It was 6:45 a.m. when Cecile Landi arrived at World Champions Centre on a recent Monday to prepare for a full day of training. Promptly at 7, roughly two dozen elite gymnasts, Simone Biles among them, filed out of the locker room and onto the cavernous gym’s floor to lightly jog, stretch and limber up for a 3½-hour practice that was followed by another in the afternoon.

Since Biles started working with her new coaches, Cecile and Laurent Landi, in October 2017, there have been days when the world’s greatest gymnast couldn’t do even this much. One morning, not long after Biles acknowledged she was among the hundreds of young gymnasts molested by a former team doctor, Cecile found her in the locker room, knotted in a ball and crying.

Cecile gave her a hug and asked how she could help.

“I need two minutes,” Biles said. “I’ll be fine.”

Other mornings, the Landis could see all they needed to in Biles’s face and body language, and they sent her home.