Seth Udinski, FISM News
One of the best in the business officially punched her ticket to the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games on Sunday. 24-year-old superstar gymnast Simone Biles achieved an automatic bid to the Games at the Olympic trials on Sunday with a total score of 118.098. Biles is beloved throught the United States as a defending Olympic gold medalist, and she will have the eyes of the nation on her as she leads the women’s U.S. gymnastics team in Tokyo.
Biles was not perfect in the trials, even falling off the balance beam at one point. She has high standards for herself and was visibily frustrated, with good reason. She was marvelous at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 with five medals, four of them gold. She will no doubt look to match or even exceed that total in Tokyo.
Biles has gotten over the first challenge to another flurry of gold medals, and that is the Olympic trials. She said after the trial round,
Yes, very relieved that Olympic trials is over. We still have a lot of work to put in once we get over there.
She is the unquestioned leader on the current U.S. gymnastics team, with youngsters Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum and Sunisa Lee making up the rest. At 24, there is a chance the Tokyo Games could be Biles’ last. Either way, her competitions will likely be some of the most watched and discussed in the Tokyo Olympics.