On Day 2 of the Paris Olympics, the journey for Olympic gold begins for Team USA's women's gymnasts.
The women's gymnastics qualification event begins at 4:40 a.m. Sunday, and all eyes in the Lone Star State will be trained on three Texans: Simone Biles, Hezly Rivera and Jordan Chiles who moved to Spring in 2019 to train alongside Biles.
Bearing the gravity of greatness, Biles stunned the world when she bowed out of the team finals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after a case of "the twisties."
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"Basically like, your mind and your body is at a disconnect. The best way I can describe it is, every day you drive a car. If one day you woke up and you had no idea how to drive a car, your legs are going crazy, you have no control over your body. That is kind of how it feels like," Biles recently explained.
She said with her therapist, she has since been able to uncover the reason behind that emotional and mental reckoning in 2021-- she's one of hundreds of women who said they were sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar.
“You can’t compress trauma," Biles said.
She now makes her Olympic comeback under perhaps the most pressure, yet.
“So now, having gone to two Olympics, every one, I feel like, gets a little bit more stressful. Because I know exactly what to expect, I know what to expect from myself," said Biles in a news conference after qualifying for the Olympic trials last month.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist and her team sat out Friday's opening ceremony to rest up before the women's qualifier on Sunday, where the eyes of the Texas will also be on Team USA's youngest athlete, 16-year-old Hezley Rivera.
“I’ve worked so hard to get here and so has everybody else," she told NBC 5 when she returned home to DFW from Olympic trials earlier this month.
Rivera's family moved to the Lone Star State from New Jersey so that she could train at the legendary "WOGA" Gym in Plano.
She told NBC 5 she's learned how to mentally handle that pressure, and her mistakes.
“You have all this weight on your shoulders and stress that you’re so tense and tight, so I like to let it go, forget about it, because that was in the past and now I’m moving forward," she said, hoping that conviction vaults her to victory in Paris, and she can add her name to the list of North Texas Olympic Champions.
When can you watch the U.S. Women's Gymnastics team compete at the Olympics?
July 28 - Team Qualifying: Simone Biles will first compete on Sunday, July 28 in team qualifying events begin at 4:40 a.m. CT. The early events will be available on Peacock with the later events that morning available on NBC 5. The event will air again that evening in Primetime on NBC 5.
July 30 - Women's team final: The women's team final begins at 11:15 a.m. CT on Tuesday, July 30. You can watch it on NBC and stream every apparatus on Peacock.
Aug. 1 - Women's all-around final: The women's all-around final begins at 11:15 a.m. CT on Thursday, Aug. 1.
Aug. 3 - Women's vault final: The women's vault final begins at 9:20 a.m. CT on Saturday, Aug. 3 on NBC and Peacock.
Aug. 4 - Women's uneven bar final: The women's uneven bars final begins at 8:00 a.m. CT on Sunday, Aug 4 on NBC and Peacock.
Aug. 5 - Women's balance beam finals: The women's balance beam finals begins at 5:36 a.m. CT on Monday, Aug. 5.
Aug. 5 - Women's floor exercise finals: The women's floor exercise final begins at 7:20 a.m. CT on Monday, Aug. 5.
Individual gymnastics at the 2024 Olympics will air on NBC 5, USA Network and E!. Streaming will be available on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC Olympics app and the NBC app.
