'Simones Biles: Rising' is an candid look at the toll of professional gymnastics
'Simones Biles: Rising' is an candid look at the toll of professional gymnastics
The G.O.A.T details her experience leading up to the Paris Olympics in this docu-series
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Today is the opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics, which means we’re just days away from the Greatest Of All Time taking to the mat.
Simone Biles is considered the most decorated gymnast in history and has five skills named after her. She’s a big sister, a role model, and a wife. She even has a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
And, most importantly at the moment, she’s about to compete in her third Olympics.
I’ve talked about Simone’s impact on USA Gymnastics before. Multiple times, in fact. Her influence on the sport can’t be overstated. She’s broken records, but more importantly, she’s spoken out against the toxic cycles prevalent in the sport. She has pushed for gymnasts’ physical and mental health to take priority, which is largely the focus of her documentary, “Simone Biles: Rising.”
The two-episode long Netflix documentary details her journey from the Tokyo Olympics, where she pulled herself out of the competition due to the “twisties,” up to her preparation for Paris. The show is planned to be four episodes in total, the rest releasing in the fall after the Olympics.
In case you missed it, Simone lost control in the air while performing a difficult vault at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Moments later, she decided to withdraw from the final individual all-around competition. After, she stepped back from the sport for a year, attending gym sporadically while she built her skills back up from the basics.
“Simone Biles: Rising” allows Simone to reclaim her narrative. Her professionalism and self-assurance never waivers, even as she faces difficult skills and challenging expectations. She said that she wants “end on her own terms.”
It also showcased the power of family and support systems. The Tokyo Olympics were incredibly sequestered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She lost something as reassuring as her mom braiding her hair before competition, let alone being able to see her people cheering on the sidelines.
When she needed to make a decision for herself, Simone didn’t hesitate. Gymnasts had been taught for years to ignore their physical and emotional pain. Withdrawing was what was best for her health and safety. It also sets a good example for younger gymnasts who might push themselves so hard, they get injured.
“You guys can’t even do a cartwheel,” she joked about her critics. Her life became bigger than gymnastics in the years following Tokyo as she dated and eventually wed football player Jonathan Owens. (Can we talk about how refreshing is it for a female athlete to be the most famous athlete at a football game?)
To me, it felt like the documentary was probably supposed to end at her Tokyo games, until the producers discovered the core of her story was just beginning. I’m glad they held out so we can see the personal success Simone draws from her return to the sport, rather than the athletic markers.
The documentary showcases early Black gymnasts’ experience, as well. “I knew who I was was automatically a deduction,” Dominique Dawes, a three-time Olympian, said. Black gymnasts would be ridiculed for their hair, unable to live up to stereotypical beauty standards.
Outside of athleticism, the documentary paints a bigger picture of women rising – overcoming and healing from the trauma USA Gymnastics put them through, whether that was intense training practices or Larry Nassar’s heinous crimes.
Though a reckoning has begun, it isn’t over. Just this week, The Washington Post released a piece titled “Accused of abuse — and back in the gym.”
“Gymnastics was supposed to change…USA Gymnastics, the sport’s powerful governing organization, cleaned house and vowed to remake the sport…But gymnasts’ allegations of physical and emotional abuse in their clubs have been met largely with inaction, an investigation by The Washington Post found, leaving hundreds of young gymnasts still in the care of coaches accused of serious misconduct.” -Molly Hensley-Clancy, The Washington Post
Simone is one of many pushing to change the culture of USA Gymnastics, but as we all know, change is slow. Healing is, too. Simone has balanced career expectations and intense trauma. “I had to fight demons day in and day out training,” she said.
I watched “Golden: The Journey of USA's Elite Gymnasts” around the time it came out, and I’d highly recommend it if you want a better understanding of what it takes to make it on the Olympic team as an individual gymnast.
Now, as an aside, I’m not a sports reporter, or even a reporter for that matter. The minute details of competition are not my forte. I was a gymnast – and a gymnastics coach – for a brief period of time, but I’m primarily a fan. (The first team I remember name-for-name is the 2012 London Fierce Five and ever since, I’ve fixated on the Olympics for one sport, and one sport only).
That being said, I will not be covering the Olympics itself, but if something happens that I feel is relevant to this newsletter, it’s possible I’ll write about it.
I’m rooting for Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera in Paris, all the way.
Simone is the Greatest Of All Time not just for her physical abilities, but for her radical impact on gymnastics as a sport. Gold or no gold, I will be proud of her for showing the world her resilience, gracefulness, and self-love.
Read my last story here: Trixie Mattell wants you to take a break
My weekly roundup:
🎶 What I’m Listening To: Down the Drain by Julia Fox
🎞️ What I’m Watching: Inside Out 2
🔎 What I’m Reading: See the U.S. Olympic Team’s Gymnastics Uniforms Through the Years, Cosmopolitan
📱 What I’m Scrolling: “kamala IS brat” memes (I did a “brat” explainer on Monday).