Simone Biles and former coach Cecile Landi had forged a beautiful relationship during their coaching together for almost seven years. It was obvious that this would happen, considering the huge success both of them had achieved together. Under Cecile, Simone enjoyed one of the most productive times of her career, winning six Olympic medals. Thus, even when the coach left the gymnast’s gym, WCC, their close proximity refused to end. Cecile had shown up to the gymnast’s documentary Simone Biles Rising’s premiere and had even posed for a photo with her, which she later uploaded to her Instagram.

Thus, this time, it was Simone’s turn to fulfill her obligation to the coach. The gymnast did so by declaring that she would make an appearance during the University of Georgia’s first meet on January 17th. This will be Cecile’s first meet coaching the NCAA side after joining them post-Olympics. This shows the amount of respect Simone Biles has for her coach, as she is all set to be present during that occasion. “We are super excited to announce that special guest Simone Biles will be attending the GymDogs’ first home meet of the season!✨ Join us as we honor our Olympians and alumni on January 17th vs. Boise State!” wrote UGA Gymnastics, announcing her appearance.

Now, it seems that the impact of this appearance is already showing. This is because the tickets for the January 17th event have already sold out! This was announced by UGA Gymnastics’ official Instagram page, which was later re-uploaded by Cecile Landi in her Instagram story. The gymnastics coach wrote, “So grateful and excited!!!!” Thus, it’s safe to say that Simone Biles certainly did increase the buzz about the event.

However, the impact of her appearance will also bring a lot of monetary benefits to the team. As the tickets are sold out, the event is now touted to bring in above $200k because it is selling out its whole capacity of 10,523. There is also a possibility of the organisers opening up more seats seeing the event trending so much. This could open up room for even more revenue, which is great news for Georgia Gymnastics and Cecile Landi.

It also provides the NCAA side with the first perk of hiring someone as decorated as Cecile as the coach. Not only does she bring her vast expertise to the table, but she also brings the numerous gymnasts she has already coached at the top level, including Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles.

This can prove to be really beneficial for her NCAA team, who can maybe learn from the coach’s previous alumni. It also gives them tangible proof to believe in the coach’s vision, making the team find success quickly. Thus, Cecile Landi’s time at WCC could really help her at Georgia.

Cecile Landi explains the reasoning behind her departure from Simone Biles’ WCC

Cecile Landi enjoyed an incredible time working with Simone Biles at WCC. Thus, most fans were left quite puzzled by the news that she is all set to leave the Texas-based gymnastics gym to join the Georgia Gymdogs instead. So, to help them find closure, Cecile explained her thought process behind the move. In her appearance on the Flipping Out with Bridget Sloan podcast, the coach said that she always had ambitions of being a coach in the NCAA one day.

The Olympics ending provided her the time to smoothly transition into the different side of the sport. “I’ve always said I wanted to be an NCAA coach one day. I just wanted to finish where we have started,” she said. But Cecile had previously wanted to coach in college gymnastics only after her daughter Julliette Landi would graduate from high school and take her decision about her career.

However, as many people became aware of Simone Biles’ ex-coaches ambitions, offers started coming in, which became hard to turn down. Eventually, when Georgia’s coach Ryan Roberts offered her the co-head coach position in the team, she knew it was meant to be. However, he came with the offer right before the Olympics. Thus, Cecile Landi was hesitant to accept it as she wanted to fulfill her obligations first. But Ryan, who was adamant in wanting to sign her, was willing to wait.

“He was like, “No, we’ll let you know. You’ll go back to Texas; we’ll help you. We’ll just make it work.” Like, yeah, they’ve been great for that. I’ve been able to go home, but yeah, the opportunity was too great for me to send out, and they were willing to wait after Paris to let me finish,” she said. Thus, eventually Simone Biles’ former coach caved in and accepted the job where she is soon about to start the season. Hopefully, she finds the same success there, which she found in the WCC.