The miles on Biles before painful exit
Simone Biles said she dropped out of Tuesday’s team competition because it was hard to be the “head star” of the Tokyo Games. But the pressure has been building on the 24-year-old for years, a testament to her resilience of getting to the Olympics.
As a child in Spring, Texas, her birth mother, Shannon Biles, became unable to care for Simone and her three siblings. The four kids were in and out of foster care until Biles was adopted in 2003 by her loving maternal grandfather and his wife. The pair have long encouraged her passion for gymnastics. Referencing the disruption to her formative years, Biles wrote in her 2016 memoir, “My biological mom was suffering from drug and alcohol abuse and she was in and out of jail, I never had mom to run to.”
She was treated by a sports psychologist at 16. After a poor performance at the 2013 US Classic, Bile s’ confidence plummetted. She consulted sports psychologist Robert B. Andrews, who helped her manage her nerves and used her excitement to improve her skills.
“After working with Robert, I was able to recover and get my confidence back,” she said in a joint interview with Andrews in 2014. The expert also taught her ways to “calm down” after competing. “I found that I was getting too intense,” Biles said. “Working with Robert also helped ease my fears and I found more confidence.
Her ADHD diagnosis was made public by hackers, who in 2016 managed to access Biles’ health records and release unauthorized, previously unknown details about her mental health. They exposed her as having ADHD, a condition for which she was prescribed medication.
Biles came out fighting, taking to Twitter to explain she was not cowed by the diagnosis. She defiantly posted: “Having ADHD, and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing that I’m afraid to let people know.”
Discussing the disorder in an NPR interview, Biles said: “At a very young age, I didn’t realize what the diagnosis was. But it was a very good outing for me to get some energy out and then come home tired, do some homework and go to bed easier.”
She added that she never saw it as a disability: “Other kids have it as well. And it’s just we’re more active and hyper than them, and I never think of that as a downfall. If anything, I see it as a cool thing ’cause, like, we have more energy.”
She revealed she was abused by Larry Nassar.
In 2018, Biles revealed she was one of the more than 100 female gymnasts who accused the Team USA doctor of molestation.
As well as saying the abuse brought about suicidal thoughts, she released a lengthy statement on her social-media platforms. It was posted the day before a sentencing hearing at which Nassar heard harrowing victim-impact statements.
“Most of you know me as a happy, giggly and energetic girl. But lately . . . I’ve felt a bit broken and the more I try to shut off the voice in my head the louder it screams,” Biles wrote.
The pandemic put her ambitions on hold.
Like all athletes with their hearts set on competing in the Olympics, Biles’ dreams were dashed when Japan locked down in March 2020.
In an interview with Glamour, Biles said she “sat idle” for seven weeks and became depressed and thought of quitting.
“I wanted to give up,” Biles told the mag. “But it would have been dumb because I’ve worked way too hard.”