USA Gymnastics Team Makes ‘Redemption’ Their Theme for Paris 2024
By Movieguide® Contributor
Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and her fellow USA gymnastics team are ready for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Biles and her teammates — Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — joined TODAY’s Hoda Kotb to discuss their goals and aspirations ahead of the big event.
“Deja vu, but also I feel like a little bit of a redemption tour,” Biles told Kotb. “In Tokyo, we all didn’t have our best performances, so we’re excited to go out there and kill it.”
Kotb alluded to the fact that sometimes the Olympic Trials are tougher than the actual Olympics.
“Because of the depth that the U.S. has. It’s so incredible, so we’re all fighting for basically the same position,” Biles explained. “But that’s what makes Team USA Team USA. We have grit, we have power, we have grace. We kind of have everything. So [we’re] just fighting for that spot.”
Chiles chimed in, “Tokyo was a really tough time for a majority of us, and knowing that this is kind of like redemption, and struggles are struggles, but also roads are roads as well, and going down that right road just made it seem a lot better, so that emotion was just like, ‘I’m here! I won! This is crazy, wow!’”
Carey added that she is ready for the entire world to see Team USA compete.
“This means everything to me,” she said. “I think like they’ve been saying, we all have some sort of redemption that we want, so it’s just incredible to be able to be sitting here today and truly enjoying the gymnastics that I’m doing and having fun with all these girls. And I’m excited for Paris.”
Rivera, Olympic newcomer and the youngest member of Team USA to compete in any sport at just 16, thanked God for the opportunity to compete in the Olympic trials.
“off to olympic trials, an early birthday present ? glory to God always. Luke 1:37 ? thank you Jesus ?? so grateful,” she posted early last month along with photos of her sporting Luke 1:37 on her leotard.
She also shared Jeremiah 29:11 ahead of day two of the trials before she landed her spot on the Olympic team.
“I am so grateful to be here and to be selected on this Olympic team,” Rivera said. “I have made so many sacrifices to get here so I want to thank God, my coaches, family, my friends and my teammates. I just can’t believe that I am here,”
Movieguide® previously reported on Biles:
Nellie Biles, mother of four-time Olympic gold gymnast Simone Biles, prays for her daughter’s safety as she competes and looks ahead to Paris 2024.
“All I’m thinking about and praying for is that she stays safe and that she ends that routine. I could hardly wait for it to be over with,” Nellie told TODAY.com.
During Simone’s last Olympic games, she began to lose track of where she was in mid-air, making it difficult for her to stick her tricks.
Fearful she would injure herself, Simone made the smart decision and pulled out of several events.
Nellie, who was unable to be there for her daughter in Tokyo due to COVID restrictions, said, “It was devastating. After her vaulting, she called me and then mentioned that she couldn’t do it anymore. My words to Simone was, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t feel like you need to push yourself because that’s the last thing I need is to see you injure yourself on television and I’m not going to be there.’”
With the next Olympic games on the horizon, Nellie is focused on ensuring Simone knows her family is there to support her every step of the way.
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +1