Millions have watched a new documentary into the life and career of US gymnast Simone Biles has launched on Netflix. Simone Biles Rising, which consists of four episodes, saw the first two episodes released on the streaming platform on Wednesday, July 17 ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The first two episodes focus on Simone Biles, who is the most decorated gymnast in history, and focuses on her dramatic exit from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, her mental health, marriage, family and how she continues to hunt for success and glory.
Family was a major part of the documentary which saw how close Simone is to her foster family and her sister and how important her foster mother is. Her parents, Nellie and Ronald Biles, have a tradition that they kiss every time Simone successfully completes a routine.
But audiences will be wondering more about her upbringing and how she was fostered by her paternal grandfather and second wife. Below we explain her background and how her family were key to her success.
What is Simone’s family?
Biles was born on March 14, 1997 and the third of four siblings. The Netflix documentary explained her birth mother, Shanon Biles, was unable to care for Simone or her other children due to substance addiction.
All four went in and out of foster care and Simone’s sister Adria recalled how she was “so bossy” towards her. Adria later learned this was to protect her.Simone reflected in the Netflix documentary: “We were in foster care together, so I felt like she was my little kid, so I think that’s where some of the bossiness came from.
Adria interjected: “Now I know she was trying to protect me, so I think it was like a big-sister thing.”
Simone’s maternal grandfather, Ron Biles, and his second wife, Nellie Cayetano Biles, began caring temporarily for Shanon’s children in 2000 after he learned they were in foster care.
Nellie went from step-grandmother to foster mother and embraced her new family. She said: “They were in foster care from six to nine months before we got them.
Nellie – “I went from Grandma, and I was perfectly fine with Grandma, and then when that time came of being called ‘mom’, that’s a powerful word.”
Simone and her sister Adria were raised in Houston, Texas and the pair consider them as their parents. Simone’s two other siblings, Tevin and Ashley, were adopted by their great aunt and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.
How family is key to Simone’s success
Simone recalled in the Netflix documentary how her foster family supported her throughout her childhood and ensured she could pursue her dream of becoming a gymnast.
Simone said: “My family’s meant the world and they’ve given up and sacrificed a lot for me to be where I am, all starting with taking in my sister and I when we were younger.”
She added: “That was probably the hardest thing for them to do, is not only bring us in but to see if they could repair our trauma.
“I will never forget where I came from and how it shaped me into the person I am today. I always knew that I wanted to break boundaries and statistics.
“Whenever you’re in foster care and you come out of it, the odds are against you. So for me, I was kind of always that kid that if somebody told me I couldn’t do something, I would.”
The insightful documentary also revealed Nellie styles her hair before every competition. “I just want to do something special,” Nellie shared during the series while doing Simone’s hair.
“Tokyo was the one time I did not braid Simone’s hair. She is an adult. This girl can braid her hair but it’s not about her braiding her hair.”
What is Simone Biles Rising about?
A synopsis for the new docuseries teases: “[Simone] has unfinished business. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she was one of the biggest stories leading into the Games. But in sport, as in life, competitions do not always go as planned.
“And for Simone, the world had a front-row seat as her private struggle with mental health exploded on the international stage – forcing her to withdraw from the competition. Since then, Simone has put in the hard work: facing the difficult traumas of her past, learning to manage her mental health, embracing her journey, and in the process, rebuilding her gymnastics from the ground up.”
It concludes: “Her courage to soar knows no bounds as this summer she plans to return to the Olympic stage once again to do what she’s always done – be the best Simone that she can be. Because through it all, Simone still rises.”
Simone Biles Rising can be streamed via Netflix. The first part, consisting of two episodes, is available to watch while the next part and two episodes will be released in Autumn.
