like that every day,” said Landi.
Biles declined to speak to the media after the training session.
This is the only time Biles and the other Team USA gymnasts — Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — will have to practice in the arena before beginning qualifying Olympic events Sunday.
Overall, Biles appeared strong and confident as she practiced all four events – bars, beam, floor and vault. Biles is looking for redemption after the Tokyo Olympics when she developed the “twisties,” a phenomenon where gymnasts lose sense of their position in the air. She pulled out of the women’s team final and only competed on the balance beam, earning a bronze medal for a watered-down routine. Since then, Biles has been vocal about how therapy has helped her achieve a better state of mind.
The other members of Team USA mostly matched Biles with solid routines, though Lee, who took home three medals in Tokyo, took a fall on her beam mount.
Landi said that the gymnasts are feeling good about the arena, which features dark seats and pink and white mats.
“The color scheme is awesome,” she said. “We really, really love it, feel, like, at peace with it, it’s calming.”
But the gymnasts are definitely not loving their beds in the Olympic Village, which are constructed out of cardboard as part of the Games’ sustainability efforts. Landi said that as soon as she felt the bed, she knew the team would need a softer landing at night.
“It’s just a little hard, so we just need a little bit of comfort,” she said. All of the gymnasts are getting mattress toppers and cooling sleep systems as part of a partnership between USA Gymnastics and BedJet.
Otherwise, the female gymnasts of Team USA are enjoying their time in the Olympic Village. During the Tokyo Games, the athletes were all confined to a hotel because of the COVID-19 pandemic; there are few coronavirus protections in place in Paris. Landi said she has run into other star athletes, like Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal and American swimmer Katie Ledecky.
“It’s just crazy,” she said. “But that’s what the Olympics are all about.”
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