Simone Biles qualifies for 2024 Olympics, wins at US trials

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — They all had a reason to come back. Piece by piece.

Simone Biles reflects on those painful two weeks in Japan three years ago when the gymnastics superstar put her mental health and safety ahead of glory, a decision that inspired some and angered others.

Suni Lee to prove – perhaps most of all to herself – that the gold medal she earned while Biles watched from the stands was no coincidence.

Jordan Chiles will convert the team silver she helped secure at the 2020 Games into gold.

Jade Carey officially joins the five-woman Olympic squad after qualifying as an individual qualifier in Tokyo. The opportunity wasn’t available to the U.S. this time around, and frankly, she wasn’t interested in trying again.

They’re all stepping back into the spotlight, including 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera, who can only be found on the sport’s biggest stage.

Their reasons are very personal. Their motivation, however, is not.

“This is definitely our redemption tour,” Biles said after clinching a third trip to the Olympics by winning the U.S. Trials on Sunday night. “I feel like we all have more to give.”

Perhaps none more so than Biles, who at 27 is the oldest American woman to make an Olympic gymnastics team since the 1950s. She never expected she’d still be doing this, almost a decade after becoming a crossover sensation at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

And here she is. Still working. Still pushing. Not to silence the critics who still mention her on social media and wonder if she will “resign” again, but because she is determined to make the most of her remarkable talent.

“Nobody’s making me do it,” said Biles, who posted a two-day total of 117.225 to claim the all-around by nearly six points over Lee. “I wake up every day and choose to grind in the gym and come out here and perform for myself. Just to remind myself that I can still do it.”

And that at a level that no one else in her sport – and when she is at her best, perhaps in sport in general – can match.

A trip to France has never really been in doubt since Biles returned from a two-year hiatus last summer. All she has done in the past 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and capture her eighth and ninth national championships – both records – while doing the toughest gymnastics of her life.

She will be a prohibitive favorite when she steps onto the Bercy Arena floor, although there is plenty to work on before the women’s qualifying on July 28. Yet there are also things that need to be cleaned up in the next four weeks.

Biles backed off after landing her Yurchenko double pike jump, a testament to both the difficulty of the jump and the sheer force she generates during a skill that few male gymnasts attempt and even fewer land so cleanly.

She jumped off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, though she wasn’t as frustrated as she was during a sloppy performance on Friday, during which she uttered an expletive for all the world to see.

Biles closed with a flourish on the floor exercise, her signature event. While there was a slight step out of bounds, there was also the unparalleled world-class tumbling that recently got a shoutout by pop star Taylor Swiftwhose song “Ready For It” opens Biles’ routine.

She stepped off the stage to a standing ovation and then sat atop the steps to take in the moment in what could be her last round of competition on American soil for a long time. Maybe ever.

Biles dodged questions about what’s to come. That can wait. It’s been a long, winding road back to this moment. She’s determined to enjoy it, even if she’s part of a team that “will have a lot of weight on our shoulders.”

She believes that she and her teammates can handle this better. That is perseverance

“It’s really nice that Tokyo gave us the opportunity to open up that stage for that conversation,” Biles said. “And so I think athletes are a little bit more in tune with each other now and we’re just trusting what our gut says.”

And Biles’ gut told her that if she wanted to come back, she had to do it on her terms. That meant taking intentional steps to ensure her life was no longer defined by her gymnastics.

She married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023 and the two are building a home in the northern suburbs of Houston where they hope to move soon after Biles returns from Paris.

Biles travels to France to perhaps become the face of the American Olympic movement. However, she knows that some of the millions of people who will tune in next month will want to see if the demons that upset her in Tokyo resurface.

And while there are still moments of anxiety — including at last year’s world championships — she has taken precautions to protect herself. She meets with a therapist weekly, even during the competition season, something she didn’t do in preparation for the 2020 Games.

The Americans will bring their oldest-ever women’s team to the Games, as Biles’ unparalleled longevity — she hasn’t lost a match she’s started and finished in since 2013 — and the loosening of rules around name, image and likeness at the NCAA level make possible made. Carey (24), Chiles (23) and Lee (21) continue to compete while capitalizing on their newfound fame.

They have relied on that experience during a sometimes harrowing encounter with leading contenders Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely And Kayla DiCello with leg injuries that kept them out of action for weeks before the potential realization of a lifelong dream.

Watching close friends leave the arena in tears was a reminder of how thin the line between making it and not making it can be. Biles has been on the right side of that line for longer than she ever expected. She’s going to try to enjoy it, pressure and all.

She may have gone too far in 2021. She is determined not to let that happen this time.

“I feel like success is just what I make it,” she said. “I feel like I have now been successful in competing in Olympic trials and making the Paris Olympic team. So we’ll see from there.”

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games