Simone Biles: How the gymnast enchants not only the whole of Paris

On Thursday evening, Simone Biles sat on a chair at the edge of the competition track and dangled her legs like a little girl. She looked left and right with a smile. If it weren’t for the blue glittery suit covered in stars and rhinestones, you would have thought she was waiting for the bus, she seemed so relaxed. She had made a brief mistake on the uneven bars, her weakest apparatus, but she made up for it on the balance beam.

One more exercise separated her from victory in the individual all-around final. Floor exercise. But what does “floor” mean for her? Simone Biles took off, catapulted herself into the air and presented a flying display, including a double somersault with a triple twist, 142 centimeters of concentrated jumping power. “Oh là là, oh là là,” murmured her French colleague in the press gallery, breathlessly. It could hardly have been summed up better. Nobody needed the score, it was immediately clear: Biles had the gold medal.

Hearts and kisses for the audience

Her victory was, once again, historic. Her second gold in Paris after the team gymnastics, her sixth overall. And thirty world championship medals – no other gymnast has ever collected so many awards. Beaming, Simone Biles skipped through the Bercy Arena with the US flag, air kisses flew into the audience, heart gestures. Her husband Jonathan Owens hugged back from the stands. One of the many beautiful moments that evening was the admiring smile of Rebeca Andrade. The Brazilian had been just ahead of Biles at one point and won silver in the end. She was just happy for him.

Simone Biles no longer has to prove anything to the world. She has pushed the boundaries of the sport and has long since made history: At the beginning of her career, she was often the best black woman. Then the best woman. At some point she was jumping combinations that no one else had ever done before – five gymnastics elements are named after her. But Paris 2024 is more than a competition for the 27-year-old. Every triumph is also a victory over the injustice that has been done to her and many others. A big “gosh darn” to the system. “Make sure you’re doing well,” is Simone Biles’ message to younger gymnasts today. “Make sure you have fun.”

Simone Biles loves her sport – but she also hated it

Simone Biles was 16 when she won her first world championship. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, she won four gold medals and one bronze. When she does gymnastics, she seems to defy the laws of gravity; her incredible jumping ability allows her to increase the difficulty of her exercises to breakneck maneuvers. And she enjoys it too. Sponsors are courting the record holder, whose life seems to illustrate the age-old American dream so picturesquely: the black girl from a poor background who became a star.

Simone Biles loves her sport. But she also hated it.

At the age of twelve, she began training at the Karolyi Ranch in Texas. The training ground for US gymnasts, picturesquely situated in the forest, produced performances of the highest level. However, it was also the territory of the paedophile serial offender Larry Nassar. He had been a medical officer for the Olympic team four times, and during that time he had abused more than 250 women and girls. Accusations and statements against him had been made early on – but the victims were never believed. Not even the FBI had investigated the incidents. It was only after the Olympic Games in Rio that the crimes became public knowledge because more and more gymnasts were joining forces.

It took Simone Biles a long time. On January 15, 2018, hashtag #metoo. She said she remained silent because she wondered if it was her mistake. Her naivety. But she also wrote: “We need to find out why this happened for so long and to so many of us. We need to make sure that something like this never happens again.”

After the abuse scandal, everything was at rock bottom

The scandal was a catastrophe for the American Gymnastics Association. Everything was on the ground, except Simone Biles. She fought on relentlessly. She later suspected repression. At the Women’s World Championships in Doha in 2018, she won gold with the team. The following year, she invented her “triple-double”, World Championship victory in Stuttgart. Then, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, the collapse came. She, on whom the future of the entire association depended, suddenly suffered from acute anxiety. A psychological blockage in which her head no longer knew where her body should land – for a gymnast, this can be fatal. Simone Biles ended the competition for mental reasons. Many predicted that it would also be the end of her career.

In such a case, a man would probably have been praised for his “courageous decision” today. Simone Biles, on the other hand, was publicly mocked in some quarters, including by the . But that didn’t really matter. Because Taylor Swift, America’s most famous woman at the moment, was one of those who immediately showed solidarity: Attracting the world’s attention can be a heavy burden, said Swift. “But it can also be the chance to change everything.”

Simon Biles, the warrior

After the competition was canceled, a new chapter began in the athlete’s life: Simone Biles, the warrior.

She started to clean up. Not only in the therapy sessions that she was already doing, but also externally. In the US Senate, she and former gymnasts denounced the FBI, the gymnastics association, the American Olympic Committee. None of these institutions took the athletes’ statements seriously and were complicit in the fact that more and more women had been abused for years. Biles is increasingly criticizing the often inhumane drill behind competitive gymnastics, which turns young girls into submissive creatures and sends them to bed with little food. It shouldn’t be like that. She speaks out about the racism she experiences. About the discrimination against women in professional sport. And she got married.

Last year, Simone Biles resumed training, despite the pain in her bones, despite the fears that she says are still there. And despite her age: at 27, she is already one of the oldest in this extremely tough sport. But she had to keep going, perhaps because she is determined not to let her story end on a sad note. Biles has a delicate tattoo on her collarbone: “And still I rise” is written there – and yet I rise – after a poem by Maya Angelou. You can be vulnerable, you can heal and get up again. How many medals Simone Biles wins in Paris is probably of little concern to her. Because above all, she is not defeated. That is also her message to the world today.