The U.S. gymnastics championships were over. The pressure 鈥� mercifully if only momentarily 鈥� gone. On the floor at Dickies Arena, Olympic hopefuls milled about aimlessly. Some talked. Some grabbed their phones. Others searched the stands for their families.
Jordan Chiles did what she usually does when there鈥檚 a lull in the action. She danced. Soon, a couple joined in. Then a few more. Then a few more. Within a minute or two, nearly the entire group was doing 鈥淭he Cha Cha Slide鈥� for all the world to see.
Martha Karolyi鈥檚 program, this is not.
The vibe around the top level of the sport in the United States has loosened in the five years since the highly successful yet highly divisive national team coordinator retired. The impromptu flash mob at national championships last month offered a symbolic if somewhat superficial glimpse at how the landscape is evolving.
鈥淚 feel like the trainings are actually kind of a lot more fun and not 鈥� I mean, it鈥檚 still stressful, but it鈥檚 not as stressful as it used to be,鈥� said MyKayla Skinner, an alternate on the 2016 Olympic team who will be one of six American women competing in Tokyo this month.
Still, the greatest gymnast of all time wonders if the pendulum has swung too far, too fast.
Simone Biles has embraced the long-overdue push to create a more athlete-centric environment. Her concern, however, is that the sport鈥檚 brave new world might make it difficult for the coaches hired to mold prodigies into champions to effectively do their jobs.
鈥淚 think the culture shift is happening, but it鈥檚 almost as if the athletes almost have too much power and the coaches can鈥檛 get a rein on it,鈥� Biles told The Associated Press in May. 鈥淪o then it鈥檚 kind of wild. It鈥檚 like a horse out of the barn: You can鈥檛 get it back in.鈥�
Biles, among in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal and , is not complaining. It鈥檚 unlikely she would have returned to the sport in late 2017 if Karolyi was still in charge. Things needed to change.
Yet the 24-year-old is also acutely aware of the pressure that follows when the perennially loaded U.S. team is on the international stage.
The Americans have produced the last four Olympic all-around gold medalists and captured every major team title since the 2011 world championships, a streak they are heavily favored to extend in Tokyo thanks in large part to Biles鈥� unmatched brilliance.
The question is what comes next. How will one of the gold standards of the U.S. Olympic movement foster a healthy, positive climate and a competitive one at the same time?
The two are not mutually exclusive by any stretch. Biles need only point to her relationship with former coach Aimee Boorman and current coaches Laurent and Cecile Landi as proof. Yet she also knows her experience is not exactly commonplace for a sport in the middle of a reckoning.
Gymnastics federations from the U.S. to to are grappling with their own version of a #MeToo movement as athletes in each country have come forward to detail a culture they viewed as toxic. Despite measures by the Nassar fallout isn鈥檛 going away anytime soon.
Even as Biles and her teammates flew to Tokyo on Wednesday, the that pointed out repeated failures by the FBI to properly investigate Nassar while making sure not to let the organization off the hook.
The air needs to be cleared. It鈥檚 one of the many reasons why World Champions Centre is awash in floor-to-ceiling windows. There are 36 cameras placed throughout the 50,000 square-foot facility in the northern Houston suburbs, each with the volume turned all the way up.
鈥淓verything needs to be visible, and the coaches know that,鈥� said Nellie Biles, who opened the gym to give daughter Simone a place to train. 鈥淭he coaches know that they are watched at all times, not only from the viewing arena but by cameras. They know that. That should not distract from what they鈥檙e doing if they鈥檙e doing their job. They just know that there are cameras and they know that nothing is a secret. So yeah, just do whatever is right and you don鈥檛 even have to worry that anyone is watching you.鈥�
That level of transparency 鈥� as necessary as it may be 鈥� has created an athlete-coach dynamic that鈥檚 a marked departure from what Laurent Landi grew up with while training and competing for France in the 1990s.
鈥淣ow kids sometimes, you don鈥檛 want to offend them, so you tiptoe,鈥� said Landi, who is serving as the head coach of the U.S. women in Japan.
While Landi made it a point to praise USA Gymnastics for being proactive in its attempt to make things safer for athletes at all levels, he also is wary.
Yes, the gymnasts need to be empowered. At the same time, the Olympics don鈥檛 hand out participation trophies. Biles headlines a group expected to come home with a fistful of medals. Anything less would be a disappointment.
Winning might not be the sole focus anymore, but it still needs to be in the conversation.
鈥淵ou need expectations,鈥� Landi said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think right now there is expectation. Before the expectation was (under Karolyi), they were not said. We were not told. But we knew the expectation. Everybody knows the expectation.鈥�
Landi laughed as he completed the sentence, a glimpse at the thorny relationship the U.S. program has with its recent past. Karolyi took over a program in disarray in 2001 and turned it into one of the most dominant forces in any Olympic sport, using an authoritarian approach that some Nassar survivors say contributed to allowing the former national team doctor鈥檚 behavior to run unchecked for years.
While USA Gymnastics has undergone a drastic overhaul since the 2016 Olympics 鈥� current president Li Li Leung is the fourth person to hold the position since the closing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro 鈥� the external standards have not.
Biles wonders if that level will be sustainable at least in the short term after Tokyo as the organization searches for middle ground.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for a country to stay on top for so many years,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o I do believe there will be a little bit of a downfall but then go back up again because there will be that cultural change that you鈥檒l have to go through. I don鈥檛 think the results will always be the same because so much will be going on at one time when you can鈥檛 get control of it. That鈥檚 my only worry.鈥�
Finding the right balance is difficult. It鈥檚 also where real, substantive, long-lasting transformation lies.
Dancing after a meet is one thing. What happens near the end of another muscle-sapping, mentally-draining practice on an anonymous Tuesday is another.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a time to coddle, a time to be positive, but sometimes you鈥檝e got to hold the law,鈥� said Tom Meadows, an elite men鈥檚 coach at Cypress Academy in Houston. 鈥淵ou tell them, 鈥榊ou say you want to do this? Well let鈥檚 go.鈥欌��
It鈥檚 a conversation Biles has had with her coaches in some form or another for years. She isn鈥檛 sure how long it might take for the next wave to understand the difference between constructive criticism from a coach designed to maximize an athlete鈥檚 potential and criticism that crosses over into the personal, or worse.
Biles wants all sports to eradicate the latter.
She鈥檚 still an advocate, however, for the former.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a big line on what you can and can鈥檛 do, what you can and can鈥檛 say to these kids rather than whenever I was growing up,鈥� Biles said. 鈥淚 would say (back then): 鈥極K, you say that. I鈥檓 pissed off but I鈥檓 going to do my work.鈥� Now it鈥檚 like, I鈥檝e even told the other girls: 鈥楧on鈥檛 take it to heart. They don鈥檛 mean to say that to you. So just let it roll off your shoulder.鈥欌��