She came, she saw, she fell, she rose, and she conquered – and she is The Simone Biles. The 27-year-old gymnast, who framed every possible gymnastics accolade on her wall of fame, has become a testament to the American dream.
Defying gravity, when she performs Yurchenko Double Pike (Biles II), she ends up clinching the all-around title. And now, adding one more honor to her galore, the “once-in-a-lifetime athlete” is making her Netflix debut.
However, for Biles, the grass was not always greener. There were critics, there was noise, and there was clamor calling her “quitter” when the gymnast withdrew from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in the wake of “twisties”. But, the 7x Olympic medalist “wasn’t done”. In March 2023, over a glass of margarita at a Mexican restaurant, the gymnast confessed to her coach Cecile Landi that she wants to make a comeback. Next, Biles donned her GK Elite leotard and made a resurgence. When she did, cheers erupted in the gymnastics arena, asserting that the legend is here, and she is here to stay.
On a similar note, when on 19th June, Netflix dropped the first trailer for Simone Biles Rising, her fans once again shut down the conjectures around Biles’ exit from the Olympics held in 2021. “People love to watch the come-up,” conceded Biles in the trailer of her four-part documentary. That being said, the 9x US All-Around champion also shared the turmoil she went through when people tagged her as “Quitter of the year.”
After ending her Tokyo journey, Biles explained her withdrawal: “Say up until you’re 30 years old, you have your complete eyesight (then) one morning, you wake up, you can’t see shit, but people tell you to go on and do your daily job as if you still have your eyesight… You’d be lost, wouldn’t you? That’s the only thing I can relate it to. I have been doing gymnastics for 18 years. I woke up – lost it. How am I supposed to go on with my day?”
But, all along, Simone Biles stood firm on the fact that “Sometimes you have to take the power back,” – and she did exactly that when she stepped on the mat in August 2023. Following this, she made sure to first clinch the 2023 US Core Hydration Classic title, then the 2023 Xfinity Gymnastics title, and then she concluded her comeback year by bagging the 6th World All-Around title in Belgium.
Hence, as Biles is now eyeing another gold awaiting her in the French capital, her fandom took a moment to applaud her journey till now.
Simone Biles garnered acclaim as she is “going for another Olympic run”
As the trailer gave a peek at 2021, showing Biles walking out of the Ariake Gymnastics Center, many fans flocked to the comment section to pen their regard for the gymnast’s decision. One of her admirers added, “Good for her for pulling out when she didn’t feel right. People gave her a lot of crap for it too. What was she supposed to do, continue anyway and risk being permanently injured or even killed? These stunts that she does are insanely dangerous and have to be executed just right, or else she could end up paralyzed or something.”
