A New High
With
Simone Biles
At 19, SIMONE BILES became a global superstar when she won four gold medals at her first Olympics, in Rio. Five years on, the gymnast was at the center of a media furore following her withdrawal from several events at the Tokyo Games. Here, the American athlete talks to HANNA PHIFER about being a voice for the voiceless, the love she has for her community and nurturing her time outside of gymnastics
Following a year that brought Simone Biles a mix of challenge and triumph, the Olympic gymnast is taking a breather in her Texas abode before traveling to New York for professional obligations. “There’s no timeline and there’s nothing that’s really urgent from me right now,” she tells me, referring to the welcome change of pace. “My whole life has been go, go, go… So it’s kind of nice to take a step back and relax.”
After a momentary interruption from one of her French bulldogs, we get to talking about her first Olympic Games, Rio, in 2016, where she backflipped, twirled and landed right into global recognition. She remembers being a giggly teenager at the time, and despite her role as America’s newest sweetheart, she was unable to maintain even the slightest bit of cool when she was introduced to Zac Efron, her then celebrity crush. “I definitely thought I had hit the pinnacle of my career,” the 24-year-old laughs. She reminisces happily about those Games, where she won five medals – four gold and a bronze – as “a dream come true” and “so much fun”. It’s difficult not to think about the stark contrast with her time at the most recent Olympics, in Tokyo.
It’s been several months now since Biles, as one of the most celebrated and anticipated athletes heading into the Tokyo Games, made the monumental decision to withdraw from some of the events due to what she described as her mind and body not being “in sync”. It was during a practice session when the gymnast – who began her elite career at the age of 14 – knew something felt off. Despite her best efforts to push forward, even though people around her were warning caution, Biles said that she “just kind of crashed”. She would later expand, saying that “she couldn’t see herself in her head,” an issue sometimes referred to as the “twisties”, which can pose a great risk to a gymnast.
“I think a lot of GOOD things came from taking a different ROUTE at the Olympics… I do believe EVERYTHING happens for a reason”
“I felt scared,” she recalls of having to tell her coaches that she would be withdrawing from the all-around and the individual vault, floor, and uneven bars event finals. While Biles says they were “100 percent supportive”, they did ask her, “‘Are you sure you want to do this? Because, a couple of years from now, you don’t want to have any regrets.’” She was steadfast and assured them that she would only have regrets if she didn’t pull out from the competition.
Her decision came just a few weeks after tennis star Naomi Osaka made headlines for her choice not to compete in the French Open because of having to participate in mandatory press conferences – and the anxiety this would cause. Alongside people like Michelle Obama, Justin Bieber and fellow gymnast Aly Raisman, Osaka – who Biles refers to as “one of my idols” – reached out to offer support. “I definitely felt all those messages,” she says of the backing she received from fans and peers. “I want people to know that they were heard and they were seen – even if I didn’t get to respond.”
Osaka holds Biles in similarly high esteem and considers the broader impact of the gymnast withdrawing from the Olympic events. “Simone is one of the greatest athletes ever and I admire her so much – on and off the competitive stage,” Osaka tells PORTER. “What she did at the Olympics was incredibly brave and I’m sure helped so many people who are dealing with similar issues in their own lives. It will be a watershed moment in Olympic sport and will be remembered and celebrated as significantly as her gold medals.”
“My self-care ROUTINE looks a little bit different than pulling out of the Olympics… [it involves] taking BATHS, going to the spa, having movie nights with my boyfriend and spending TIME at the pool with my dogs”
Much was reflected on about sport and mental health in the days and months that followed Biles leaving the Games. It felt paradigm-shifting for a young Black female athlete at the very top of her sport to not only be so frank and honest about her mental health, but to assert and prioritize her personhood in a field that so often views Black athletes as receptacles for others’ entertainment. After decades of heavily coded media coverage that marred the talents of Black women in sport with racialized and gendered commentary, it was powerful to see the support that was rallied around her. “I think a lot of good things came from taking a different route at the Olympics,” she reflects now of deciding to withdraw. “I do believe everything happens for a reason.”
She is hesitant to call her Olympics decision an act of self-care, despite it being a phrase that has come up a lot over the past seven months in articles written about her. “My self-care routine looks a little bit different than pulling out of the Olympics,” she says. Specifically, it involves “taking baths, going to the spa, having movie nights with my boyfriend and spending time at the pool with my dogs”.
Biles becomes the most animated when talking about Lilo and Rambo – her two French Bulldogs. “They are spitfires and they are the most amazing things in my life,” she says. She got Lilo first, in 2017, as an emotional-support dog to help with her anxiety and depression. “All that stuff about [Larry] Nassar was coming out,” she says, “and I was just like, you know, I think I need to get a dog.”
As one of the most high-profile survivors of the convicted former USA Gymnastics team doctor, Biles testified in September 2021 to the Senate Judiciary Committee – alongside fellow gymnasts McKayla Maroney and Raisman – against, in Biles’ words, the “entire system that enabled and perpetuated” Nassar’s abuse. On her Facebook Watch series, Biles recounted the fallout after she came forward with her allegations of sexual abuse – and called out the complicity of USA Gymnastics in a statement to her Twitter account. “That’s when I realized the power that I had,” Biles said after USA Gymnastics announced they would be severing ties with the Karolyi Ranch – the training center where she and others were being abused – not long after she spoke out.
“I’ll ALWAYS continue to be a VOICE for the voiceless. Gymnastics CAN be a safe place”
Other gymnasts began to turn to Biles when they needed help. “Simone, tweet about it! Tweet about it,” she recalls being asked by peers in her Facebook Watch series. She has spoken in the past about how she has carried on being a member of USA Gymnastics, despite its role in the Nassar scandal, because she knows her presence will guarantee that it will continue the independent investigation. She tells me that she wants to continue to lend her voice to issues regarding sexual violence “as much as my mind will allow”.
“I’ll always continue to be a voice for the voiceless,” she says. “Gymnastics can be a safe place.”
Despite the safety protocols for Covid-19 limiting fan interactions over the past couple of years, Biles finds enjoyment in being an inspiration to young children – especially young kids of color, who she says are always “excited and beaming” when she and teammates come out to perform. “[On tour,] we had a very diverse crew – and I think that was just so exciting for [the kids] to see; as well as for us to perform on a stage like that,” she says.
“[My parents] have gone THROUGH thick and thin with me. So THEY are probably my biggest ROLE models”
She is deeply informed by a love for her community. The people she looks up to the most include her teammates and her parents, who she says have “been my rock” and have “always supported me”.
“They’ve gone through thick and thin with me,” she says of her parents, who are the grandparents that took Biles and her sister in after the girls were placed in foster care as young children. “So they are probably my biggest role models.” It is certainly difficult to imagine someone being able to make decisions as brave as Biles has, under the watch of the whole world, without the strength that comes from the love, commitment and support of a solid community. And she is determined to offer that to the next generation of gymnasts.
Focusing on the near future, Biles is looking forward to nurturing her time outside of gymnastics and having a break from what has been a life dominated by “gym, gym, gym”. At home, she intends to prioritize “making sure I have the proper time to spend with my family, my friends and my boyfriend”. It was during quarantine that the athlete started to teach herself how to just “sit down and relax – because my biggest thing before was thinking that, if I’m not doing anything, I’m being lazy,” she tells me. While she hasn’t completely gotten over the feeling of always having 20 different things to do at once, she feels that she’s “definitely better at navigating it”. For the Olympic gold medalist who has achieved the feat of flight and contortion, rest is one muscle that Biles is focused on learning to exercise next.