In gymnastics, where every dismount signals a new beginning, Simone Biles faces perhaps her most poignant transition yet. The unparalleled athlete, whose gravity-defying performances have rewritten the sport’s record books, now navigates the emotional terrain of bidding farewell to her longtime coach, Cecile Landi.
Cecile and Laurent Landi joined the World Champions Centre—a.k.a. Biles’ personal training haven—in 2017. Since then, the couple has worked as the Centre’s Program Director while coaching the GOAT through her hurdles.
During the Paris Olympics, it was announced that Cecile had accepted a job as the co-head coach at the University of Georgia. After supporting Biles and the team throughout the two-week event, she will be making the move.
To say that Biles was emotional about the change would be an understatement, given the significant roles Cecile and Laurent have played in her life.
From helping her regain confidence in the sport after the Tokyo Olympics to challenging her to achieve new heights, both literally and figuratively, the coaches have always made sure she felt like herself in every situation.
In an Instagram story, the GOAT posed along with her two coaches, expressing all her feelings and thoughts summed up in the picture and wishing them good luck for their future.
“End of an era… it’s not a goodbye… it’s a see you later.”
This sentiment of lasting connections extends beyond Biles to her entire coaching team, as evidenced by Cecile Landi’s unwavering support for her athletes.
Cecile always stands with Biles and her team
A good coach not only focuses on their proteges’ talent and skill but also doesn’t hesitate to defend them when the situation calls for it. Recently, the controversy surrounding Jordan Chiles and her Olympic medal has taken the world by storm. And no matter what development came up in the news, Landi was at the center of it, fighting for her mentee.
The Olympic committee stripped Chiles of her bronze win after a brief confusion from the judges surrounding her and her competitors’ scores. For no fault of hers, she faced demands and backlash to return the medal to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu.
However, Cecile hasn’t given up even now, appealing and fighting her way across various sporting organizations. She made some firm and tough statements against the IOC and the Court of Arbitration for Sports, who were responsible for correcting mistakes but punished athletes for no fault. And, while the matter has dulled down, Cecile claimed that she wasn’t done fighting for her student’s rights.
