A mythical bird gifted with the power to be reborn from its ashes, the phoenix is not a chimera. The World met him in the flesh, almost a year ago, at the World Champions Center, a Texan artistic gymnastics club in the suburbs of Houston (United States), in the person of Simone Biles.
After covering herself in gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016, the American magician of the floor and apparatus – devastated by the “ twisties » (loss of bearings in space) – is nothing more than a shadow of itself at the Tokyo 2021 Games. Forfeited for most of the finals, she has to settle for the silver medal of the competition by teams and that of bronze on the balance beam.
But after a two-year break and therapy, she regained physical fitness and mental health and, with a 6e individual world title since the fall of 2023, she is the overwhelming favorite for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. An interview linked to her ambitions is therefore essential.
But when she filled the dull meeting room with her 42 meter height of energy and authority for a tête-à-tête shoehorned into her ministerial schedule, the most decorated artistic gymnast in the world story, “The GOAT”, for « The Greatest of All Time » (“the best ever”), as she is nicknamed, is suspicious. Still bruised from being called “ abandoner »on social networks, at the time of the Tokyo Games, by a minority, she systematically dismisses any speculation on a potential Olympic coronation in Paris.
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