No longer a teen, Simone Biles is finding her voice at a time of crisis in sport

Rachel Axon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Looking forward to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo With the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea closed, we turn the page and look ahead to the next Olympics: the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It would be easy to look at Simone Biles’ gymnastics and say little has changed in the nearly two years since she dominated the Rio Olympics.

Her comeback began with a win at the U.S. Classic on Saturday, and a widening gap remains between Biles and her competition.

But since she claimed five Olympic medals, much has changed for Biles, a 21-year-old gymnast learning to be a young woman in a sport for girls, a powerhouse finding her voice amid the biggest abuse crisis in sports history and a competitor making a second Olympic run on her own terms above anyone else’s.

“I feel like who I am as a gymnast and who I am as a person is definitely connecting now more than ever,” Biles said, “because I feel like who I was as a person didn’t quite connect to who I was as a gymnast besides the bubbly, happy self, so I really enjoy that.”

Since Rio, Biles has matured the way most college-aged women might, only she’s doing it with a legion of pre-teen followers. Rather than filter herself, she’s grown more open about sharing her life on social media, whether that’s photos with her boyfriend (former gymnast Stacey Ervin), her French bulldog (Lilo) or her in a swimsuit on vacation.

“I think it’s really important for them to see that we’re growing because everyone sees us at such a young age and they think we stay that same age just because our audience does,” Biles said. “I feel like now we can grow with them.”

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In a sport in which the shelf-life to be an elite gymnast — let alone a world-dominating one — seldom extends beyond high school, Biles is poised to remain atop the sport into her 20s.

Biles returned in November with Laurent and Cecile Landi as coaches after Aimee Boorman, her longtime coach, accepted a job in Florida after Rio.

Rather than coasting, she has upgraded her gymnastics on floor, vault and uneven bars. Despite uncharacteristic mistakes on all three in the U.S. Classic, she posted the highest scores in the world this year on floor and vault, as well as the beam and all-around.

Biles battles self-doubt, especially on bars — long her least favorite event — but is slowly learning from Laurent Landi’s focus on technique and Cecile Landi’s mental approach.

“She doubts herself more than I thought she would, for sure,” Cecile Landi said. “When you’re 21 you’re also more mature and when you really, truly think about gymnastics, it’s a little scary. So we had to work on that, make sure she gains her confidence back and taking her time and making her feel like she was in charge even if we weren’t making her feel that way.”

Biles has balanced all of that with her revelation in January that she, too, was among hundreds of women who longtime team doctor Larry Nassar abused.

Nassar is serving a 60-year federal sentence for possession of child pornography, which he must complete before serving at least a 40-year state sentence in Michigan for sexual abuse.

Survivors have pushed USA Gymnastics for change, and the organization abandoned plans to train at the Karolyi ranch after Biles said gymnasts should not have to train there.

Biles is finding her voice, trying to push USA Gymnastics in a positive direction even as she grapples with her own trauma.

“It’s hard because I’m still training, so I feel like you still have to bite your tongue just a little bit because they don’t have anything to lose and I feel like if USAG wanted to, they could hold that against me if I do speak out, which right now it’s very hard for me and I still do a lot of therapy,” she said.

Added Nellie Biles, her mother, “She is a big supporter of all the survivors and she is a survivor herself, so she’s dealing with her own issues.”

That desire to take care of herself was born, in part, by her experience leading up to Rio, where Biles says she felt the weight of prioritizing the team, the fans, media and everyone else above herself.

“At the bottom of the list, it was for me,” she said. “I feel like this time around, the top of the list is me.”

If anything, the pressure of expectation could be greater this time around if Biles let it. But in a way, the magnitude of her accomplishments gives her a freedom. She will always be an Olympian, and she’ll always have the 19 Olympic and world championship medals she’s claimed at this point in her career.

Now she can compete for the fun she finds in trying a new skill or inspiring young girls in the gym.

“I think she needs to see that comeback as much more personal than you used to be before,” Laurent Landi said. “She needs to do it for herself, which is not always easy.”

Like most things with Biles, she makes it look easy, though.

About a week before her return to competition, Biles posted a photo on Instagram with a giggling smile that might seem all too familiar.

But Biles is different now, and she’s owning it.

She captioned the photo, “Blossoming into a bada$$ woman with more faith than fear.”