Simone Biles Was 'Very, Very Pissed' About Olympic Qualifying Mistakes but Rebounded and May Soon Make History

“Her mental is still — it’s never going to be healed completely, so this is why she really needs to calm herself down,” her coach said

In case the four-letter word she let slip didn’t make it clear, Simone Biles was “very, very pissed” about her wobblier-than-usual showing on the balance beam during the 2024 U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, her coach said.

But she quickly rebounded on Friday, June 28, with first-place showings on the floor and vault. 

That’s exactly how it should be, Laurent Landi told reporters afterward, calling it “a great recovery” for the 27-year-old reigning world champion who is now on the verge of making her third Olympic team and heading to the Paris Games next month.

Landi, who coaches Biles with his wife, Cecile, said she had been shaken by gymnast Kayla DiCello suffering an Achilles injury during her very first event, on the vault, and withdrawing from trials, which are being held in Minneapolis.

He also suggested that she’s still dealing with what happened during the Tokyo Games, in 2021, when Biles botched a vault routine and then pulled out of most of her events after being struck by a case of what’s called the “twisties,” in which she lost the ability to know where her body was in the air.

“Her mental is still — it’s never going to be healed completely, so this is why she really needs to calm herself down,” Landi said.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“She needs to rely on her own practice. … She hits everything perfectly normal,” he continued. “And because of this, there is anxiety: ‘Oh am I the next one to get hurt, what’s going to happen to me?’ You can’t control this, so control the controllable.”

He pointed to her "almost perfect floor and then amazing vault" after the beam as proof, if any was needed, that "she’s really 100% right now."

Biles herself said much the same to NBC on Friday: “I'm so upset about beam. I’m really disappointed in myself because that's not how I train. And so going forward, I'm going to try to compete how I train on that event. Because I know I'm good at it.”

“I know I can do better. So that's what I'm going to work on,” she said.

Landi told PEOPLE on Friday that intense pressure is inevitably part of Olympic-level gymnastics.

“This is what stress gives: anxiety, and you see somebody else getting hurt — like what the heck am I next or what, what’s going to happen to me?’ “ he said. 

Better, he said, to try to focus. “Stuff will happen, mistakes will happen,” he said. 

“Trust your training,” he said, adding, “Now it’s just repetition after repetition.”

And whenever possible, he advised, leave the gym after competition and try to “think about something else.”

Related: Simone Biles' Mom Beams as She Soars to 1st Place During 2024 Gymnastics Olympic Trials 

Biles, who has dominated U.S. women’s gymnastics for more than a decade, has been increasingly open about the mental health toll her career has taken and how she balances that with her athletic goals.

Even so, she told PEOPLE in 2021, “Sometimes when we speak on these things, then we become the face of it. I'm not sure if I'm completely ready for that aspect of it.”

But “obviously, once I am a little bit more open about it, I'd love to help other people going through these things because it is very relatable to know that they are not alone with it,” she said.

During an April podcast interview this year, Biles looked back at what went wrong in Tokyo and said that she just assumed, “Oh, America hates me. The world is going to hate me.”

“I thought I was going to be banned from America,” she said then. “[Because] that’s what they tell you: ‘Don’t come back if not gold. Gold or bust. Don’t come back.’ "

Since Tokyo, she took a lengthy break from gymnastics and has said she made time for weekly therapy.

Related: Laurie Hernandez Says Simone Biles Is a Lock to Make Paris Olympic Team: 'You Can Count on Her' (Exclusive)

Should Biles make a third team, she’d be in elite company: Only women’s gymnasts Muriel Grossfeld, Linda Metheny and Dominique Dawes have pulled off that feat.

“It’ll be wonderful to see her outshine what I had done many decades ago,” Dawes, a 1996 gold medalist, tells PEOPLE. “She’s definitely deserved it. I’m sure she’s not only going to help the team medal but also she’s going to individually medal as well.” 

“I keep saying this, but I could even see her training for the 2028 Game in L.A. … She is that talented,” Dawes, who is in Minneapolis while partnering with Skippy Peanut Butter, says.

The 2024 U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials continue on Saturday, June 29, with men’s qualifying; women’s qualifying will conclude on Sunday, June 30.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.