Olympian Laurie Hernandez breaks down Simone Biles and Suni Lee's returns | CHASING GOLD

we have in our studio someone who understands the pressure of competing at the highest level in this sport very well two-time Olympic medalist Lori Hernandez is with us here today Lori welcome to chasing gold hey thanks for having me thanks so much for talking to us today so Simone biles you were there her first major competition since Tokyo which is over two years prior so what did you expect from Simone even before she started competing honest honest but what I did know was that this comeback was really important to her I know in a lot of her post competition interviews she mentioned that as soon as she had to pull out of a lot of the finals in Tokyo she knew she would be coming back it was just a matter of when so being able to see her go out there hit four for four and still have really high difficulty that's a really massive deal so we've seen her at her Peak right how close was this Simone biles to what you've seen in the past oh well she still won by a few points ahead so I'd say she's doing really well I know for her between downgrading a little bit it's funny because usually when other athletes downgrade it definitely brings our score down by quite quite a lot but when Simone downgrades it still leaves her points ahead so I think we can expect a lot of consistent gymnastics from her and a lot of clean gymnastics and her just doing skills that she's comfortable doing while also still coming out on top so give me some perspective on this from your experience when you take some time off and we don't know exactly how much she has been training but we hear maybe full-time training yeah only started in the spring so it wasn't that long to get prepared for this big competition when you take that time off like how long does it take you to get back to where you feel like you should be yeah Simone this is where her greatness as a gymnast comes in I think for a lot of us it takes years to really get back on track so for her to truly be back in the spring and then be here competing in August that's phenomenal and she's coming out on top and she's mentioned that she's doing therapy once a week as well you know since Tokyo and since getting the twisties getting lost in the air that's a really big deal for an athlete like her who bases her entire gymnastics off of twisting and flipping a ton of times so for her to come back to stay grounded to connect mind and body I think her gymnastics is only going to get stronger which is crazy to say I think it was a relief for a lot of people to get out there and to see her able to compete at that high level again but you were there and there's a lot of people that are just rooting for her personally yeah you talk to her how is she doing yeah I mean it sounds like she's really just trying to be present and enjoy the sport for what it is we'll also come back and to feel like I don't want I don't want to put words in her mouth but in a sense making up for Tokyo having to pull out of those competitions especially at the games that's heartbreaking but she's mentioned that sometimes if you don't take a break and you don't take care of your mind and body your body's going to choose for you so I think we're seeing a lot of her her grit to come back and her sense of like huh this is who I am we saw that already in Classics and we still have bigger competitions to come I mean she is amazing on the mat on the vault as well the your Chinko double Pike no other woman is attempting this even and she is pulling it off why is this so take us through what makes this particular Vault so difficult and why no one else is trying it yeah so the most common Vault that we see in women's artistic gymnastics is called the yurchenko double fool so we see like a round off you do a back handspring onto the table and then you just do a double twist afterwards and you land and that is the most common one Simone has decided to add an entire new flip into that so she's not twisting but she's doing a double backflip off the table so you need to be strong enough to brace for impact you you have to be strong enough to hit the table at an angle that like you're running full speed and then blocking at a certain angle so that way she can go up instead of back and then just her sense of air awareness that is something that she is known for that is why she can do the crazy things that she can do is because her sense of where she is in the air is phenomenal so to land a skill like that on a hard surface to be safe while doing it it's it's crazy hearing you describe it is insane and she makes it look so easy when she pulls it up it's like routine for Simone I was watching her in practice and she was training it and she stuck one of them and I was like girl you know to stick a skill like that we are flipping so fast that you can't even spot the ground really it's it's truly incredible and I think she allows us as not only gymnasts but the viewers who watch her from home to question what makes an athlete marvelous what makes an athlete great and I think to to see her have her mind and body connected to focus on her mental health and connect it to her workouts I that plays a huge role not only in gymnastics but in life and I think every athlete will agree that when your mind and your body are connected you can do great things so she's just living proof of that Simone biles a fan favorite for sure got a lot of Cheers SUNY Leah fan favorite as well this was a bit of a comeback for her at this competition what did you see from her soon a lot of perseverance in her I know for her her college career really came to a halt because of kidney issues that she was having and I think for her she was questioning can I come back and can I come back as strong as I was and I think what I mentioned earlier about like sometimes if you don't take that break the body chooses for you for her to have to take a break because of health issues it's really it's really scary and for me I would worry like how does this impact my gymnastics for her she went out she still had to qualify into U.S championships that's in a couple weeks and she she made it with flying colors and so I think she was really proud of herself we saw a lot of emotion from her after she finished the balance beam because again there's always that doubt of like can I do this will my body hold up and she did it just fine so yeah I'm really quite proud of her it's hard to tell a year out what the complexion of the team is going to be exactly right it's hard to predict that but from what it's looking like so far this could be a very interesting and maybe older U.S women's team yeah I think we're used to seeing a lot of new faces in every four years every quad for the Olympics we see new athletes and we're like oh she oh she's she's gonna do it you know and and the joy in it is that you never know and I know for my experience in Rio the year before I was 15 years old so I couldn't compete at the competitions that you're seeing on television right now you would have seen me for the first time next year because I would have just turned 16 and that's the age you need to be to compete at World Championships at the Olympics at all senior level competitions whereas now we're seeing athletes like Gabby Douglas reigning all around champ from 2012. we're seeing in 2016 Simone biles reigning all-around Champion you know at the Olympics SUNY Lee 2021's Tokyo all-around Champion so all these athletes are coming back we're also seeing prior Olympians like Jade Carey Jordan Childs you know so lots of familiar brilliant faces and there's also there's one athlete Jocelyn Roberson who I think we need to keep an eye out on I think she is so incredibly powerful and you know classic she had a fall on bars but to be able to see her improve in not only championships this year but to have an entire year to prep for an Olympic Games I think she's one that we should keep an eye out for an emerging star with all the other stars the stars are back perhaps a year from now in Paris Lori you're a star as well part of our team now thanks so much for uh for taking the time to talk to us today here on Chase and gold yeah thanks for having me

Channel: NBC Sports

Views: 140,404

Keywords: nbc sports, gymnastics, paris 2024, laurie hernandez, suni lee, simone biles, suni lee tokyo, simone biles tokyo, suni lee 2023, simone biles 2023, laurie hernandez 2023, usa gymnastics, american gymnastics, us gymnastics team, chasing gold

Id: WlE6l20qaiU

Length: 7min 24sec (444 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023