Biles heads to Japan as the face of her sport, U.S. delegation and maybe even the entire Olympic movement.<\/b>
\nST. LOUIS \u2014 Simone Biles vs. herself remains a work in progress. The gymnastics superstar vs. the world? Same as it ever was. Next stop, Tokyo. And one more shot at history. And gold. Perhaps lots of it. The reigning world and Olympic champion will headline the U.S. women\u2019s gymnastics team in Japan next month, clinching one of the automatic berths with another easy victory at the Olympic Trials on Sunday night. Well, maybe not that easy. The 24-year-old found herself in tears at one point during an uncharacteristically shaky \u2014 by her impeccable standards \u2014 performance. Her bars were uneven. She fell off the beam. Stepped out of bounds on floor exercise. While her two-day total of 118.098 was more than two points ahead of Olympic teammate Sunisa Lee, Lee actually posted a higher all-around score than Biles during the finals. \u201cI kind of got in my head today and started doubting myself,\u201d Biles said. \u201cAnd you could see that in the gymnastics. But just go home, work harder. This is just the beginning of the journey.\u201d Or perhaps the beginning of the end. Biles isn\u2019t sure what awaits after the Tokyo Games. She\u2019s been too focused on trying to become the first woman in more than a half-century to repeat as Olympic champion. The lure of history and respect for her own immense talent is why she returned after a short break following her dominant five-medal performance in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. It\u2019s why she stuck around after the COVID-19 pandemic led officials to postpone opening ceremonies in Tokyo by a year. Biles heads to Japan as the face of her sport, U.S. delegation and maybe even the entire Olympic movement. She\u2019s become more than just a gymnastics star since her coronation in Rio in 2016. Her consistent excellence \u2014 her last second-place finish in a meet came more than nine years ago \u2014 combined with her charisma and her possibility-pushing routines have thrust her into the company of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, athletes whose dominance on the world stage have made them Olympic icons. Sports stops to watch when she does her thing. The pressure she feels \u2014 both internally and externally \u2014 is real. And it bubbled up as she gave a somewhat exhausted salute to the judges following her floor routine, grateful for the standing ovation that accompanied it but also simply relieved the big show is finally here. \u201cYes, very relieved that Olympic Trials is over,\u201d she said. \u201cWe still have a lot of work to put in once we get over there.\u201d Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum will join Biles on the four-woman Olympic team. MyKayla Skinner, an alternate in 2016, was awarded the \u201cplus-1\u201d specialist spot. Jade Carey earned a nominative spot through the World Cup circuit, meaning she will compete as an individual. Kayla DiCello, Kara Eaker, Leanne Wong and Emma Malabuyo will serve as the alternates. The selection committee opted to take the top four finishers at trials even though national team coordinator Tom Forster admitted a team with Skinner on it instead of McCallum could potentially put up a marginally higher score due to Skinner\u2019s world-class vaulting. Fractions of a point, however, likely won\u2019t be the difference between gold and silver. If the Americans are anywhere near the top of their game, they should win their third consecutive Olympic crown by a substantial margin. That was enough for the committee to take the ranking order at the top. \u201cWe\u2019re so fortunate that our athletes are so strong that I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to come down to tenths of a point in Tokyo,\u201d Forster said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t appear to be… so as a committee, we just didn\u2019t feel it was worth changing the integrity of the process simply for a couple of tenths.\u201d Lee, who will be the first Hmong American to compete at the Olympics, is surging. Hindered by an ankle injury that slowed her during the spring and left her limping at times during the national championships earlier this month, Lee may be the best gymnast on the planet not named Biles. The 18-year-old from Minnesota is a wonder on the uneven bars, one of a handful of gymnasts on the planet who can outshine Biles on an event. Her series of intricate connections \u2014 all done with a fluidity and grace that makes it look effortless \u2014 are among the most difficult in the sport. \u201cI just told myself to take a deep breath and do what I normally do, because this is a time where I had to just my gymnastics do its thing,\u201d Lee said. Chiles admits she likely wouldn\u2019t be going to Tokyo if not for the pandemic. She moved to Houston to train with Biles two years ago but was still in the midst of finding herself as an athlete. She\u2019s evolved into one of the most electric \u2014 and reliable \u2014 gymnasts in a country that boasts the deepest talent pool in the world. Chiles has hit all 24 of her competition routines in 2021, and she put her face in her hands after her floor exercise to drink in the realization of a dream she worried might never come. \u201cIt was a very emotional moment for me because I\u2019ve been through so much with everything that\u2019s been going on,\u201d Chiles said. \u201cI\u2019m just very excited.\u201d With good reason. The Americans have dominated every major international competition since winning gold in London in 2012. The streak hasn\u2019t stopped even after the retirement of former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi and the fallout of the sexual abuse scandal surrounding former national team doctor Larry Nassar. The cloud of Nassar still lingers as the lawsuits between survivors and the organization remains in mediation. When Biles \u2014 who herself is a Nassar survivor \u2014 is on the floor, however, the narrative shifts. And she knows it. Her presence is one of the guiding lights of the entire movement. She\u2019s ready to put on one last show. \u201cI think I\u2019ll try to live in the moment just a little bit because 2016 was such a blur,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce we got over there, everything happened so quick…. This time we get to relax a little bit on. And kind of enjoy training and enjoy the process.\u201d It\u2019s nearly complete.<\/p>\n