Why Simone Biles Says Tokyo Olympics Performance Was a "Trauma Response"
Simone Biles is looking back at her road to healing ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ahead of her third Olympics, the world's most decorated gymnast reflected on her struggles at the 2020 Olympic Games—including withdrawing from several events citing mental health concerns and a case of the “twisties”— that almost derailed her career.
“It’s a trauma response of everything that has happened," Biles said on the Netflix docuseries Simone Biles Rising, released July 17, "just being like, a survivor and all of the other things.”
In 2018, former U.S.A Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing scores of young female gymnasts, including Biles and other Team USA gymnasts, under the guise of medical treatment.
“Everything that has happened, I’ve just like, I'll push it down, shove it down, wait until my career’s done, go fix it.’ And something like this happens and unfortunately, to me, it happened at the Olympics," Biles, 27, said about her struggles in Tokyo. “I didn’t get the proper care before because I just thought I was OK."
At the Tokyo Olympics, which took place in 2021 after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Biles went on to make a comeback to win a bronze medal in the balance beam final. But her confidence was gone.
“After Tokyo, I literally had not one ounce of belief in myself. You just don’t know if you can do it again," she said on the docuseries. "I was like, ‘Is this really how my career ends? That’s tragic.’”
Ultimately, with a strong support system around her, Biles returned to the gym and began to train, making her return to competitive gymnastics in 2023 after a two-year break—winning big in several competitions and earning her spot on her third Olympic team.
“This time, coming back, it’s truly for myself," Biles said on the docuseries. "But it’s also, 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?’"
She didn’t want to be afraid of gymnastics anymore. "Because so much has happened in this sport, so much has scared the living s--t out of me,” she added, “that I couldn’t have it take that one last thing from me," she said, adding, "Also, ending on my own terms.”
Look back at the times Biles proved she is the GOAT...
Biles was one of 17 people who received the nation's highest civilian honor in 2022.
Simone Biles first stunned the world during her participation in the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Belgium. There, she qualified first in the all-around, second to the vault final, sixth to the uneven bars final, fifth to the balance beam final and first to the floor final, which made her the first American gymnast to qualify to the all-around and all four event finals since 1991. At just 16 years old, Biles became the first Black and seventh American woman to win the world all-around title.
Believe or not, the young athlete has four (!) gymnastic moves named after her. Among them is the double layout with a half twist, which the sports star debuted in her floor routine during the podium training for the 2013 U.S. Classic. Eight years after London Phillips completed it domestically in 2005, Biles was able to successfully nail the skill at the 2013 World Championships, earning the tribute. As of June 2021, only four gymnasts have successfully completed the Biles-on-floor exercise.
In 2023, a decade after she won her first world title at age 16, the athlete won her 27th world gold medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, breaking the record for world medals and Olympic medals (7) combined with a total of 34.
Biles once again proved she was a force to be reckoned with during the 2015 U.S. National Championships by securing her third all-around national title, becoming only the second woman ever to do so, 23 years after athlete Kim Zmeska.
Also in 2015, during the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Biles ended her performance with an impressive final score of 60.399. With that victory, she became the first woman to win three consecutive all-around titles in World Gymnastics Championships history, bringing her total gold medal count to 10 at the time—also the most for any woman in World Championships history.
Biles has never been afraid to address her haters or anyone who has had something to say about her body image. In 2016, the gymnast first took to Twitter to express that she is "comfortable in her own skin." Most recently, in 2020, the athlete again reinforced self-love by releasing a statement declaring that she is "done competing with beauty standards and toxic culture of trolling…because nobody should tell you or I what beauty should or should not look like." Yeah, she stuck that landing.
Biles is also the first female gymnast since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships, having accomplished this feat during the 2018 World Championships in Doha. Biles helped Team USA secure the number one spot less than 24 hours after going to the hospital due to pain from a kidney stone. The star even took to Twitter at the time to say that the "stone could wait." Talk about pushing all the way through!
Another win stemming from the 2018 World Championships: Biles debuted her now-namesake vault, a roundoff, back handspring with half turn entry, front stretched somersault with two twists (yes, it's as astounding as it sounds) at the selection camp. As of June 2021, Biles is the only woman who has performed the Biles vault.
Biles followed up her jaw-dropping 2018 move with an impressive balance beam skill. She first started training the double-twisting double-tucked salto backwards dismount off of the beam in 2013, but debuted the stunner at the 2019 World Championships where it was given the rating H, the highest rating of any skill performed on the balance beam. Biles expressed disappointment at the skill being undervalued, but despite the rating controversy, she successfully performed it during qualifications and the Biles dismount was born.
Thanks to her outstanding performance during the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Biles once again broke records by surpassing gymnast Vitaly Scherbo's record 23 World medals by winning her 24th and 25th medals (both gold, of course).
In April 2021, Biles confirmed that she would be ending her partnership with Nike to begin one with the brand, Athleta. "I felt like it wasn't just about my achievements, it's what I stood for and how they were going to help me use my voice and also be a voice for females and kids," she explained to the Wall Street Journal of the move. "I feel like they also support me, not just as an athlete, but just as an individual outside of the gym and the change that I want to create, which is so refreshing."
In May 2021, the athlete became the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike on the vault during her first competition in over a year. The new vault was given a preliminary value of 6.6, making it the highest valued vault in women's gymnastics.
On June 6, 2021, Biles made history again by becoming the first woman to win a record seventh U.S. senior women's all-around title. "It's really emotional, especially going into my second time doing an Olympic run," Simone said after her victory. "It's really crazy, and I appreciate everyone that's come out to watch and support us, especially after the year we've had."
In June 2021, Biles had fans buzzing all over the social media once she debuted a new leotard bedazzled with the image of a goat. "The idea was to hit back at the haters," she told Marie Claire. "[The haters] were joking like, ‘I swear, if she put a goat on her leo, blah, blah, blah.' That would make them so angry. And then I was like, ‘Oh, that's actually a good idea. Let's make the haters hate it, and the fans love it.'"
And like everything else she manages to accomplish with ease, we do love it!
