Nastia Liukin noticed something she had never seen before on Simone Biles’ face while watching her compete in the individual all-around final on Thursday.
“It was a different face than we've ever seen,” Liukin said to Dr. Michael Gervais on the “Finding Mastery” podcast. “I saw a little bit of fear.”
Biles won the individual all-around gold medal, narrowly holding off Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade.
“She, for the first time in her whole career, had somebody that could have beat her,” Liukin said. “I mean, she said it. She said, ‘I didn't like that. You know, I didn't like somebody being that close to me. It made me way too stressed out.’”
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Biles’ exact quote was, “I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m tired. She’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes and brought out the best athlete in myself.”
Liukin, a five-time Olympic gymnastics medalist herself, watched Biles give herself positive self-talk before stepping on the mat.
“The top athletes, they all do the same exact thing,” Liukin said. “One final breath and they say, ‘You got this, you can do this.’ Some kind of positive affirmation and you can literally, like read their lips.”
Biles left the Paris Olympics with four medals, including three gold medals. She is now the most decorated American gymnast with 11 career Olympic medals.
