On Friday, Olympic star Simone Biles dazzled the audience at the Gymnastic U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Minneapolis, securing the highest individual score on the first night of the competition. Her floor routine, set to an instrumental version of Taylor Swift’s “…Ready For It?” from the 2017 album Reputation, earned her a score of 14.850. Biles’ overall score for the night was an impressive 58.900, placing her ahead of teammates Jordan Chiles, who scored 56.400, and Suni Lee, who scored 56.025.
The floor routine was particularly celebrated by fans online, not only for Biles’ athletic prowess but also for the music choice. The routine concluded with a clip of “Delresto (Echoes),” a song by Travis Scott featuring Beyoncé. Biles first introduced Swift’s song into her floor routine at the 2024 Core Hydration Classic in May. According to NBC, Biles was actively involved in the musical mix for her routine, which was choreographed by French dancer Gregory Milan, known for his work with the French national team.
“Everybody kind of wanted something different—choreographer, as well as music,” Biles explained. “I actually hate learning a new floor routine, that’s the worst part for me. So, I just kind of let everybody pick whatever they wanted. Actually, my agent suggested Taylor Swift (and) then I found this Beyoncé song that I really liked and we kind of collabed it together. I do love Taylor Swift and I do love Beyoncé. … Those are my girls!”
Jordan Chiles also incorporated Beyoncé into her 2024 floor routine, wearing a leotard inspired by the Renaissance World Tour looks. Her music selection included “Black Parade,” “My House,” “Energy,” and “End of Time,” concluding with Destiny Child’s “Lose My Breath.” “You know me, I’m a Beyoncé fan,” Chiles said. “I watched Renaissance, I went to the show, I did all of those things. Watching her documentary made me realize a lot, so I can give her her flowers for sure.”
Simone Biles’ performance at the trials was nothing short of spectacular. She opened her high-scoring drill with the first 30 seconds of Swift’s track, striking fierce poses before executing a triple-double flip, which one announcer called the “hardest tumbling pass in the entire world.” Her score of 14.850 in the floor routine and 58.900 overall made her a frontrunner for the U.S. women’s team.
Taylor Swift herself took to social media to express her admiration for Biles. “Watched this so many times and still unready,” Swift commented on a video of the routine. “She’s ready for it tho👏👏👏🥇🇺🇸❤️”
On Sunday, Biles performed the routine again, at one point soaring 12 feet in the air with a particularly impressive flip. She ended Day 2 with an all-around score of 117.225 and was selected for Team USA for the third time in her career, having previously won gold at the 2016 Games.
Swift has long been a supporter of Biles. When the athlete made her grand return to the Tokyo Games in 2021 after withdrawing from her previously scheduled events due to mental health reasons, Swift starred in a promo video cheering on the world champion’s resilience. “Throughout the last week, her voice has been as significant as her talents,” Swift said in the NBC ad. “Her honesty as beautiful as the perfection that had long been her signature. But don’t you see? It still is. She is perfectly human. And that’s what makes it so easy to call her a hero.”
Biles responded emotionally to the video, tweeting, “I’m crying 🥺🤍 how special. I love you @taylorswift13,” to which Swift replied, “I cried watching YOU. I feel so lucky to have gotten to watch you all these years, but this week was a lesson in emotional intelligence and resilience. We all learned from you. Thank you.”
Simone Biles’ return to gymnastics has been nothing short of triumphant. At the U.S. Classic in Connecticut, she earned an all-around score of 59.500, with the highest scores in both the vault and floor exercises. She was two points ahead of her next closest competitor, Shilese Jones, who earned the top score on bars. The U.S. Classic is a key Olympic qualifying event, and the high scorers from that event will advance to the U.S. Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas, from May 30 to June 2. The U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials will start on June 27, ahead of the summer games which begin on July 26.
While Jones took silver at the U.S. Classic, Jordan Chiles, who competed on Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, took bronze. Suni Lee and Jade Carey, who also made Team USA in 2020, medaled in individual events on Saturday, with Carey placing fourth overall. All of these women, along with Kaliya Lincoln, who medaled on the floor, and Skye Blakely, who received fifth overall, are set to go on to U.S. Nationals and are Team USA hopefuls.
Former Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas returned to the sport eight years after the Rio Games in 2016. Douglas, however, had a rough start on the uneven bars and decided to withdraw from the other events during the U.S. Classic. While Biles appears to be a shoo-in for the Olympics, the four other teammates and two alternates are yet to be determined.
During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Biles withdrew from several events after experiencing the “twisties,” a disorienting feeling while flying through the air on the vault. She announced she was taking a break from events to focus on her mental health. “I was just happy to be back out there, get through those nerves again, feel that adrenaline,” Biles said about returning to the sport. “I can’t really complain how the first meet back was.”
During the vault exercise, she hit a Yurchenko double pike—also known as a “Biles II,” because she was the first woman to ever land the move at a competition. She did so at the 2021 U.S. Classic.
Simone Biles’ journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics is a testament to her resilience, talent, and the support of her fans and fellow athletes. Her floor routine set to Taylor Swift’s music has not only captivated audiences but also highlighted the powerful connection between sports and music, making her performance a memorable moment in gymnastics history.
Source: NBC, CBS News, Business Insider
