Excitement builds as Simone Biles chases gold
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00:00She's already one of the greatest gymnasts of all time.
00:02Now Simone Biles looks to seal her Olympic legacy.
00:06The 27-year-old American going for her first gold of her third games.
00:12Let's cross straight over to France 24's Celina Sykes.
00:16One hour to go before the Women's Artistic Team event, Celina.
00:23That's right, François.
00:24As you can imagine, so much excitement here outside of Bercy Arena
00:28and a lot of Americans all here to see one name.
00:32That is, of course, Simone Biles, the four-time Olympic gold medalist.
00:36They're looking, as you said, to build on her gymnastics legacy here in Paris.
00:41She had a spectacular comeback a few days ago
00:44after obviously suffering from the twisties three years ago in Tokyo
00:48and pulling out of the vast majority of her events.
00:52And she's back and she's back with a dazzling performance on Sunday.
00:56It has to be said in those qualifiers,
00:58especially impressing on the vault and in her floor routine.
01:01But enough from me, François,
01:02because I've got two of her biggest fans here with me who are here,
01:07especially to see Simone Biles this evening in the Women's Team final.
01:13Hi, guys.
01:14Julie and Rachel here from the States.
01:18Just how excited are you guys here to see Simone Biles here this evening?
01:22Yeah, we are super excited.
01:23We're very excited to be here in Paris and to see her live.
01:26It's amazing.
01:28And just tell me, because I've spoken to a few people
01:30who've had quite a lot of nerves this evening ahead of this.
01:32Obviously, this is a big moment for her.
01:34Are you guys feeling nervous?
01:36Yes, I think so.
01:38After what happened at the last Olympics for her,
01:40I think personally, I just want to see her do well.
01:42And as the girls have called it their redemption tour,
01:45I kind of want to see that for them.
01:46And I want to see that come to fruition.
01:49She's worked really hard.
01:50Yeah.
01:50You said earlier you were a bit of a gymnast yourself in your younger years.
01:55Just tell me, what's the kind of preparation like beforehands
01:58or before this big event?
02:00And how will they be exactly feeling right now?
02:02There's a lot of mental prep that comes into it,
02:05which obviously the physical endurance and the physical practicing,
02:08but the mental training is really key and is super important.
02:11And I think they've been highlighting that ever since the last Olympics,
02:14where we've seen how much that mental capacity really plays in.
02:18So I'm really excited that Simone has taken charge of that
02:21and has really put her mental health first in that.
02:24And so that's a really key component.
02:26How are we feeling?
02:27Do we think that the Team USA can get gold?
02:29They are the big favorites going into this.
02:31Absolutely.
02:32Absolutely.
02:33We're going to do it.
02:33We're going to do it.
02:34Well, there you had it.
02:35I'll let you guys get into the shape because it's very hot here in Paris today.
02:39As you see, lots of Americans here in Paris, Francois, are cheering on Simone Biles.
02:44Lots of Americans cheering on Simone Biles,
02:46and they'll have other occasions to do so before the games are over.
02:49That's right, Francois.
02:50Obviously, there's the all the women's team event here this evening.
02:55But Simone Biles has qualified for four out of five of the potential individual events.
03:00She's qualified for every final except the uneven bars.
03:03And so she's potentially going to add a lot of gold medals or other medals to her medals tally.
03:08Lots of excitement here with Americans, obviously,
03:11all here to cheer her on in all her individual events,
03:14starting with the big final for the team, the women's team this evening.