“His mental state is still; he will never fully heal, so he really needs to calm down,” his trainer said.
Jamie Squire/Getty
Simone Biles competes on the balance beam on Day 2 of the 2024 US Olympic Gymnastics Trials on June 28.
In case the four-letter word she blurted wasn’t clear, Simone Biles was “really, really mad” about her wobblier-than-usual performance on the balance beam during the 2024 U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, her coach said.
But he bounced back quickly on Friday, June 28, with first-place displays on court and vault.
“This is exactly how it should be,” Laurent Landi told reporters afterwards, calling it “a great comeback” for the 27-year-old reigning world champion who is now on the cusp of making her third Olympic team and heading to the Paris Games next month.
Landi, who coaches Biles with his wife, Cecile, said she had been shaken by gymnast Kayla DiCello by suffering an Achilles tendon injury during her first event, on the vault, and withdrew from the tryouts.
She also suggested she is still dealing with what happened during the Tokyo Games in 2021, when Biles botched a vault routine and then withdrew from most of her events after suffering a case of what are called “twisties,” in which she lost the ability to tell where her body was in the air.
“His mental state is calm, he will never fully heal, so that’s why he really needs to calm down,” Landi said.
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“She needs to trust her own practice. … She does everything perfectly normal,” he continued. “And because of this, there is anxiety: ‘Oh, am I the next one to get hurt? What’s going to happen to me?’ You can’t control this, so control the controllable.”
He pointed to her “nearly perfect floor and then her amazing vault” after beam as proof, if any were needed, that “she’s really at 100% right now.”
Biles herself said the same to NBC on Friday: “I’m really upset about Beam. I’m really disappointed in myself because that’s not how I train. And in the future, I’m going to try to compete how I train on that event. Because I know I’m good at it.”
“I know I can do better. So that’s what I’m going to work on,” he said.
Jamie Squire/Getty
Simone Biles competes on the balance beam on Day 2 of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials on June 28.
Landi told PEOPLE on Friday that intense pressure is inevitably part of Olympic-level gymnastics.
“This is what stress does: anxiety, and you see someone else suffering, and you think, ‘What the hell am I going to be next in my life?’ or ‘What’s going to happen to me?’” she said.
The best thing, he said, is to try to focus. “Things will happen, mistakes will be made,” he said.
“Trust your training,” he said, adding, “Now it’s just rep after rep.”
And whenever possible, he advised, leave the gym after the competition and try to “think about something else.”
Related: Simone Biles’ Mom Is Radiant as She Rises to First Place During the 2024 Olympic Gymnastics Trials
Biles, who has dominated US women’s gymnastics for more than a decade, has been increasingly outspoken about the toll her career has taken on mental health and how she balances it with her athletic goals.
Still, he told PEOPLE in 2021, “Sometimes when we talk about these things, we become their face. “I’m not sure I’m fully prepared for that aspect.”
But, “obviously, once I’m a little more open about it, I would love to help other people who are going through these things because it’s very relatable to know that they’re not alone,” she said.
During a podcast interview in April of this year, Biles recalled what went wrong in Tokyo and said she simply assumed: “Oh, America hates me. The world is going to hate me.”
“I thought they were going to ban me from entering the United States,” he said then. “(Because) that’s what they tell you: ‘Don’t come back if it’s not gold.’ Gold or failure. Do not come back.’ “
Since Tokyo, she took a long break from gymnastics and said she made time for weekly therapy.
Related: Laurie Hernandez Says Simone Biles Has a Secure Spot on Paris Olympic Team: ‘You Can Count on Her’ (Exclusive)
If Biles were to make a third team, she would be in elite company — only gymnasts Muriel Grossfeld, Linda Metheny and Dominique Dawes have accomplished that feat.
“It will be wonderful to see her eclipse what I had done many decades ago,” Dawes, the 1996 gold medalist, tells PEOPLE. “She definitely deserved it. I’m sure she will not only help us get the team medal, but she will also get us an individual medal.”
“I keep saying this, but I even got to see her training for the 2028 Game in Los Angeles… She’s so talented,” Dawes says.
The 2024 US Olympic Gymnastics Trials continue on Saturday, June 29 with men’s qualification; The women’s classification will conclude on Sunday, June 30.
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