Current:Home > ScamsWhat's it like to train with Simone Biles every day? We asked her teammates. -CapitalWay
What's it like to train with Simone Biles every day? We asked her teammates.
View
Date:2025-04-14 02:58:43
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! (7)
Related
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- NASA is launching 3 sounding rockets into space during the solar eclipse. Here's why
- Drawing nears for $1.09 billion Powerball jackpot that is 9th largest in US history
- Voters reject Jackson County stadium measure for Kansas City Chiefs, Royals
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Woman extradited from Italy is convicted in Michigan in husband’s 2002 death
- YouTuber Aspyn Ovard Files for Divorce From Parker Ferris Same Day She Announces Birth of Baby No. 3
- Uvalde mayor resigns citing health issues in wake of controversial report on 2022 school shooting
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- New York inmates say a prison lockdown for the eclipse violates religious freedom: Lawsuit
Ranking
- Sam Taylor
- Kristen Wiig's Target Lady to tout Target Circle Week sale, which runs April 7-13
- Target's car seat trade-in event kicks off April 14. Here's what to know.
- 12 Festival Dresses You’ll Want To Pack for Coachella & Stagecoach That’re Sexy, Flowy, and Showstoppers
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- Storms cause damage across Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee; millions still face severe weather warnings
- To the parents of a newly-diagnosed child on World Autism Day: One day you will bake a cake
- Wisconsin governor vetoes transgender high school athletics ban
Recommendation
A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
Pepe Aguilar is putting Mexican culture at the front and center with ‘Jaripeo: Hasta Los Huesos’
Watch Cher perform 'Believe' with Jennifer Hudson at the iHeartRadio Music Awards
Tribes blast South Dakota governor’s claim that leaders are benefitting from drug cartels
Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
Embattled University of Arizona president plans 2026 resignation in midst of financial crisis
Big Time Rush's Kendall Schmidt and Wife Mica von Turkovich Welcome Their First Baby
Arizona congressman Raúl Grijalva says he has cancer, but plans to work while undergoing treatment