Current:Home > InvestWhat's it like to train with Simone Biles every day? We asked her teammates. -FutureFinance
What's it like to train with Simone Biles every day? We asked her teammates.
View
Date:2025-04-13 20:10:05
Simone Biles saves her coaches time. And headaches.
When the greatest gymnast the sport has ever seen is grinding away every day, it makes it a little hard for anyone else to slack off. When one of the world’s most famous athletes is at the gym before most people have had their coffee or brushed their teeth, the other gymnasts better be up and at ‘em early, too.
And if Biles can pick herself up after the entire world has had a front-row seat to her lowest moment, bouncing back from a bad meet seems a little more doable.
"She’s the key to WCC’s success right now," said Cecile Landi, who along with husband Laurent coaches Biles at the World Champions Centre outside of Houston.
"People say, 'What’s the secret?’ It’s not Laurent and I," Landi said. "It’s really (Biles)."
Meet Team USA: See which athletes made the U.S. Olympic team and where they are from
Get Olympics updates in your texts! Join USA TODAY Sports' WhatsApp Channel
WCC, which is owned by Biles’ parents Nellie and Ron, has become one of the premier gyms in the country. WCC has two gymnasts on the five-woman US team going to the 2024 Paris Olympics, Biles and Jordan Chiles, with Joscelyn Roberson a traveling alternate and Tiana Sumanasekera a non-traveling alternate. It also sent the most gymnasts, five, to the Olympic trials, and had three more at the US championships.
The Landis are a big part of WCC’s draw. Before coming to WCC, they coached Madison Kocian, a gold medalist with Biles on the 2016 Olympic team and a world champion on uneven bars the year before.
But so is the ability to train with Biles.
"Training with Simone is, like, once in a lifetime," said Roberson, who moved to WCC after the US championships in 2022. "She's always so bubbly in the gym. Plus, she can hit. All the time. Like, she never has a bad day, which is insane to me."
Biles would disagree. Although she might make it look easy, even as she’s doing the most difficult skills in the world, it is not. She’s only able to do the mind-blowing things she does because she works. And works. And works some more.
The other WCC gymnasts see that and can’t help but up their own game in response, Cecile Landi said.
"A lot of people are surprised how hard she works on a daily basis," Landi said. "No matter how talented she is, she gets the numbers done. She's here, she works, she is respectful. And she's also helping the girls because she's been through a lot, so when they struggle − I can try to help, but I'm just Cecile. It’s better when it comes from Simone."
Roberson can vouch for that.
More:Meet NBC's Olympic gymnastics broadcaster who will help you understand Simone Biles’ moves
She suffered a "dumpster fire" of an ankle injury during warmups before the team final at last year’s world championships, tearing the deltoid ligament and a tendon, and bruising several bones. Roberson’s recovery was slow, and it was tough emotionally and physically. When Biles saw her struggling, she bought a card and left it on Roberson’s locker.
"It said, 'Keep trying.’ It was just a personal reminder that the little things will add up eventually. 1% better every day, and you’ll get there," Roberson recalled. "I kept it up on my locker and saw it every single day. It really helped."
Biles will also give her teammates tips on technique. Or reminders of what to do on certain skills. As any athlete knows, there are times what a coach is saying doesn’t make sense. Hear it from someone else, or hear it said in a different way, and it does.
"She can say exactly what (Laurent) is saying but differently. And most of the time it works just like that," Roberson said, snapping her fingers.
Jade Carey may not train with Biles, but they are both Tokyo Olympians and have remained friends. When Carey was getting ready to do her Amanar vault at Olympic trials in June, Biles stood alongside the runaway, telling Carey to remember to run easy and step forward.
Biles also stood in the corners, cheering, as Carey did her floor routine.
"It’s just really great to have someone like her supporting all of us and helping us get through it," Carey said.
On and off the floor.
OPINION:Simone Biles changed gymnastics. Now, it has to be more accessible for kids of color
Biles has built up a wealth of knowledge after more than a decade at the elite level, and is happy to share it with her younger teammates. She’ll explain the schedule at a world championships. What to expect at podium training. How to calm nerves before competing. Even what to do during a medals ceremony.
Those might sound like small things, Chiles said, but they make a big difference.
"I understand the process a little more," Chiles said. "Whether it’s my first Olympics, whether it's my first international assignment, whether it's my second Olympic trials, she's been there for me in a million different ways and I can't say thank you enough."
As much as Biles’ teammates get from her, however, she's getting something in return from them, too. She loves being part of a team. Loves having people she can joke around and be silly with, and people who can lift her up when she needs it, too.
She also craves the normalcy they provide her.
Biles knows she is not like other gymnasts. That what she’s doing is extraordinary. But the Landis and her teammates see her every day. If they stood around in awe of her all the time, no one would get any work done.
So they treat her as one of them, even though they’re keenly aware she is one of one.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
veryGood! (2578)
Related
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Travis Scott Will Not Face Criminal Charges Over Astroworld Tragedy
- Plan to Save North Dakota Coal Plant Faces Intense Backlash from Minnesotans Who Would Help Pay for It
- Louisville appoints Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel as first Black woman to lead its police department
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- New Mexico Could Be the Fourth State to Add a Green Amendment to Its Constitution, But Time Is Short
- Inside Clean Energy: Natural Gas Prices Are Rising. Here’s Why That Helps the Cleanest (and Dirtiest) Electricity Sources
- Glee’s Kevin McHale Recalls Jenna Ushkowitz and Naya Rivera Confronting Him Over Steroid Use
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Shawn Johnson East Shares the Kitchen Hacks That Make Her Life Easier as a Busy Mom
Ranking
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- White House to establish national monument honoring Emmett Till
- Biden bets big on bringing factories back to America, building on some Trump ideas
- The life and possible death of low interest rates
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- Nature’s Say: How Voices from Hawai’i Are Reframing the Climate Conversation
- Frustrated airline travelers contend with summer season of flight disruptions
- Video: Aerial Detectives Dive Deep Into North Carolina’s Hog and Poultry Waste Problem
Recommendation
Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
Gen Z is the most pro union generation alive. Will they organize to reflect that?
Black man who says he was elected mayor of Alabama town alleges that White leaders are keeping him from position
In San Francisco’s Most Polluted Neighborhood, the Polluters Operate Without Proper Permits, Reports Say
Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
In the Latest Rights of Nature Case, a Tribe Is Suing Seattle on Behalf of Salmon in the Skagit River
The Biden Administration Rethinks its Approach to Drilling on Public Lands in Alaska, Soliciting Further Review
Ocean Warming Doubles Odds for Extreme Atlantic Hurricane Seasons