U.S. gymnast Shilese Jones: "I'm a force to be reckoned with"

A year ago, U.S. gymnast Shilese Jones might not have believed the 2022 she would have.

In December 2021, Jones was months removed from finishing one spot away from being part of the U.S. Olympic team as a replacement athlete for Tokyo 2020, dealing with the tragic death of her beloved father, who passed after a long battle with kidney disease, and unsure of her future in the sport.

“I believe that things happen for a reason,” Jones told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool, England. “Coming back from [missing Tokyo]… I always told myself, ‘No matter if I tried the first time [for the Olympics] and I don't make it like that's... That's it.’”

But in conversations throughout Simone Biles’ post-Olympic U.S. arena tour, and with her dad, the idea of continuing on toward Paris 2024 began to take shape.

By late July 2022, Jones emphatically told media at the U.S. Classic that the upcoming Games in the French capital were her goal.

Months later, she helped Team USA win its sixth-straight global team title and finished as runner-up in the all-around to Rebeca Andrade at the Worlds.

“This year has been full of ups and downs, and this has been my biggest goal for the last four years now. So just from the beginning, from me not wanting to come back after tour to where I'm at now it's just... I'm unbelievably proud,” Jones said minutes after taking silver on the uneven bars. “Having a new mindset after the tour and everybody's positive words and doing it for my dad... I dedicate this all to him… moving back home, it's just been so much. But I'm just super proud that I'm here and couldn't ask for more.”

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A new mindset

Achieving her biggest goal didn’t come easy.

While dealing with unspeakable loss – Jones called her father, “My everything, my right hand to hold, my motivation, someone to talk to and a shoulder to lean on,” in an Instagram post – she’s remade her life, back home in native Washington state after nearly a decade training in Ohio.

It’s given her a new outlook and approach in the sport.

“I really trust myself and my skills now. I feel like before I kind of just did the sport just to do it because I had the talent and everything,” explained Jones. “But I really feel like now, like I could go far with it and really just kind of setting my mind to a thing and just really driving for it every day, each and every day in the gym.”

What Jones does every day in the gym was top of mind in Liverpool.

Once plagued with inconsistencies, the 20-year-old didn’t miss a single routine at the World Championships, something Sarah Korngold, who coaches Jones along with Brett Wargo at Ascend Gymnastics, attributes to a focus on being “normal” on the competition floor.

“We just talked to her about believing in yourself and trusting yourself. She does to work every single day, she trains hard, and to compete normal, you don't need to be extra. You don't need to be special. You're already special. So just go out and do what you do and be normal,” Korngold said of the mental approach. “Just go be normal today. She’s getting it.”

That’s easier said than done, and Jones admits finding her "normal" under the pressure of competition has been a season-long process.

“I know it took a little bit for me at first over the competitions, Classics, Championships, to really, really set that through because being normal isn't just [something] you can just flip on,” she said with a laugh. “I really just think back to my training and what I'm capable of doing and just taking one skill at a time and not rushing myself like I did. 

“Those first couple of days for qualifications and stuff, I was like, you know, just take a step down, you know, you hit it, you know what you're capable doing, connect and you'll hit it and you'll be just fine,” she concluded.

Lessons learned

2022 has taught Jones a lot, she says, but mostly one thing.

“Really, just for me, it’s never give up,” she said. “You know, your mind is super strong. Just do your thing, believe in yourself.”

The days haven’t always been easy for Jones, but she knows that pushing through those moments delivered her to the top of the world. 

“I really just keep pushing myself,” she said of tough times. “You know, one turn, one bad day isn't going to define you. So, just putting the numbers in and really just staying strong and doing whatever it takes each day and having your mind right is the way to go.”

It’s an attitude that Jones believes can keep her at the top of her sport as Paris 2024 approaches.

“I'm capable of so much more, and I just want to show everybody that I'm still here and I'm a force to be reckoned with,” she said. “I’m consistent now and now a world champion. So, I'm really just believing in myself and I’ll just keep pushing harder.”