Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in history, boasting 41 World/Olympic medals, as well as a plethora of wonderful achievements in her career. Graceful, poised, and elegant, Biles inspires generations of young people with her exceptional commitment to athleticism and personal improvement. As is the fear of many athletes, however, a common obstacle is the possibility of injury – a tribulation that hinders a sportsperson both mentally and physically, breaking all momentum. The real testament to an athletes capability is how they take back power and regain control in the face of adversity.
And Simone Biles, time and time again, has demonstrated an unparalleled dedication to her sport, whether faced with injury or mental setbacks. She keeps her momentum, coming back stronger and more powerful each time.
Simone Biles’ Debut: The Underdog
Simone Biles made her first international debut appearance in the 2013 World Championships, held in Antwerp, Belgium. Just making a name for herself, Biles was an underdog in the competition. Picture crowds of thousands of people; commentators hungry for movement; the palpable apprehension of coaches and athletes. An electric atmosphere charged with passion and energy. And a quietly fierce Simone Biles, not yet aware she was about to become a global phenomenon.
A perfect debut, too! Biles wore four medals at the World Championships, maintaining her momentum through each pike, rotation, and landing.
Biles won the gold medal in the floor exercise, followed by Italian gymnast and 2006 World Champion, Vanessa Ferrari winning silver, and Romanian Olympic medallist Larisa Iordache taking bronze. Biles overtook her teammate Kyla Ross’ difficulty score by 0.884 points in the finals, winning gold once more for the all-around title. Ross swept the silver medal and Russian 2010 Champion Aliya Mustafina won bronze. Biles also won an impressive silver in the vault event as well as a bronze on the balance beam.
Biles went on to carry her momentum through to the 2014 World Championships in China, pushing Team USA to gold, ahead of China and Russia in silver and bronze. Here, she became the first woman to defend her World all-around title since Svetlana Khorkina claimed two titles in a row in 2001 and 2003. Her back-to-back wins were also the first for an American woman since Shannon Miller achieved the titles in 1993 and 1994. Biles won gold in the balance beam and floor exercise as well as a silver in the vault.
Then came the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, United Kingdom, which secured the US team their third World team title and qualification to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. She won gold medals in the balance beam and floor exercise; won bronze in the vault; and won her third-straight all-around World title in 2015. Her momentum going strong, Biles was the first to win three consecutive titles, and the second woman after Svetlana Khorkina, to win three overall.
Tragedy at Tokyo
Simone Biles is not only a champion in her sport, but in her advocacy for young women and girls. In 2016, three weeks after the Rio closing ceremony, the story broke that two former gymnasts had been sexually abused by the USA’s team physician and doctor, Larry Nasser. For many of Team USA’s gymnasts, including Simone Biles, a devastating realisation dawned, and forced an unsettling need to grapple with the trauma that had been pushed down for so long.
Simone Biles told Vogue that it was hard to come to terms with realising she was a survivor of Nasser’s abuse. She recalled: “I felt like I wasn’t abused, because it wasn’t to the same extent as the other girls.” She ferociously campaigned for justice to be served for the survivors, opening honest and inviting conversations about their experiences, criticising proposed legal settlements that would not seek to help survivors, and applying pressure to USA Gymnastics’ governing body for responsible figures to resign. She criticized USA Gymnastics concealment of Nasser’s abuse: “You had one job; you literally had one job, and you couldn’t protect us!”
A turning point in her career was the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, an event that would test every competitors confidence and self-determination. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, athletes were forced to stick to a repetitive cycle of training, Covid testing, and self-isolating. This was a year different to all other years. No fans, no high-fives, no family, or friends. Not exactly condusive to maintaining momentum.
The pace and preparation were alien to all of the athletes in the Games. In the Netflix documentary ‘Simone Biles Rising,’ Simone Biles recalls the bizarre atmosphere at the Tokyo Olympics. She recalled how silent and bright it was; how she had wished there had been dark light cast on the stands so she could imagine people looking on. But the stadium was empty. Speaking on the precariousness of her mental state, Biles said: “I kinda felt like I was in jail with my own brain and body.” She went on to say: “You can only silence the noise for so long till it gets to you.”
And the mounting pressure grew too large to ignore. Trying to find momentum against the crashing waves of expectations became too powerful to control. Biles withdrew from several events at the Tokyo Olympics, experiencing what gymnasts call the ‘twisties.’ Aimee Boorman, a former coach to Simone Biles described ‘twisties’ and what it feels like to the athlete: “…when the brain stops communicating with the body and the body decides to do one thing and the brain wants to do another, and so the athlete feels very out of control”. This creates a dangerous environment for gymnasts; one fatal landing can lead to permanent paralysis or in the worst case, death.
Upon reflection on the mental block that occurred in Tokyo, Biles regularly saw a therapist to understand why her momentum had slowed, and how she could reattain it. She told the documentary crew in ‘Simone Biles Rising’: “[putting] mental health first […] shows how strong of a person and athlete you really are.” Her partner, NFL player Jonathan Owens, saw how therapy ‘helped her to bounce back and find the love for her sport again’ and inspired him to see a sports psychologist and therapist to work through and overcome mental challenges.
Regaining Momentum: The Champion
Returning to the 2023 World Artistic Championships in Antwerp was an admirable and daunting feat. Since Tokyo, Biles had been able to understand the reason for her disconnection from the sport, and train for her comeback.
And what a comeback it was! Biles won gold medals in the floor exercise and balance beam and took silver in the vault. She also retained her All-Around Title, winning gold in the Finals and overtaking the 90-year record by Alfred Jochim for winning eight All-Around titles.
Biles went on to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympics, winning three gold medals: for team, all- around and vault as well as a silver in the floor exercise. Her momentum took her all the way into the hall of fame. Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in history; she has 23 World gold medals and six all-around titles, and her 11 Olympic medals are the most won by an American gymnast.
Simone Biles is a champion, a fighter, a leader. We can learn from her journey and what it can teach us. And the lesson is this. Momentum is not just the physical act of force and drive, the sequence of propelling one’s body into the air. It is the mental gymnastics of pulling oneself out of dark and unforgiving thoughts and propelling the mind to soar for success.
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