Simone Biles, the diminutive teenager who is becoming a giant of the gymnastics arena
FOR those old enough to remember, the names of Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci will forever be synonymous with women’s gymnastics.
For anyone under the age of 30, however, the name of Simone Biles is likely to be their touchstone as the American aims for five gold medals at Rio 2016.
Biles, 19, is just 4ft 8in tall, but is such a giant in her sport that she is being talked about as the greatest of all time.
She already has gold for the individual and team all-around events, and she will compete in the uneven bars and vault today, with the floor exercise to come later in the week. Gold is a realistic prospect in all three events.
Although she would not be the first gymnast to win five golds at one Games, she is young enough to return and do it all again in four years’ time.
Her route to Rio has been anything but straightforward. Her mother Shanon was an alcoholic and drug addict incapable of looking after her four children in Columbus, Ohio. Her father had walked out when she was a baby.
So when Simone was three she and her siblings went to live with her maternal grandfather, Ron Biles, and his second wife Nellie, even though Mr Biles was estranged from Shanon.
The couple, who were already looking after Nellie’s two teenage sons from a previous marriage, stepped in after a social worker called to say Shanon’s children were in foster care.
Mrs Biles said the only things she and her husband had to give Simone were “love and encouragement” and noticed that Simone had huge mental strength, making decisions for herself and her younger sister Adria because it was “all they knew”.
She added: “She’s a survivor. She’s been a survivor from a very, very young age.”
Shanon, 44, is angry at the way her father has talked publicly about her addiction problems, insisting she has been sober and clean since 2007.