FORT WORTH, Texas – There was a time when Simone Biles he would find “beauty in blindness” before the Olympics, reveling in not knowing what he didn’t know.
That was eight years ago. When she was still just a teenager. Still a bit “stupid”.
Those days are long gone. The evidence isn’t just in Biles’ driver’s license or her marriage certificate, but in how the 27-year-old is able to see beyond herself. The limited vision that most great athletes have in pursuit of greatness has disappeared.
And perhaps that’s the biggest difference between the national title the gymnastics star won on Sunday night – her ninth, this one with an overall total of 119.750 – and her first more than a decade ago.
The defining moment of Biles’ victory was not a twist, a turn or a jump, but rather a walk.
It happened early on, when Biles saw 2020 Olympic champion and good friend Sunisa Lee spin awkwardly in the air during her jump and land on her back, a mix of surprise and fear spreading across her face.
“I was thinking this was over,” Lee said.
Then Biles appeared at his side, unbidden. She knew exactly where Lee was at that moment better than anyone.
Three years ago at the Tokyo Games, a similar wayward jump by Biles started a chain of events that led to her withdrawing from several competitions and dragging the discussion about the importance of mental health into the spotlight.
Watching Lee, who has spent most of the last two years fighting kidney problems who made her yo-yo weight and complicated her training, trying to pull herself together, Biles left her World Champions Center teammates and gave Lee the kind of support Biles relied on so much in Japan.
“I know how traumatizing it is, especially on a big stage like this,” Biles said. “And I didn’t want her to get into my head, so we just went and talked about it.”
The two stepped back to talk, with Biles reminding Lee that she “could do hard things.”
When they returned, Biles was on the side of the uneven bars cheering Lee on as she bounced back with a brilliant (if somewhat watered down) routine that scored a 14.500 and helped her finish a promising fourth place.
“I know I was going through hard times and she was just there to help me get back on my feet,” Lee said.
Biles is at an unparalleled stage in her career where the joy she derives from sport is no longer centered strictly on the quality of her performance.
Although she joked that she believes she’s “aging like fine wine,” it’s telling that she saved her biggest smile later when talking about the five World Champions Center teammates — most of them a decade younger — who will join her at the Olympic Trials in Minneapolis later. this month.
“That’s what excites me, because I think they have long careers ahead of them,” Biles said. “So if I can do anything to help them, now and in the future, that’s what I’ll do.”
It’s her way of giving back. She is well aware of the spotlight that awaits her in Paris and is trying to set an example for others on how to deal with the pressure that is to come. She became a regular in therapy – right now during meeting weeks – and is determined to focus on what she can control.
Like, say, your gymnastics.
In front of an audience that included her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, Biles put on a four-wheeler clinic that featured all the hallmarks of a typical Biles performance. There was jaw-dropping athleticism mixed with precision and more than a touch of arrogance.
Biles finished with the highest two-day score in all four events, something she had only done once at nationals (2018).
His only misstep on Sunday was on the jump. She failed her double Yurchenko spear—two back handsprings with her hands behind her knees—during the warm-up and overcompensated when needed, generating so much force that she ended up lying on her back. She even received 15,000 for her effort, a test of a jump that has never been completed in competition by another woman and only attempted by a select group of men.
Not that it bothered her. Biles composed herself, took a few deep breaths and followed by a jump from Cheng that was rewarded with 15.1 and put her ninth national title within her reach. No other gymnast in U.S. sports history has more than seven.
While Biles remains above the fray as ever, there is plenty of competition for the other four spots on the five-woman American team that will head to Paris as the heavy favorite to return to the top of the podium after finishing second to Russia in Tokyo, three years ago.
Skye Blakely, 19, had another impressive performance and will head to Minneapolis with plenty of momentum. Three years after his bid to be part of the 2020 Olympic team ended with an injuryBlakely is peaking at the right time.
Lee remains a picture of elegance on bars and beam, her best events, and was encouraged after her first elite all-around competition since triumphing in Tokyo as Biles cheered from the stands.
Olympians Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey are in contention, although both suffered falls on beam on Sunday. Third-place Kayla DiCello slipped on the uneven bars.
Then there’s Shilese Jones, considered the best all-around gymnast in the United States without the last name Biles, who was withdrawn from the championships on Friday, citing a shoulder injury, although she said on Sunday that she was feeling better and plans to be available for tests. The same will happen to 18-year-old Kaliya Lincoln, who opted not to compete on Sunday after making some adjustments during Friday night’s opening session.
Both – if healthy – appear to be serious candidates for an invitation to Paris (Jones in particular).
Biles’ ticket is essentially punctured. The same as it always was.
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