Simone Biles was ‘very, very angry’ about Olympic qualifying mistakes, but she bounced back and could soon make history

“His mental state is still; he’ll never fully heal, so that’s why he really needs to calm down,” his coach said.

In case the four-letter word she dropped wasn’t clear, Simone Biles was “very, very angry” about her wobblier-than-usual performance on the balance beam during the US Olympic gymnastics trials. 2024, his 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 her wife, Cecile, said she was shaken by gymnast Kayla DiCello’s Achilles injury during her first event, on vault, and her withdrawal from the trials, which are being held in Minneapolis.

She also suggested that she is still dealing with what happened during the 2021 Tokyo Games, when Biles failed a vault routine and then withdrew from most of her events after being hit by a case of what are called “twisties.” “, in which he lost the ability to know where his body was in the air.

“His mental state is calm, he will never fully heal, that’s why he really needs to calm down,” Landi said.

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“She needs to trust her own practice… Everything goes well for her,” he continued. “And because of this, there is anxiety: ‘Oh, am I going to be the next one to get hurt? What is going to happen to me?’ You can’t control this, so control what you can control.”

He pointed to her “almost perfect floor and then her amazing vault” after the beam as proof, if any was needed, that “she’s really 100% 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.

Landi told PEOPLE on Friday that intense pressure is inevitably part of Olympic-level gymnastics.

“This is what stress produces: anxiety, and you see that someone else is suffering, and you think, ‘What the hell am I going to be next in my life?’ or ‘What’s going to happen to me?’” he said.

Better, he said, try to focus. “Things will happen, mistakes will happen,” 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 open about the mental health toll her career has taken and how she balances that with her athletic goals.

Still, she told PEOPLE in 2021, “Sometimes when we talk about these things, we become the face of the situation. I’m not sure I’m fully prepared for that aspect.”

But, “obviously, once I’m a little bit more open about it, I would love to help other people who are going through these things because it’s so 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 has taken a long break from gymnastics and said she has made time for weekly therapy.

Related: Laurie Hernandez Says Simone Biles Is Safe To Make Paris Olympic Team: ‘You Can Count On Her’ (Exclusive)

If Biles were on a third team, she would be in elite company — only women’s 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 got that talent,” says Dawes, who is in Minneapolis while working with Skippy Peanut Butter.

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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