Simone Biles’ coach opens up after Paris misstep in high-stakes all-around battle: “I thought I was gonna vomit”
The coach revealed the tense moments behind the scenes of Paris 2024.
he tension was palpable when Simone Biles came agonizingly close to derailing her gold medal dreams at the 2024 Paris all-around gymnastics final. The gymnastics legend faltered on the uneven bars-widely known as her weakest apparatus-and for a moment, the packed Bercy Arena collectively held its breath, fearing the worst.
Biles had dubbed this competition her “redemption tour,” aiming to reclaim her all-around title after eight years. The pressure was on, and everything seemed to be in order during the first rotation, where she nailed her vault routine.
But the uneven bars nearly cost her everything, and even her coach, Cecile Landi, couldn’t hide how nerve-wracking the situation had become.
“I thought I was gonna vomit; I’m not gonna lie,” Landi confessed in the Netflix docu-series Simone Biles Rising Part 2, shortly after Biles stuck her next routine on the beam. “It was hard to do after that bar routine, so very good.”
The rough road back to the top
During the uneven bars routine, the gymnastics GOAT rushed her transition from the Pak Salto, resulting in a bent knee. Though she managed to avoid hitting the ground and secured her dismount, the judges awarded her a mere 13.733-a score that put her title hopes in jeopardy.
Fans knew that one more slip could cost her the gold, and the air in the arena was thick with tension. But Biles, ever the queen of comebacks, rebounded in spectacular fashion.
She delivered a flawless beam routine next, earning 14.466 and putting herself back in medal contention, just behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. As Biles sipped water after her beam routine, the stadium erupted in relief and applause-proof that she wasn’t done yet.
In the end, Biles battled her way through the remaining rotations, finishing with a total score of 59.131 to claim her second all-around gold in eight years. But her redemption arc wasn’t without stumbles.
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