Most teenage girls would be jumping for joy after winning the women’s gymnastics all-around national championship, but to Simone Biles it was “no big deal.”
Biles’ win came recently at the P&G Gymnastics Championships, in which she seemed pretty cool headed about it all.
“I was excited, but I was happy for everyone else,” 16-year-old Biles said. “I thought even if I did come in second, third — everybody looked good, so I was happy.”
Biles grabbed second in the all-around in March’s American Cup before taking first later that month in the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy and then finishing second at a USA-Romania-Germany tri-meet in Germany.
The only blemish on her senior debut season was last month’s Secret U.S. Classic in Chicago, where she struggled so much on her first three events that she withdrew before the final rotation to avoid aggravating an injury.
U.S. women’s national team coordinator Marta Karolyi was pleased with how Biles bounced back in Hartford.
“She proved that she’s a good competitor because she physically wasn’t in her top, top, top shape,” Karolyi said. “She had an injury previously and was fighting her way back. I’m sure everybody knows that the Classic wasn’t her best competition, which was just three weeks ago. And in this three weeks, we had great progress on consistency, and if we can achieve the same amount of progress in the remaining month before the world championship, I think we will be in a good place.”
Following the Secret Classic, Karolyi spoke to Biles’ coach, Aimee Boorman at Bannon’s Gymnastix Inc., and found out Biles was struggling in training. Karolyi invited Biles to the National Team Training Center in Huntsville, Texas, where Karolyi was able to watch Biles train and help her mentally stay focused.
“I reassured her about her potential, but also reminded her that the talent by itself doesn’t make the results,” Karolyi said. “You have to have very diligent and very consistent, disciplined work on a daily basis to be able to build up your confidence level. If you have that confidence, that’s the only way you will be able to perform in competitions.”
For more go to Team USA
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A New Champion: Simone Biles Wins Women’s Gymnastics Championship was originally published on wzakcleveland.com
