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SPORTS Tuesday 29 augusT 2023
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Simone Biles wins a record 8th U.S. Gymnastics title a full decade

after her first

By WILL GRAVES tall (5-foot-6ish) for some-
AP National Writer one who opts to do this for
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — a living. The crowd erupted
Simone Biles is not going to when she nailed her dis-
explain herself. Part of this is mount, her 15.000 score
by design. Part of this is be- was tops in the meet on the
cause she simply can’t. event and put 10 months
When the gymnastics star filled with injuries that have
is at her best, as she was slowed her training firmly
on Sunday night while win- behind her.
ning her record eighth U.S. Who joins Jones and Biles at
championship, she feels like worlds remains very much
she’s in a “fever dream.” up in the air.
It’s not autopilot exactly. Reigning Olympic cham-
It’s more of a vibe. A flow. pion Sunisa Lee, who has
It’s in those moments that spent most of the year bat-
the doubts that still plague tling a kidney issue her doc-
her almost daily even now, tors are still trying to get a
a decade into a run of un- handle on, could have a
precedented excellence, chance as a specialist.
fade away. Wong, one of several ath-
There is no thinking. No letes trying to compete at
overanalyzing. No “ twist- the NCAA and elite levels
ies.” All of it recedes into the at the same time, put to-
background. Her coach gether two stellar nights
Laurent Landi calls it a skill. that included an elegant
Biles, even at 26, won’t go bars set and a floor exercise
that far. that makes up for in preci-
Maybe because she simply sion what it lacks in power.
doesn’t want to. Simone Biles competes on the beam during the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Sunday, Aug. Jade Carey and Jordan
She spent a long time, far 27, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. Chiles, teammates of Biles’
too long, getting caught Associated Press at the 2020 Olympics, who
up in her head. She’s intent have also spent the last
on not doing it this around. a two-day all-around to- seen her do. what I’m aiming for,” Biles two years splitting time be-
So yeah, she was smiling tal of 118.40 this weekend “I think it’s maturity,” he said. “I think it’s better that tween college and elite,
midway through a floor in northern California four said. way. I’m trying to move a weren’t quite as sharp. Chil-
routine that made almost points clear of runner-up Biles’ eight crowns moved little bit differently this year es fell off both the bars and
every other competitor on Shilese Jones and well her past Alfred Jochim, than I have in the past. I beam. Carey finished in the
the floor stop what they ahead of Florida junior Le- who won seven between think it’s working so far, so top 10 on just one event
were doing to watch and anne Wong in third place 1925-33 when the Ama- I’m going to keep it secre- vault where the Americans

drew a standing ovation is not ready to hit fast for- teur Athletics Union ran the tive.” figure to be loaded.
from a portion of the sellout ward. She won. She’s let- championships and the There appears to be more Biles will lead the charge.
SAP Center crowd. No, she ting herself be happy this men’s competition includ- balance in her life, leaning She joked she asks herself
can’t explain why. When time. That didn’t always ed rope climbing. into the “it’s just gymnas- every day why she’s out
her coaches told her she’d happen before. Yes, really. tics” mantra that helped there. The answer is simple.
nailed every tumbling pass, “We really try to celebrate The sport has come a long fuel her rise. She feels like she owes it to
she was clueless. our success individually way over the last century. Age hasn’t caught up to herself.
“It just doesn’t feel real for and as a team just so that No one has spent more her yet, though she played “I still feel like I’m capable
some reason,” Biles said. in a couple of years you time at the far end of the it relatively safe by her of doing it,” she said.
It is. Remarkably. can remember this,” she Bell curve than Biles, whose standards on Sunday. She It certainly looks that way.q
Ten years ago she was said. “Because I really singular talents continue to tweaked her right ankle
a teenage prodigy who don’t remember a lot from push boundaries. while drilling her electric
doesn’t remember much the past.” She’s training smarter these Yurchenko double pike ARUBA
from her ascension to the She knows that gymnastics days, her only real acqui- vault on Friday.
top of her sport. She was won’t last “forever” even if, escence to the miles she’s The 14.850 she received for
always fixated on the next for her in a way it has. put on it for the last 20 her Cheng vault was still CLEAN
thing. World champion- Peaks aren’t supposed to years. While she remains the highest of the night on
ships. Team camps. The last this long. one of the most visible ac- the event. So was the 14.8
Olympics. Most elite gymnasts at 26 at tive athletes in the Olympic she earned on beam. That
Now she’s a 26-year-old least the ones who haven’t movement, she’s making it 15.400 on floor, too.
newlywed determined retired are simply hoping to a point not to let the world Next stop is Antwerp in late
to enjoy this. For real. Six hold on to what they have. in on every single little thing September, where Biles will
months ago she wasn’t The athlete who became as she eyes a trip to Paris try to add to the 25 world
sure she was all in. Three the oldest woman to win next summer. championship medals 18
weeks ago she returned a national title since USA Biles joked it’s because of them gold she’s cap-
to competition in Chicago Gymnastics began orga- people are “nosy.” The re- tured so far.
feeling as if she was going nizing the event in 1963 is ality is, she’d just like a little Jones figures to be on the IS MORE
to “throw up” every time not interested in that. Landi privacy. plane too. The 21-year-old
she saluted the judges. called Biles’ floor routine in “I like to keep (my goals) is a marvel on bars, where DUSHI
The woman who posted the finals the best he’d ever personal, just so that I know she thrives despite being