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“I did not come this far to solely come this far.” That is the mindset that ultimately satisfied Simone Biles to maintain coaching for the Tokyo Olympics even after they had been postponed for a year, an unprecedented announcement that left the famous person gymnast depressed, she revealed in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday, Feb. 14.
“I actually do not know the way I am gonna do that,” Biles remembered pondering after the postponement was made public. Mentally, she wasn’t certain she may preserve pushing herself by such grueling workouts for one more yr. Biles took seven weeks off and “slept continually,” in accordance with a 60 Minutes preview clip launched at the moment. It was one more pressure on her psychological well being, approaching high of the horrific Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal that implicated a lot of the management at USA Gymnastics. Biles herself was a victim of that abuse, in addition to the dangerous weight loss program and coaching practices used at Karolyi Ranch, the place the nation’s elite gymnasts educated till its closure in 2018. Within the interview, Biles remembered breaking into the cafeteria to eat at night time, in secret. “It is not the correct coaching,” she stated. Biles has additionally been openly critical of USAG’s dealing with of the Nassar case and stated within the full interview, “They haven’t taken accountability for his or her actions and what they’ve accomplished. They usually have not ensured us that it is by no means going to occur once more.”
In the end, Biles determined that having overcome all these obstacles, and having labored as exhausting as she had, she owed it to herself to proceed making ready for Tokyo even when it meant one other yr of intense training. It was her coach Cecile Landi who helped her determine. “‘You understand what, Simone?” Biles remembered her saying. “‘You have educated so exhausting for this. Why would you give it up?'”
And within the full interview, Biles additionally added that regardless of all of it, she nonetheless loves gymnastics, and that is one other factor that retains her coming again for extra. “I am having lots of enjoyable,” she defined. “So I really feel like I wanna see how a lot I am able to.” She revealed that she’s been practicing a Yurchenko double pike, a transfer so troublesome {that a} lady has by no means tried it in competitors; Biles, if she brings it out within the 2021 Olympics, can be the primary. “I believe lots of people believed {that a} feminine couldn’t do it,” Landi informed 60 Minutes. “I believe she’s opened the eyes to everyone that this may be accomplished.”
Biles stated that individuals ask her why she retains pushing the envelope and trying troublesome expertise if she’s already the very best on this planet. Her response: “As a result of it is for me.”
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