It’s easy to imagine an 8-year-old Tiana Sumanasekera huddled around a TV or cellphone intently watching as U.S. gymnast Simone Biles swept through the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where she won four titles.
Nearly eight years later, the scene is different. Really different.
Sumanasekera, now 16, still has Biles squarely in focus but now the two are training mates at the gym owned by the four-time Olympic champion’s parents, World Champions Centre (WCC), in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston.
“I mean, sometimes it doesn’t even hit me, but when it does, it’s just like, ‘Wow. I’ve really come this far,’” Sumanasekera told reporters during a U.S. training camp earlier this year. “It’s incredible because knowing my younger self, I was just in the sport because I absolutely loved it, and I had such a passion for it.
“So, just being able to do it every day made myself happy and my heart happy,” she continued, “Just knowing that I’ve come this far is something that makes me so incredibly proud and emotional.”
Born in Northern California near San Francisco, Sumanasekera started her elite gymnastics career at West Valley Gymnastics. While there, she finished ninth all-around as a junior at the 2022 U.S. championships.
Following that competition, she made a major move – going from California to Texas and World Champions Centre.
“I knew I wanted to improve my bars if I wanted to be competitive in the senior elite field,” Sumanasekera says of the impetus for the move. “I’ve always been inspired by and always looked up to Cecile and Laurent [Landi’s] coaching style, knowing they brought Simone from one level to the next is something that I was really in awe about. I really loved their coaching style, so I wanted to be a part of that as well and be a part of an incredible team and have the teammates that I do today.”
Little changes, big results
At WCC, what might seem like small changes paid off in big ways.
“I’d say arm conditioning is something that has changed tremendously,” explained Sumanasekera. “I was pretty weak, and I think that was kind of showing in my bars, as well. Something that really changed my bars and made it better was arm conditioning and strengthening my arms and core.”
The uneven bars has always been a difficult event for Sumanasekera. At the 2022 U.S. nationals, she failed to break 11.000 on either day of competition. A year later, after working with the Landis, she went as high as 12.800 at the event.
That boosted her to a tie for eighth place in her first year as a senior. She also received an invite to the U.S. women’s World Championships and Pan Am Games selection event and was eventually named to the U.S. squad for the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
The team won gold there.
“I am very proud of how I did in my first senior elite season,” Sumanasekera reflected. “I think it’s something that’s very hard to do, have the perfect season, you know? I went on two international assignments, and being a Pan Am gold medallist, Pan Am Games gold medallist is such a big deal to me.
“Being on that team with Jordan [Chiles] was amazing,” she continued, “and having her lead us throughout the way was such an incredible feeling. I’m very proud of how I did.”
Sumanasekera: “I would love to try for the ’28 Olympics”
She hopes to one day follow in Chiles’ footsteps, all the way to the Olympic Games.
This season, Sumanasekera is yet to compete after opting out of February’s Winter Cup, but she told reporters she’s excited about several skill upgrades (a full-out on floor, a switch leap mount on beam, and a toe-on blind change on the bars) and her new floor routine.
“I’m very excited for it,” she said of floor. “I made it really authentic to myself. I choreographed it myself, so I’m very excited for that. It’s a very upbeat and exciting floor routine, and it shows my ethnic background and my Sri Lankan heritage very well.”
Born in the middle of September 2007, Sumanasekera will still be 16 when this year’s U.S. Olympic trials roll around.
She feels – especially having watched Chiles, Biles and others in her gym compete into their mid 20s – time is on her side.
“Knowing that they are still in the sport and they’re still incredible, they’re in amazing shape… is something that I really look up to and want to be the same,” she said. “I would love to try for the ’28 Olympics. I mean, whatever happens, happens, but that is the goal and I’m just going to enjoy the process throughout the time and have fun with it.”
