Simone Biles’ former coach, Cecile Landi, recently opened up about an unusual call that marked the foundation of a successful partnership with the American gymnast. Before joining Landi, Biles had a successful run at the 2016 Olympic Games, winning four gold and one bronze medal.
In an interview with “The Line with Dr. Kristen Holmes,” Landi recalled a phone call she and her husband, Laurent, received in 2017 from Rhonda Faehn, who confirmed the couple’s availability for training Biles without disclosing her name. Before the couple started coaching the legendary gymnast at the World Champions Centre, owned by Biles’ parents, they had trained multiple elite gymnasts at WOGA, including Madison Kocian and Katelyn Ohashi.
Biles had spoken to former athletes who had trained under the couple before making the call. Reminiscing on the phone call, Landi said:
“We got a call from Rhonda F, who at the time was the VP of USC gymnastics and told us that someone had called her and wanted to know what we’re doing and if we would be
wanting to help her. And we’re like, ‘Okay, who is her?’ And she told us and we’re like, ‘Wait, what? Simone?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, she had talked to our former athletes that we had on the team.'” (16:58 onwards)“She asked them like, ‘Hey, how are they really like are they really what they’re like out to be or are they like crazy in the back?’ You know, totally like what? Yeah. What’s actually happening? Yeah. And would you be okay if I asked them to coach me?’ And they all said yes,” she added.
In her first Olympics under Landi’s guidance, at the 2020 Games, Biles secured one silver and one bronze medal.
Simone Biles’ Former Coach Cecile Landi Reveals Her First Reaction After The Gymnast Approached Her For Coaching
Simone Biles’ former coach, Cecile Landi, opened up about her and her husband’s initial reaction after the legendary gymnast approached them for training. She remembered how she and her husband thought that since Biles had already achieved almost all the major feats, it would be difficult to outdo her achievements. In the same interview, Landi referred to Biles’ approach as an “honor.”
“We looked at each other, me and my husband, we’re like, ‘Coaching Simone Biles?’ Okay. It is scary because she’s won everything. So, in a way, you’re like, you can only go down from here. Like, it’s really hard to do better or do the same. So, you’re like, okay. But at the same time, what a challenge and what an opportunity and honor that she would, you know, ask,” Landi said.
After a challenging run at Tokyo, Biles dominated the team, all-around, and vault events in Paris in 2024.
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