U.S. gymnast Shilese Jones' next act is fueled by loss, near miss of Tokyo squad

The Shilese Jones that enters Friday’s first day of women’s competition at the 2022 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Tampa, Florida, as a favourite to challenge for the women’s crown is a very different Shilese Jones than the one who finished 10th just over a year ago at the U.S. Olympic trials.

That near miss of the U.S. Olympic team last summer was followed closely by the tragic loss of her father, Sylvester, who died in December after a long battle with kidney disease.

The two were incredibly close with Jones describing him as her “everything, my right hand to hold, my motivation, someone to talk to and a shoulder to lean on" in a post on Instagram.

Now, back home in her native Washington state after a seven-year training stint in Ohio, his memory fuels her as she pushes forward into a new phase of her gymnastics career.

“This is honestly what he wanted for me. He's told me since we moved to Ohio. He's like, ‘You know, you need to come back home and do it where you started and you know, there's still more left in you,’” said Jones last month during a press conference ahead of the U.S. Classic, where she finished second in the all-around. “He definitely was a role model for me. He pushed me every single day.

“He had a lot of health issues since he was really young, so I kind of fed off of that and kind of just wanted to do everything and more for him.”

'Still have a little bit left'

She seems poised to reach new heights as the 2022 season nears its conclusion: the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool, England, in late October.

She never planned to keep going in the sport if she missed a chance at her first Olympic team, Jones said at the Classic.

“It honestly didn't really click until after trials being so close to something and then just falling a little bit short,” she explained. “I always told myself when I was younger, I told my mom and my dad, like after the first Olympics, if I try and I don't make it or whatever, like I'm done.”

But now, it’s a different story.

“Absolutely,” she said without hesitation in response to being asked if Paris 2024 is her goal. “Yes, definitely.”

Jones dream of the Olympic Games had taken her far away from home.

At the age of 12, she and her family moved from their native Seattle to Ohio, seeking out the coaching expertise of Christian Gallardo, who at the time was working with 2012 Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas.

In January 2022, she returned to the Seattle area in which she had grown up, returned to the gym she grew up in and started working with new coaches Sarah Korngold and Brett Wargo.

“After [Simone Biles’ post-Olympic] tour and everything,… hearing from other people saying, you still have a little bit left in you. I wanted to finish it back at home and kind of just where I started,” said Jones.

'I definitely feel more confident'

It’s a homecoming, of course, but one with major changes.

Jones is an adult now, one dealing with unthinkable loss but also one who is buoyed and motivated by the success of coming so close to Tokyo 2020. She was one spot away from being named as a replacement athlete to the U.S. team, and after the Games wrapped, Biles’ tour gave her an opportunity to perform in front of adoring fans in more than 30 cities across the United States.

“I definitely feel more confident,” Jones said. “I sometimes look back and I'm just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ When you're younger, you kind of just go through the motions and stuff like that, but definitely [now I’m] more precise and excited and thrilled to be back home.”

All of that will be on display in Tampa for the U.S. championships, and Jones will need it as she squares off with U.S. Classic winner and world all-around silver medallist Leanne Wong, 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey and Winter Cup champ Konnor McClain in the women’s competition.

At the Classic, Jones said she hoped to debut several new elements in Tampa, including a stalder to layout Tkatchev, which if performed in an international event, such as the worlds, could be named in her honour.

After her second place finish at Classic, Jones was reflective, admitting that the events of the last seven months had taken a toll but thankful to have returned to U.S. competition where she says she could feel her father’s presence.

“Definitely before floor, definitely felt his energy and everything,” she told media afterward.

“Usually, I'm a little bit calmer, but... my emotions are just kind of all over the place tonight,” she said later. “I'm feeling so much, but just trying to live in the moment.”

It’s a moment for which she is ready, having learned so much in the sport through what she’s already been through.

“To just keep fighting, honestly,” she said of the biggest lesson the sport has taught her. “I've come so close to big international assignments and big things, but you fall short a little bit and then that just really pushes me and motivates me to keep striving and focus on myself and just putting in the extra work, the extra numbers and doing whatever it takes to get on the team or reach that next step.”