Simone Biles' coach Cecile Landi has arrived in Paris for the 2024 Olympics along with her family, though all of them are not going to be together during the event.
Cecile and her husband Laurent Landi are going to be with Team USA, coaching Simone Biles. Their daughter Juliette Landi will be competing in swimming at the Summer Games, representing France.
With the trio arriving in the French capital, Cecile shared a picture on social media stating that they were all on a family trip, adding a few emojis.
Laurent Landi gives insights into working with Simone Biles, American gymnast reciprocates the love and admiration
Laurent Landi and his wife Cecile Canqueteau-Landi have been working with Simone Biles since 2017. The pair have seen the American through her highs and lows, including her decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics and take a two-year break from the sport.
In a recent interview, Laurent spoke about how coaches need to adjust their training based on the athletes they work with, as he did with Biles.
“It’s not the athlete that needs to adjust to the coaches. The coaches need to adjust to the athletes and the athlete’s abilities. Maybe one will survive and will be an amazing person, amazing athlete but the (other) 90%, they will be broken. ... We had to adjust to Simone, otherwise we would have broke her,” he told AP.
Biles stated that Laurent and Cecile have played an important role in her adult life.
“They’ve been big mentors in like my adulthood (because) they got to see and harness the more mature Simone. They’ve helped me a lot not just in the gym but out of the gym, too.”
Cecile, who competed for France in her younger days, took pride in everything she had achieved as a coach, which included training someone as talented as Biles.
“I think I’ve done everything I could do in elite, and beyond what I could ever have imagined as a little French girl in a little town. I’ve coached the greatest of all time. I’ve coached many kids. I’ve had many great athletes in NCAA and elite that I feel like I want to try what’s next, a new challenge,” she expressed.
With the Paris Olympics around the corner, Laurent and Cecile will be hoping to guide Biles to add to her seven Olympic medals and further establish her as the greatest gymnast of all time.