“She’s just, like, on a different level”, one of Simone Biles’ fans had said once. That fan also has the tag of world all-around champion but in the men’s category. That’s how Fred Richard’s reverence goes for arguably the greatest gymnast ever. However, in a face-to-face encounter, he gave Simone a hard time. Simone couldn’t repeat the gymnastics routines of the men’s category. Yet that did not dent his respect for Simone. In his latest conversation, Fred has proved that again.
In an interview with Fox News, the youngest medalist of Team USA brought his emotion to the fore. He clapped to Simone Biles’ current form. “The way she came back, most comebacks are good – hers is dominant, she’s destroying everybody. It’s motivating on my end. It’s fun to watch,” Fred gushed. At the Xfinity US Gymnastics Championships 2024, Fred Richard was also there to confirm his Olympic trial ticket. There Simone Biles proved her mettle again by claiming the all-around title. Fred can not forget that experience.
After all, it was Simone’s 9th win of the title and she did not leave a chaff in her routines despite missing the mat for several months. That dominance impressed Fred Richard largely. He hopes the seven-time Olympic champion will be continuing at the same pace and swashbuckling wear in the upcoming days. And who does not know that the Paris Olympic Games are waiting on the corner in just a few weeks?
Simultaneously, the former Pan-American champion is counting his learning curve when watching someone as tall as Simone Biles in front of his eyes. The Olympics will be the most suitable platform for Fred to witness the best of Simone. Ultimately, after the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Parisian installment is rousing fanfare to hold Simone at her best. Keeping an eye on that, the Boston native could say, “I’ll be cheering her on at the Olympics, we’ll be doing our thing. It’s fun for me to look up to her when I’m younger and now be right by her side and watch her dominate.” Since her scratching out from the Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles’ comeback chance has drawn a lot of attention. The gymnast had many things in her mind all this while.
Simone Biles signs in for the love of her fans
After facing the ‘twisties’ in the Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles started to fear the sport. Leaving all the titles and exercise behind she could continue with those moves that she thought to be less or zero lethal. And a time came when she stopped doing anything. From such a situation, a comeback could have been proven a distant dream. But as a fish out of the water, Simone Biles couldn’t feel the urge after reaching September 2022.
When the calendar shifted to December, Simone had already started doing some combinations. Subsequently, because of a thorough motivation from her coaches, Cecile and Laurent Landi, and then-boyfriend Jonathan Owens, she soon engaged herself in the harder routines. Ultimately, after two years and two days of her bowing out from the Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles made her comeback at the US National Classic 2023. Then something unbelievable happened.
After her withdrawal from the team final and individual all-around final, Simone Biles could think of a worse outcome for her. “If I could have got on a plane and flown home, I would have done it. As soon as I landed (the vault), I was like, ‘America hates me, the world is going to hate me, and I can only see what they’re saying on Twitter right now. That was my first thought … I thought I was going to be banned from America. Because that’s what they tell you, ‘Don’t come back if it’s not gold. Gold or bust – don’t come back,’” she expressed. But in the US Classic, all she received was love.
Being surprised at the moment, she said, “In the crowd, all the girls, all of the signs … the outpouring of love and support that I had on Twitter, on Instagram and in the arena was just really shocking and surprising to me, that they still have so much belief in me, they still love me and it just makes my heart warm, because it’s nice to come out here and have all that support, especially in a time like this where I was really nervous to compete again. I can’t ask for more.” After a year almost, the saga continues, and this has helped Simone to make another comeback after her WAG participation last year. Followers like Fred Richard live to such a day. Don’t they?
