Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles is scheduled to compete in her third Olympic Games in Paris shortly. Her goal is to add more medals to her collection of seven medals, which she earned while competing in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020 (which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic until 2021).
Often hailed as the greatest athlete of all time, Biles startled spectators by withdrawing unexpectedly from the Tokyo Olympics after having trouble with the vault. She brought up her failing mental health as well as the feeling of being lost or confused during a routine that gymnasts refer to as “the twisties.”
However, as the 4-foot-8-inch phenomenon states in the “Simone Biles Rising” four-episode Netflix documentary, she didn’t want her story to end there.
“I never want to look back in 10 years and say, ‘Oh, what if I could’ve done another Olympic cycle or at least tried?’” Biles, 27, says in the docuseries. “I didn’t want to be afraid of the sport anymore.”
The first two episodes of “Rising” are now streaming, and cameras are documenting her Paris journey for two remaining episodes set for fall.
Biles says in “Rising” that after stumbling during warmups at the 2020 games, she knew it wouldn’t be a one-time mistake. She wondered how she would tell her coaches the situation was “bad bad.”
After she failed to land her vault during the competition, Biles says the room fell silent. “If I could’ve ran out of that stadium, I would have,” she says. Instead, she simply said she was done and walked away from the competition, feeling a great sense of shame.
She recorded herself just 12 hours later, tearfully looking back on what happened.
“I’m getting lost on my skills,” she says. “I just don’t get how. It’s like, I’m so prepared that I don’t know if I’m overthinking. It’s getting to the point where it’s becoming dangerous because I’m getting lost on all of my floor skills.”
