In Columbus, Ohio in 1997 a six year old girl was about to start gymnastics class. Little did she know that not too many years later she would be one of the most renowned Olympic gymnasts in the world.
Jumping to 2013 when Biles attended the Antwerp Championship and received two gold medals including the all-around title. It was at this competition that she showed the world a new move they have never seen before: the Biles. This move includes a “double layout with a half twist.” Following this she Biles went on to win four World Champion golds in 2014 and another four in 2015, which put her on the fast track to make an appearance at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Biles ended up winning the gold in: all around, team, vault, and floor with securing the bronze in balance beam.
After this she continued to set the world of gymnastics on fire and at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart she claimed five gold medals and once again taking home the gold in the all-around title. She once again made history when at this competition attempted the Biles II which is: “a double tucked backflip with a triple twist.” With Nellie Kim Simone Biles shares the distinction of having the most gymnastic moves named after themselves. Biles has five moves named after her across different events including: “floor, balance beam, and vault.”
In 2020 we see that Biles made her way to the Tokyo games where everyone was expecting a big performance from her. She added two more medals to her collection of now 7 Olympic medals. Which is why many were surprised when she pulled out of the events due to mental health concerns, and also disorientation during aerial skills. Biles said “I’m making a bigger effort to take care of my mind and my body, which includes therapy once a week. Thursdays are my therapeutic days, a moment for myself.”
After a steady break in which she got married to Jonathan Owens and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Biden, Biles made her way back to the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship in 2023. By this time Biles was a household name and was seen as very successful when she talked about her success Biles said “Success, to me, means something a little bit different now. Before, everybody defined success for me, even though I had my own narrative. Now, it’s about showing up, being in a good mental space, having fun, and letting whatever happens happen.”
The following year Biles was a competitor in the 2024 Paris Games where she helped Team USA reclaim the Olympic Team Title, which was their first time winning this title since the 2016 Rio games. It was also in these games that Biles won the gold for the all-around title making her “the first woman to win two Olympic all-around golds non-consecutively.” After these games Biles shared “I never thought I’d step foot on the gymnastics floor again just because of everything that had happened,” explained Biles in Paris. “But with the help of [coaches] Cecile and Laurent [Landi], I got back in the gym and worked really hard, mentally and physically.”
Simone Biles is still a household name due to her incredible gymnastic abilities, the titles she has won, but also because of her work in mental health advocacy. She spoke out about her own experience by saying “Working five years for a dream and just having to give it up, it was not easy at all,” and “In the beginning, I think the hardest part is logging on to my therapy sessions and convincing myself to go.” Her speaking out about this inspired not only many fans but many other athletes and her teammates to start taking care of their mental health and to start speaking out because of it. Fellow gold medalist Jade Carey spoke about this and said “I think after Tokyo and Simone using her voice about mental health and how we need to take care of ourselves, it really made us all kind of take a step back and realise that we’re not just robots out there in gymnastics,” she told us.
“We have minds that we have to take care of as well. She not only inspired me, continued Carey, “but I know she inspired so many others just to seek help, talk to someone, because it’s not easy to do on your own.” A similar sentiment was shared by four-time Olympian Ellie Black when she said “As athletes, I think we’re just looked at as kind of like machines or you can handle anything or you should be able to handle anything, or no matter what it is, you’re going to push through it. And we work really, really hard, but we are humans and we need to take care of ourselves first and foremost.” Biles is someone who has not only made a lasting impact on the history of her sport, but she has also made an impact on the world and the athletic community as a whole. She is someone who has and continues to do amazing work on and off the floor.
