"She’ll push you to limits you don’t think you can reach" - When Simone Biles opened up about training methods of Marta Karolyi

Simone Biles once opened up about the hard training regime of controversial gymnastics coach Marta Karolyi, who served as the USA women's national team director for 15 years. The American gymnast won four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics under Marta's coaching.

Biles started doing gymnastics at the age of six and seven years later, she was ready for the elite level. The 27-year-old had just reached Level 10 when her long-time coach Aimee Boorman sent her videos to USA Gymnastics for a development camp.

While her request wasn't accepted, Biles later received an invitation to the camp in 2011. However, the gymnast found that the training schedule was too hard at the famous Karolyi Ranch and declined the next invitation. The rejection led to no invitation for the next year.

Speaking about the environment at the camp in her memoir 'Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance' released in 2016, Biles wrote that newcomers at the camp always felt intimidated because of Marta's no-nonsense approach.

"First-timers at the ranch are always a little intimidated by Marta. She’s very no-nonsense, and she wants results fast. If she thinks you’re not giving one hundred percent, she’ll say, “Well, you’re not doing this for me, you’re doing it for yourself.” But she’s always there to help you set goals and achieve them," she wrote.

The 27-year-old added:

"She’ll push you to limits that you don’t think you can reach, and yet somehow you do. She definitely wants you to be your best, so I knew that everything we were doing at the camp was going to make me better."

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Simone Biles credits her incredible athletics to Marta Karolyi

Gymnastics during the Paris 2024 Olympics. - Simone Biles airborne during her floor routine (Source: Getty)

While Marta Karolyi's training regime has received a lot of flak, Simone Biles has credited the Romanian coach for making her a better athlete.

"Nothing was ever good enough for Martha. She always thought you had room for improvement. That's what made us so good," she said in 2020 (via ESPN).

The 27-year-old added that the only thing she cared about during her time at the Karolyi Ranch was the validation of Marta.

"I wasn't ever afraid of the judges, the crowd, just Martha's opinion, which is sad. But her validation was everything... I looked up at Martha when I finished that beam routine in Rio and she kind of gave a look like, "Yeah, OK, Simone." And then when she came down, she said, "See, you can never lose a second of concentration," Biles said.

The Karolyi Ranch was closed down in 2018 three days after Simone Biles claimed she was also abused at the camp by USA women's gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. Earlier, two former gymnasts had reported about being sexually abused by Nassar at the camp.