'She stuck with it.' Pocasset gymnasts admire Olympic superstar for more than her flips

POCASSET — Hand chalk covers the red and blue mats on the floor of Tumble Time Gymnastics .

Soon, gymnasts gather in a circle around a coach and get ready to start their practice.

Importantly, a poster of Olympic superstar Simone Biles, known as the greatest gymnast the sport has ever seen , hangs on a pole near the entrance.

“She’s the best in the world,” said Alex, 12.

The young gymnasts at Tumble Time are getting ready to watch Biles and other athletes on TV competing in the Paris Olympics, which start Friday. Alex said she looks up to Biles because of her skill and is excited to see Biles’ floor routine.

Others said that the Olympic gymnasts are role models, and examples of mental strength, endurance, muscle tone and the value of hard work.

“She had like the twisties — or like, whatever — but she stuck with it, even though she was scared,” Alex said.

At the 2021 Olympics in Tokoyo, Biles withdrew from competition due to “the twisties,” which is a mental block in gymnastics that can cause a gymnast to lose control over movement during a twisting routine, according to Biles' biography .

'It was really inspiring to me'

“She struggled, like, finding the ground and she's still competing in the Olympics this year,” said Leah Bailey, 11. “And I think it was really inspiring to me that she still continued to do gymnastics after her twistees.”

The Paris Olympics will be held through Aug. 11. The women's qualifications start Saturday, July 27 .

Darcy Wankel, 14, said she’s excited to see Biles perform this year.

“I just think it's crazy how she flips and, like on vault and floor and off beam and on beam, she just has crazy control,” Wankel said. “She can just do anything.”

The Paris Olympics will be Biles’ third Olympics. She is the oldest woman on the USA Gymnastics Women’s National Team.

'Pushing the sport forward'

“Simone Biles, she's older for a gymnast,” said Faith Young, 16. “And there's been a lot of gymnasts that are in older ages than have formerly happened, and I think it's just pushing the sport forward.”

Kelsey Donoghue, 15, said she likes following the journey of Biles and gymnast Jordan Chiles .

“It was about, like, the hard skills they're also trying to get,” Donoghue said. “So it's like not everything's easy for them, too.”

The gym plans on having the Olympics playing in the background if a practice is going on.

“It’s just inspiring,” Donoghue said. “Like, have a bad day in gymnastics — I just watch them.”

Brooklyn Rivera, 11, said she’s excited to watch the Olympics and likes seeing the different music used in floor routines that differentiate gymnasts.

“I just like looking and watching them and seeing how different people have different personalities,” she said.

Doing gymnastics as long as she can remember

Young has been doing gymnastics for as long as she can remember. She said the Olympics gets more people interested in gymnastics as a sport and creates the environment for it.

“They set the framework for it, in that they're creating new skills all the time,” Young said. “They're building goals and certain, like — they're breaking records, and kind of pushing gymnasts forward.”

Young said the Olympic gymnasts bring kids to the sport, and, even if they don’t stick with it, they learn valuable lessons from it.

“It sets them up for a trajectory of being well versed in their muscle tone, and all of these endurance and the mentality. Gymnastics is a huge mental sport,” Young said. “And I think, as that Olympic part of it grows, all of that grows.”

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: 'She stuck with it.' Pocasset gymnasts admire Olympic superstar for more than her flips