PRIORITISING MENTAL HEALTH. Exposing abuse. Representing Black women in a previously white-dominated sport. Being happy. Supporting her football-playing husband. Getting back to the top of the podium.
Simone Bile’s to-do list over the past three years has been varied and noble.
Her story – which we appreciate more fully following Simone Biles: Rising, the excellent new documentary on Netflix – is compelling in its complexity and in its simplicity.
Her early-years family difficulties overcome, she found a home with her grandfather and in the gym. From the moment she could attend senior championships, she dominated with a wide smile and endless energy. But then the summer of 2021 complicated the tale.
Something called the twisties entered her life.
“Why now?” she recalls thinking in the Katie Walsh-directed programme. Why would the utterly terrifying gymnastic phenomenon of losing positional sense while in the air hit at exactly the moment she began her quest for domination at her second Olympic Games?
She withdrew from the competition, citing mental health and sparking debates over whether she was a hero or quitter.
“I just don’t want to die,” was her putting it at its most simple, explaining how dangerous and life threatening a bout of the twisties is.
She left the sport for a couple of years but kept training, if sporadically, in the gym. Complicated.
She became one of over 265 women who spoke out about the abuse they suffered at the hands of convicted sexual predator Larry Nassar. She started regular therapy. Complex.
She thought deeply about being a Black woman in her sport. How Gabby Douglas, the previous Olympic champion, had to deal with problematic discourse about her hair in the aftermath of bringing home gold. How Black athletes weren’t always welcomed or celebrated, making Douglas’s statement about 2012 being ‘an exciting time for everyone who looked like us’ feel outdated and oversimplified.
Last year, Biles joined two other Black women on the 2023 World Championship podium. Flanked by Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and USA’s Shilese Jones in silver and bronze positions, the Columbus, Ohio native says the moment felt noteworthy.
At 27 years old, she’s a veteran of this meet. There are just 10 female gymnasts competing in Paris who are older than her. Today, Hezly Rivera, at just 16 years old would have looked up to Biles for guidance and support.
But for all of that compelling story, the true reason the stands were packed today with budding gymnasts, curious adults and a bunch of celebrities (including a full-tracksuited Snoop Dog, Tom Cruise, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Jessica Chastain and Anna Wintour), is simply because she is the best.
There is no Maradona to her Messi.
She soars higher, for longer. She hits harder. She twists more. Some of it is effortless. More of it looks as difficult as it is, because she is pushing boundaries – hoping to have a sixth skill named after her by the end of this competition.
There are few people who don’t want to be within touching distance of that level of greatness at some point in their lives.
As Italy’s Angela Andreoli performed her floor routine, the suspenseful music felt oddly on the nose as Biles remained seated on the edge of the beam podium for her green light to go on.
Once it did, she bounded onto the 10-centimetre wide bar and vanquished the Tokyo Games.
With a full twist double back somersault to finish the routine, she came away happy with a score of 14.733.
The common way of describing the impressive brain function of pre-eminent sports stars is that they perceive time differently so can see things in slow motion to allow them to make quick – and smart – decisions. Think Tony Kelly’s wonder goal in last week’s All-Ireland final against Cork.
Biles, however, seems to have mastered and tamed gravity. It is the only way she can fit in three turns as she comes off the vault. Or be disappointed after doing a triple twist double back somersault on the floor.
After rotating around four apparatus for the qualification round, she came out on top (after two subdivision and three to go) with about 3.5 points to spare over teammates Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles. The USA is also leading overall. Eight teams, of 12, qualify for the team final on Tuesday evening. It will be confirmed after 10pm if she stays top of the pile with the USA and in the individual.
The Brazilian athlete Biles is most afraid of – Andrade – goes in the final group of the day, after 8pm.
Rio 2016 balance beam gold medallist Sanne Wevers from the Netherlands, who is also competing in Paris, said Biles continues to revolutionise gymnastics.
“She’s bringing the sport to a whole new level. It’s not just the level (of skills) she shows, but also the awareness she brings about things like mental health. That makes the sport even better.”
It is remarkable how changed the sport of gymnastics appears, its old ways of work completely undone.
Throughout today’s session, the commentator reminds us multiple times that gymnasts must be 16 before they can compete at senior level.
The competitors smile, hug and expect comfort from teammates and coaches. The crowds respond with generosity and a lack of rivalry or nationalism (even at the Olympics). While the biggest roars were reserved for Biles, there were special moments in particular for Kaylia Nemour, a French-Algerian athlete who represents Algeria but has kept a loving fanbase in her country of birth following a battle with the French federation.
This new atmosphere of acceptance of difference wasn’t started by Biles, but by embracing it and pushing for more of it, she continues to revolutionise. On the mats and off them.
The pursuit of happiness, as well as greatness, is underlined when she and share a joke and a dance as they exchange turns on the uneven bars.
And when Biles dismounts for the final time in this session, off those same bars with a score of 14.433, she gives the adoring audience that friendly, happy grin. A big wave, and she’s done.
No media today as she concentrates on the simple things of her story.
Incidentally, she starts her floor routine to the tune of Ready for It…? from the 2017 Reputation album.
Simone Biles x Taylor Swift in 2024.
We’re all ready.
