Cecile Landi is utterly proud of Simone Biles. Having coached the US gymnastics queen for a significant amount of time now, Landi is well aware of the value of a comeback Olympic gold for Simone Biles. After getting into what seemed like a bit of a tangle, Biles and Cecile Landi seemed extremely concerned after the uneven bars routine. However, in the end, everything ended well as Simone Biles channeled her inner G.O.A.T and powered through the final two apparatus to clinch the gold medal. 

Moments after the historic triumph, we caught a glimpse of a beaming Cecile Landi outside of the arena. Representing Essentially Sports, our correspondent, Shreya Verma, immediately caught up to ask Cecile Landi how she was feeling about her number one student. Our correspondent asked, “How proud are you of Simone?” Landi had a smile of contentment on her face as she replied, “Very proud.” 

Indeed, the gymnastics G.O.A.T’s performance would make any coach in the world perched on the pinnacle of pride. After the second rotation in the All-around final of Paris Olympics, the scoreboard made the world hold their bated breath as Rebeca Andrade was too close to leave Biles’ fans in comfort. Biles secured just 13.733 in the second rotation in the uneven bars, and Andrade grabbed 14.666. However, the queen required just one more round to mark her phenomenal comeback. In the balance beam, Biles again scored the highest among all and finally in the fourth rotation, the queen of the mat secured the throne with a score of 15.066 in floor exercise. Thus, with a margin of 1.199, Biles won her 6th Olympic gold. 

However, all these glorious feats would have been impossible if Cecile Landi had not been flexible enough to customize a special plan for a budding Simone Biles. When Cecile and Laurent Landi first held the hands of young Simone, they knew that they had to be flexible with Biles. The gymnastics world has seen a lot of changes in the last decade. And, one of the major negatives that the sport had to overcome was the stereotypical body image issues. 

Cecile Landi and Laurent Landi: The pillar of strength for Biles 

Skinny. Blonde. Pale. Tall. These were often considered the boxes that needed to be ticked to ‘fit the box’ in order to become a gymnast. But when little Simone stepped inside the gymnastics arena, Laurent Landi knew that the coach-couple had to be flexible to build impeccable talent. Laurent Landi stated, “We’re not always right.. If you do your own way all the time, you will hurt the majority of the athletes… We had to adjust to Simone, otherwise we would have broke her.”

Although Cecile Landi in her competitive era ticked the boxes, she knew of the true demons that young athletes often had to fight against to pave their way upwards. Landi knew that such stereotypical concepts pruned the dreams of several gymnasts. And she could not allow the same fate to strike the extraordinary Simone Biles. The Landis knew that it was their empathy and trust that would build young Simone. 

In the Netflix docu-series, ‘Simone Biles Rising’, Biles referred to how she was once subjected to a very strict regime and she had to spend hours remaining hungry. Promoting a different and flexible mindset, the Landis shared their key mantra to train the athletes. They believe, “It’s not the athlete that needs to adjust to the coaches… The coaches need to adjust the athletes and the athlete’s abilities”. And, undoubtedly the world now knows how successful Laurent and Cecile Landi are at their job in building budding talents. Because, besides standing as a pillar behind Simone Biles who had won the gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Landi couple has also been a rock for the bronze medalist of the Paris Olympics, Sunisa Lee.