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sports Diamars 9 November 2021

Regroup, reset: Biles to rest after trailblazing tour

(AP) - There’s a video in- She did, and returned on the aptly suited for an audience
terlude during the “Gold final day of the meet to earn a that’s spent nearly two years
Over America Tour” that bronze medal on beam. Biles grappling with the stress of
Simone Biles spent the went home not with a fistful the COVID-19 pandemic.
fall headlining where she of gold as she did after her The tour also shifted the fo-
offers advice to the audi- breathtaking performance in cus around the sport back to
ence of predominantly Rio de Janeiro in 2016 but the joy of simply doing it just
young women on how to with something more valu- to do it.
deal with adversity. able: a clean slate mentally.
“I think we’ve definitely
“Regroup, reset, and every- Having a post-Olympic tour changed the outlook on
thing will be just fine,” she to lead also helped. Biles gymnastics because it’s had a
says. never considered bailing on bad rep for a couple of years
it. If anything, she needed now,” Biles said. “So for kids
The seven-time Olympic the tour — which wrapped and parents to come and see
medalist — one of the most up a 32-city sprint Sunday the show, they’re like, ‘You
decorated gymnasts of all in Boston — to help her and can still have fun.’ This is
time — knows what she’s fellow Olympic teammates normal.”
talking about. Jordan Chiles, MyKayla platform to become an advo- her friend “a businesswoman
Skinner, Jade Carey and The show isn’t quite over cate for mental well-being, at heart.”
Three months ago, on the Grace McCallum (as well as — the “Gold Over America even as she stresses she’s
other side of the world, Biles world champions Chellsie Tour” will hold a streaming hardly an expert on what it “She loves to do things,”
removed herself from com- Memmel and Morgan Hurd, event at 4 p.m. EST Dec. 4, a takes to find balance. Chiles said. “She loves to be
petition in the middle of among others) step out of the decision Biles made in an ef- on top ... There’s going to be
the team final at the Tokyo hyper-pressurized bubble of fort to share her vision with “I’m not trying to tell you a bunch of stuff that’s going
games. The 24-year-old did elite gymnastics. those who couldn’t make it how to navigate your jour- to be thrown her way and I
it for her own personal wel- in person. ney,” she said, in part because can’t wait to see it.”
fare while she battled what “It’s kind of that break we she’s still on her own.
is known as “ the twisties,” a needed, in the best sort of “At least we’ll have that op- Whether any of that “stuff”
phenomenon that didn’t al- way,” Biles said. portunity to be able to be in The success of the tour has means a run at the Paris
low her mind and body to get their living rooms and feel forced her to recalibrate her Olympics in three years re-
in sync enough to allow her The “GOAT” tour allowed like they’re there with us,” future. She’s going to wait mains to be seen. One thing
to safely do what she’s done Biles to reconnect with the she said. to make any hard decisions Biles has learned is that she’s
as well as anyone in the his- energy of a crowd, energy about whether she’ll return not tethered to gymnastics;
tory of her sport. that was palpably missing in- For now, a post-tour trip to competition. the sport she helped rede-
side the spectator-free Ariake to Belize awaits. And while fined will not be the only
The decision further spurred Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo. Biles jokes that she “would Yet, she can see a day where thing that defines her.
a rapidly evolving discussion love to burrow in a hole or an the “Gold Over America
about the role that proper When she initially an- island for two months,” it’s Tour” becomes a post-Olym- So it’s time to take a break.
mental health plays not just nounced the tour in fall 2019, not an option. If anything, pic fixture, with her name at- Maybe a permanent one,
for athletes, but for everyone. she viewed it as an alternative it’s possible her “it’s OK to tached as a presenter if not a maybe not. Either way, she’s
to the typical post-Olympic not be OK” stand in Tokyo performer. good.
“It was very alarming (in the tour run by USA Gymnas- raised her profile more than
moment),” Biles recently tics. She wanted something if she would have just gone Chiles, who has grown “I know if I walked away
told The Associated Press. “completely different.” out there and dominated just close with Biles since join- from the sport, I know there
“(My body) told me like, as she’s done for the better ing World Champions Cen- are other things and differ-
‘Hey, enough is enough, you The two-hour celebration part of a decade. tre — the massive gym Biles’ ent avenues out there,” Biles
got to go get help.’” of gymnastics, self-care and family owns in the northern said. “For me, it’s just finding
mental well-being seems Biles is intent on using her Houston suburbs — called out what I really want to do.”

NCAA streamlines constitution, set to give power to schools

(AP) - The NCAA on The nation’s biggest and chairman of the Division I constitutional convention,
Monday set the stage for most influential governing The rewritten constitution Council and a member of the and could be amended before
a dramatic restructuring body in college athletics re- focuses more on the NCAA’s constitution committee, told it is put before the full mem-
of college sports that will leased a draft of an 18 1/2- broader goals of athlete wel- the AP. bership for a vote in January.
give each of its three divi- page constitution, cut down fare than the previous ver-
sions the power to govern from 43 pages over the last sion, which took a more The goal is to have changes in The new constitution shrinks
itself. three months at the direction granular approach. place in less than a year. the NCAA’s highest govern-
of President Mark Emmert. ing body, the Board of Gov-
Most important, it would “The ratification of a new ernors, from 21 members to
provide Division I — the constitution in January is nine and changes its duties.
highest level of college sports the first step in the process
that includes major college of transforming NCAA gov- “The question is going to be
football and the 351 schools ernance,” said Jack DiGioia, asked: What is the new role
eligible for the lucrative chairman of the NCAA and responsibilities of the
men’s basketball tournament Board of Governors and the board of governance? That’s
— the autonomy to reshape president of Georgetown. “A still all three divisions, but
everything from how rev- new constitution will provide their priorities and what they
enue is shared to how rules the divisions the flexibility would be doing would be just
are made and enforced. they need to act.” those very, very high level is-
sues of the association, as op-
“Once we got into this, we The proposed new constitu- posed to some of the things
really found out that many of tion still needs to go to the they have been getting in-
the issues were the Division more than 1,200 member volved in right now,” Lyons
I level,” West Virginia athletic schools for feedback after said.
director Shane Lyons, the next week’s scheduled special