“To do something that I’ve done forever and just not be able to do it because of everything I’ve gone through is really crazy because I love this sport so much,” she said during the interview. In October 2021, Biles opened up on NBC’s Today about how her relationship has changed with the sport after both her Tokyo Olympics run and the abuse of Larry Nassar, saying at the time that things are “just not the same” and that she’s “still scared to do gymnastics.” “Every athlete is at a different place in their season and career, and we will support each of them, wherever they are in their journey.”įollowing the announcement of Biles’ return, Team USA also wrote on its Twitter account, “BILES IS BACK.” Classic,” Stefanie Korepin, USA Gymnastics chief programs officer, said in a statement. “It is exciting to think about the level of talent and historical legacy of the field that may compete at U.S. The key for her will be to find the right balance that she mastered while experiencing the kind of crossover success reserved for select few Olympic champions.The Paris 2024 Olympics? NBCUniversal Rolls Out a Campaign to "Save the Date" (Exclusive) Registering for the Classic is but one step in several that she’ll need to make over the next 14 months. She’s maintained since she left Japan that she wouldn’t rush into any decision attempting to make a run at Paris, stressing all along that she would only return to the sport she dominated for so long because she wants to and not out of a sense of duty. They will all arrive in Chicago sharpened by having competed regularly since Tokyo.īiles, by contrast, is in a different place. Wong, the 2021 world championship silver medalist, has helped Florida reach the national finals each of the last two years. Chiles, who won a team silver in Tokyo and added three medals - including silvers on floor and vault - at the world championships last fall, has thrived at UCLA. The easing of name, image and likeness rules at the NCAA level have allowed Lee and several other top Americans like Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Leanne Wong to not be forced to choose between competing collegiately and cashing in on their Olympic success.Ĭarey, the 2020 Olympic champion on floor exercise and the 2022 world champion on vault, has spent the last two years at Oregon State. Then again, Biles is also competing at a time when it is becoming more commonplace for elite gymnasts to compete well into their 20s and beyond.
woman in the last 50 years to be selected for three Olympic teams. Dominique Dawes (1992, 19) is the only U.S. She appears to be plotting a more subdued path as she tries to make a third Olympic team, a rarity for an American female gymnast. Lee placed third on bars in Tokyo, due in no small part to the attention she received in the immediate aftermath of becoming the fifth straight American woman to win the Olympic title.īiles became adept at navigating the various demands of her time as her stardom rose. Lee missed the second half of her sophomore year with the Tigers while grappling with health issues but is eyeing a return to the Olympics not necessarily to defend her all-around title but to take another shot at gold on uneven bars, her signature event. Classic after spending two years competing at Auburn, where she helped spearhead a massive uptick in interest in collegiate gymnastics. Sunisa Lee, who won gold in the all-around final in Tokyo, will also be at the U.S. She’s kept her various social media channels almost entirely gymnastics-free, instead using them to highlight snippets of her personal life.Īnd for the first time since rising to stardom as a teenager in 2013, Biles won’t have to shoulder the burden of being the standard bearer for the U.S. She appears to be taking a more subdued approach with the Paris Games about a year away.
Things could be different this time around, in more ways than one.īiles courted the spotlight during her run-up to Tokyo, becoming in many ways the face of the U.S. It took her all of two hours to show she remained the gold standard in her sport, setting the stage for another spectacular run that included two more world all-around championships in 20 and three more national titles. Classic is one of the marquee events on USA Gymnastics’ annual calendar and typically serves as a warm-up of sorts for the national championships, this year scheduled for late August in San Jose.īiles used the Classic as her comeback meet in 2018 following a two-year hiatus after her record medals haul in Rio de Janeiro.
0 kommentar(er)
