Simone Biles: Rising gets personal with the GOAT

Simone Biles: Rising from director Katie Walsh takes a look at the gymnastics icon. The documentary series explores her life, her training, her career, and her challenges. She is accepted as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) in her sport for good reason.

The first 2 parts of Simone Biles: Rising are available on Netflix. The third episode will be released after the Paris 2024 Olympics. Since we’ve all been watching Biles’ performances in the Olympics the past week, it’s safe to say that the final episode will be full of triumphs.

The title of the series comes from the Maya Angelou poem “And Still I Rise” which Biles has tattooed on her chest.

I didn’t know anything about Biles’ life or upbringing. She was in foster care until her grandparents adopted her. She calls them her mom and dad. The series looks at her training, her trauma at the hands of Olympic doctor Larry Nassar. We see into her marriage to Jonathan Owens, an NFL star.

We see into the reasons Biles dropped out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and how she’s used therapy and help to rebuild her skills and clear her mind so that each performance she gives can be safe. She’s heading for the Paris Olympics at age 27 – old for a gymnast – and has spent four years dealing with a number of issues to get ready.

Most of the documentary is spent with Biles in candid conversation. A few other Olympic level gymnasts and her current coaches are interviewed. Her mom talks about her and her relationship with her family. Part of the issue in Tokyo was COVID was in full swing and her family couldn’t travel there with her. The first thing she did in Tokyo when she realized she had the “twisties” and was liable to hurt herself competing was call her mom.

Biles has written a book, which you can learn about on her website. She explains, “My journey to the 2016 Olympics started on a daycare field trip. You might think that going from a girl in foster care to being an Olympic gold medalist in Rio de Janeiro is the most amazing part of my journey. It isn’t. It’s how I got there — or more accurately, who got me there — that is most miraculous. I’m going to tell you a story. My story. How my faith and my family made my wildest dreams come true. And how embracing a dream can give you courage to soar.“

I found her story interesting and look forward to seeing the final episode of the series this fall. She’s a remarkable and admirable woman and a leader on the national stage.