Simone Biles: Rising (2024) s01e01 Episode Script
Write me down in history...
1
[cheering and applause]
[announcer] Please welcome
the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team!
Simone Biles!
[cheering and applause]
[Simone] I've always had
really good intuition about things.
Like, freaky.
I never tell people about it,
but I can feel a lot of things,
they're gonna happen
before it does happen.
And, unfortunately,
I felt that way about the Olympics.
[mysterious music playing]
[commentator] It is
the women's team final from Tokyo.
Team USA looking
for their third straight gold medal.
[Simone] Before Tokyo,
I did feel like I was in the best shape.
I truly thought
that would be the peak of my career.
[announcer 2] Simon Biles!
[commentator] Since they were
little girls,
they have spent countless hours
thinking about this moment.
Exhausting days in the gym,
dream-filled nights
at home have carried them
to the biggest stage in the world.
Bye. I'm Simone!
You can stop it now.
[woman] Simone was the face
of the Tokyo Olympics.
[commentator 2] Already
the most decorated gymnast ever.
So it wasn't a question
of whether Simone would win a gold.
It was a question of how many golds.
[commentator 3]
Every single medal is gold!
[commentator 4] She's going
to be the all-around champion.
She was supposed to present a new vault.
Something really unreal
for woman gymnastics.
She was supposed to beat records of medal.
Tokyo was the Everest for her.
[commentator 5] And we'll come back
for the vault of the gymnast
universally recognized
as the greatest ever, Simone Biles.
Everybody was expecting her
to be the superstar.
[commentator 6] I think she's
the most dominant athlete in the world.
But it's never done.
Nothing is done, ever.
You never know what can happen.
[commentator 7] So many little girls,
I'm sure, watching,
saying, "I wanna be
just like her when I grow up."
- [commentator 8] Here we go.
- [commentator 9] This is an Amanar.
[indistinct cheers]
[heartbeat]
[commentator 9] Wow.
And that was not what was planned.
It was shocking. I believe
she only did a one and a half twist.
Supposed to do two and a half twists.
Got completely lost.
Mm. Never in my life
have I seen her do that. Never.
[commentator 8] And we are being told
by the officials
that Simone Biles
is out of the competition tonight.
- [commentator 9] Speechless.
- [commentator 8] Speechless. Uh Uh Um
[Simone] Everything
that has happened in my career
that we've shoved down in a box,
and your body can only function
for so long before your fuses blow out.
She could not sync
her body and her mind together
to compete.
Something broke.
Something broke.
Back again ♪
To take my place ♪
Here to stay ♪
Don't count me out ♪
[Simone] I never thought I was gonna be
competing again after Tokyo
because, like, there were
such loud voices in my head.
Mental work needed to be done,
but I'm doing that now.
[woman] She breaks barriers
in this sport beyond the titles.
Just believe ♪
[woman 2] If she never competed again,
she would, right now,
be the greatest in history.
This is my destiny ♪
[woman 2] And that's not my opinion.
That's just the math.
My heart beats fast ♪
[Simone] I had to fight demons,
like, day in and day out in training.
I really have to prove
to myself that I can do this.
I get to write my own ending.
- To wake me up towards destiny ♪
- Destiny ♪
This is my destiny ♪
Oh, oh ♪
Oh, oh, oh ♪
[thunder rumbles]
[Simone] What the hell
are up with these lights?
Yeah, it's pretty horrible weather.
[woman] Do you still go
to physical therapy over here?
Uh, no, it's down that way,
but yeah, I need to start going again.
But, like, I haven't been
in the gym very much.
Yeah.
So
We're here, and it's home!
- Yeah. Just be careful.
- [man] Hey, it's all right.
- We gotta walk the plank?
- [Simone] Ugh.
Let's do it.
[Simone laughs]
[Simone] I never thought we'd be
building a house or any of the things.
It's just it's weird. It's different.
'Cause I never thought
I'd be at this stage in my life,
but I feel very grateful.
- Yeah.
- It's soft close!
- Hey.
- [chuckles]
[Jonathan] I see the vision.
[Simone] Over the last two years,
I have found my husband.
- [laughs]
- I'm a very clean person. Okay.
[Simone] He is an NFL player.
We met online,
and we got married May 6th, 2023.
We feel as if this house
will be our forever home
and we'll be able to grow into it.
- What are you gon' put in there?
- [Simone laughs] My makeup!
So you only have that side. I'm sorry.
[Jonathan chuckles]
- [Simone] Whatever.
- We gon' figure it out, baby.
[Simone and Jonathan laugh]
[Jonathan] I have a vision for this room.
Don't worry.
And all the space on the walls?
Jersey. Jersey.
Uh, your leo gonna go on a spot.
Then we got a picture
of my baby on the Wheaties box.
Then we gon' have We'll blow you up.
A Vogue cover gonna be, like, right there.
You know what I'm sayin'?
We'll blow my baby up.
[Simone] I feel like it's so crazy
because I think back a couple years ago
to who I was and where I was at in life,
and some of it feels so distant.
And I'm like, "Who was that girl?"
That's supposed be black.
I'm going for another Olympic run,
which I thought
we would have retired after 2020.
But I feel a lot of us
in the gymnastics world
have been able to prove that you can
be older and kind of prolong your career.
Now, I'll be 27,
and honestly I never thought I'd still
I'd be at this phase still doing it.
So it's crazy how things work.
Just very different.
It should be beautiful.
Simone is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete.
Period.
I don't know when we would see
another one that could even come close.
[commentator] Nobody's gonna go higher.
Nobody's gonna land like that.
[commentator 2] She has
such explosive power,
but she's able to control it.
She really does seem to have
this sense of where she is in the air,
which surpasses any of the other gymnasts.
[woman] She's not just dominant
in doing what already exists.
She is so creative, right?
She has multiple skills named after her.
She is pushing herself.
[woman 2] The difference between
the greats and the greatest of all time,
or the GOATs, like Simone,
is that they change their sport.
[man] Simone Biles is one of
the hardest athletes to commentate
because I'm running out of words.
[commentator] Is she ever out of breath?
I don't think I've seen her out of breath.
I don't think anyone in any other sport
has ever been that dominant. Ever.
It's like an NFL team
never losing the Super Bowl. Ever.
[indistinct chatter]
[announcer] The Olympic Games
will open in Tokyo, Japan,
and this woman is set to be their star.
[reporter] With the Olympics
just over a week away,
Tokyo is reporting the highest number
of new COVID cases in almost six months,
and it's getting clearer just
how different these games are going to be.
No fans. No high fives.
Winning athletes will have to put
medals around their own necks.
[Simone] Have you guys ever seen
that statue
with the man holding,
like, that thing on his back?
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Like, yes!
That's what the expectations felt like.
[Jonathan] I remember seeing
the commercials leading up to it, like,
"The greatest of all time, Simone Biles!"
"Star of the Olympics!" And I'm like,
"Man, it's every other commercial."
[Simone] If I live up to expectations,
rise to the challenge
[reporter 2] The time is now
for Simone Biles.
And the pressure,
sometimes, from the media can get you
fed up with it.
[reporter 3] How is it
that you stay motivated?
I'm trying to be better
than I was at the last meet,
so I'm trying to beat myself.
I feel like each one
gets better and better.
When eyes on you and every single move
[commentator] Taking the sport
to new heights
[commentator 2] Every single skill,
it is done with ease and perfection.
[commentator 3] What do you think?
Five gold medals?
I think five.
People talking about you.
You know, "You're favorite to win.
You're gonna win."
[commentator 4] We have gotten so spoiled,
seeing this over and over.
[commentator 5] She keeps
taking it higher.
People break down.
[commentator 6] Better, faster, stronger.
Greatest of all time.
[Simone] So today is July 23rd, Friday.
We're here in Tokyo, Japan.
Guess what tonight is?
Tonight is opening ceremonies.
[cheering]
[crowd chanting] USA!
[Onnie] When I think back
to watching the Tokyo Olympics,
I don't really understand
how the Olympics is happening.
The whole time I was watching Tokyo,
I just felt very conflicted and tense.
Because of COVID, it was only gymnastics
and gymnastics and gymnastics.
We could not go out.
So you were in the gym. You come back.
You're in the room, on social media.
You're just in the room,
and what do you think about? Gymnastics.
It's just, like, every day I pray
I wake up, spit test is good.
In training, like,
we wear a mask as much as we can.
It's been so far,
fingers crossed, so good.
[thunder rumbles]
[commentator] It is
the Women's Team Final from Tokyo.
Team USA looking
for their third straight gold medal.
[woman] We marched in,
but everything was so bright at the Games.
And I love when they do dark audience.
And maybe that would've helped
some of them just,
maybe, pretending there was people?
[commentator] We have the families back
at home. Hello, everybody.
[cheering]
I was immediately
just thinking about the social isolation,
the lack of emotional and social support.
[woman] The best we could've done then
was to FaceTime.
And I wanted to be there so, so bad
because I knew
how much that would mean for her.
But it didn't happen.
My husband and I attended
every one of Simone's competition,
except the Tokyo Olympics.
[announcer] Right now,
all eyes on Simone Biles.
[woman] She just has this ability,
this amazing body awareness,
to be able
to turn it on when she needs to.
She's able to pick up skills so quickly,
figure things out so fast,
and it's just really amazing to watch her.
[commentator] Bizarre.
Right there, we just saw Simone kind of
almost look like she got a little lost.
And as soon as you did it you're just
as soon as I did it,
I was like, "You gotta be shitting me."
"Like, right now?
Really, right now, we're gonna do this?"
[Laurent] And then I look at the face.
She pretend, "It's I'm fine. I'm fine."
No, you're fine when you do a fall.
Like, you make your stuff, but you fall.
But when you get lost in something?
No, you're not fine.
I knew from that very moment
that it wasn't
just, like, one time and done
'cause I feel like
you can, like, feel it in your head.
[commentator] The entire world
is expecting for her
to be the best,
just like she always is, and that's a lot.
[commentator 2] It's the rarest air.
There's nobody else
occupying it right now.
And it's gotta be a lonely place at times.
I guess she said the lights just
triggered something, and that was it.
She didn't know what she was gonna do,
but she knew it wasn't
what she was supposed to do.
[Simone] And I knew it wasn't just like,
"Oh, oops, sorry."
I was like,
"How am I supposed to tell them
that this is bad bad?"
[suspenseful music playing]
[commentator] Mm. Never in my life
have I seen her do that. Never.
But I believe that's what
she did in warm-ups as well.
Don't know exactly where
things got a little funky.
Just doubting herself somewhere.
Just get these head things out
of your head, girl.
I would say, for 20 years,
she's been controlling her skills,
and this one year, she couldn't.
And this one year,
I wish I could've been there.
This one year,
things were beyond our control.
I don't know what I'm gonna do
the rest of the meet. That's my problem.
I don't wanna do something stupid.
[Simone] To me, it felt silent.
Almost like deaf.
And if I could've ran
out of that stadium, I would have.
But I was like, "Keep it cool,
calm, collected. Don't freak anybody out."
Let's go over and be like,
"We're done here."
[commentator] Simone Biles right now
gonna exit the floor.
[Onnie] I immediately said,
"She's alone."
Like, the fact that
the athletes have to travel
without family, without friends,
without their network,
and it grossly underestimates
the importance of connection and community
to our physical performance
and possibilities.
- Be the best. Simone.
- [Simone] Yeah.
- I love you.
- [Simone] I love you too.
Ooh, I love you.
[man] Mom. Mom. Mom.
Up. It's Simone. Come on.
Talk to her.
[Nellie] Hello?
You can't do it.
That's okay, honey. That's okay.
Uh, they will do their best without you.
I don't want you
going out there if you're not
if you're not in a good place,
and you need
you don't need to go out there
and hurt yourself.
That's just not right, okay?
You you need to take care of yourself.
Okay?
Okay. I love you.
Okay. Just take some deep breaths,
and just know we're praying for you, okay?
Okay. I love you.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Uh, bye.
That's it. She's done.
- She just pulled out.
- [woman] What?
- She just pulled out.
- [woman] Why?
She said she can't do it.
[commentator] And we are just being told
by the officials
that Simone Biles is out
of the competition tonight.
[Simone] I love you guys,
but you're gonna be just fine.
I love you.
- [girl 1] It's okay.
- [girl 2] No, it's okay.
[commentator] Have you ever seen anything
quite to this level?
[commentator 2] Uh, it's quite a movie.
[Simone] I've been to an Olympics.
I'll be fine.
This is your first.
You gotta kick ass, okay?
[Simone] Afterwards, I kinda felt
like I was in jail
with my own brain and body.
Just like, I just feel so ashamed.
[heartbeat pounding]
[Simone] So, having these
mental blocks in the gym recently.
It's not been fun. It's been scary.
[somber music playing]
I'm getting lost on my skills.
[cracking knuckles]
I just don't get how. It's like
I'm so prepared that
[sniffles]
I don't know if I'm overthinking.
I mean, it's it's getting to the point
where it's becoming dangerous
because I'm getting lost
on all of my floor skills.
[sniffling]
And it's like it could happen
any other time.
I don't get [sniffles]
why it happens at the Olympics.
It's like
In gym, we call it the twisties.
It should be a forbidden word
'cause it sucks to have them.
For anybody.
When you have trouble like that,
it becomes so dangerous
to try to go through.
[reporter] World champion Simone Biles
posted video
of her crashing to the mat yesterday,
with what is known
as a bad case of the twisties.
Twisties are kind of 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.
So just imagine
you're getting on a rollercoaster,
and then you close your eyes,
and then they change
the rollercoaster, and then you go.
[reporter 2] We're learning what
gymnasts have dreaded for years.
When they're in the middle
of a maneuver and they lose their place
in the air and they get lost,
and they could potentially fall
and seriously hurt themselves.
I'm not going to put that out there
'cause I don't want young gymnasts to
But I am gonna say it. You could die.
It's the reality
of flipping up in the air upside down
and having to land on your feet.
Your head could hit first.
And the only way to cure it,
it's to take some time off
and to understand why this happened.
[groans]
And most of the time,
it's unrelated to gymnastics.
[reporter 3] Simone Biles. Wow,
everyone's been talking about her.
There are some who are calling her out
for abandoning her team.
I think immediately afterwards,
there was a lot of noise on social media
because there wasn't a full understanding
of what Simone had experienced.
[overlapping chatter from reporters]
[reporter 4] Right now, the biggest
quitter in sports is Simone Biles.
[Alice] That's what engendered
a lot of the criticism on social media.
It's like, "Oh,
you didn't feel like competing."
You know, "You just dropped out,
and you let your team down."
[reporter 5] I thought
she might be the GOAT.
You can only silence the noise
for so long till it gets to you.
Sports are supposed
to teach you life lessons.
I thought that was the whole deal.
The GOAT of all gymnasts,
she quit last night.
What happened to fighting through injury,
working through stuff
you didn't really wanna do?
Don't quit. That's an important lesson.
When you have a job, things get tough
"Eh, I'm done. I'm not gonna show up."
[Simone] The people that were yelling,
saying mean things
were way louder than all of the support.
You just feel like a big disappointment.
"The GOAT chokes. How appropriate
for self-proclaiming yourself
as the greatest of all time. LMAO."
Sitting on our couch
watching me from home. Okay.
Everywhere I went,
I felt like they could see, like,
"loser" or, like, whatever,
like, "quitter" across my head.
So I always felt like
everyone was staring at me,
even if they weren't.
[reporter] This woman just quit
at the Olympics,
and I'mma tell you
why I'm calling it quittin',
and I'm not accepting an excuse
of, "Oh, the mental stress."
[Simone] We already carry that weight
on our own.
Like, I really don't need your two cents.
And not your two cents, because you guys
can't even do a cartwheel, so
yeah.
Everybody had an opinion
about what happened.
"Blah, blah, blah. She had that."
Uh, "It's because of that."
[overlapping chatter]
[Céline] How is it possible
to deal with people
who are so silly?
That girl, the amazing gymnast
who everybody's shitting on.
- [man] Simone Biles.
- Yeah. 'Cause she bailed on the Olympics.
"Can't take it anymore."
It's not like she's a
she's not a chicken.
[man] She's the best of all time
by all people's accounts.
[Rogan] Aren't they changing rules
because she could do shit
that other people can't do?
[curious music playing]
[Simone] Ooh.
This is the forbidden Olympic closet.
[humming]
Work for five years for a dream
and just having to give it up,
it was not easy at all.
Tokyo Team USA pins
and stuff we were supposed to trade,
but I didn't get to,
because my mood was bad.
What else do we have back here?
See our masks.
These COVID, like, dog muzzles.
[reporter] Simone, last question.
Is there something physically
that's going on?
As of now, no.
[Simone] I feel like it's more mental,
and we're dealing with a couple things.
So we're just gonna take it day by day,
and we'll see.
[Simone] So what's this?
San Francisco to Tokyo ticket.
Opening and closing ceremony uniform.
But Oh, here's my number. Wow.
Sittin' right on top.
A lot of this stuff is good keepsake,
but it's in this closet
'cause I never really come in this room.
So [scoffs]
I used to sit here
and just cry and cry and cry.
Ask God why this happened to me.
[commentator] Simone Biles withdraws
from another Olympic event.
The floor exercise final.
[commentator 2]
The Olympic All-Around Final.
[commentator 3] Simone Biles
not competing tonight,
but watching.
Here it is.
Yeah. Beautiful leo.
[blows raspberry]
Yeah, this is a good spot for it for now.
I mean, even touching it is like,
"Ugh, ee ugh."
But, you know, sometimes
you have to take that power back.
[Simone] The sport is changing,
and we're putting
mental and physical health
more at the forefront.
I wouldn't even say first,
but more at the forefront.
Behind me beginning to warm up
for the women's individual
All-Around Finals in gymnastics.
[Onnie] In the '80s and '90s,
as a gymnast,
our ideas about what was normal
within the sport
were a bit warped.
But there was a deep belief
that this was the way
to achieve the success.
[commentator] These performances today
from a woman
who dislocated her elbow this spring.
She had surgery.
They inserted a micro screw
in her arm to repair it.
[Betty] Even physical well-being wasn't
necessarily part of the conversation.
There was, "You can do it,"
or, "You cannot do it."
If you cannot do it,
you need to move out of the way.
[commentator] Betty Okino,
who sports an injury list
that you'd more likely see posted
on the door of a trainer
for an NFL football team.
[Betty] And if you don't break,
then that makes you
resilient and a champion.
[Simone] You don't even think about it
until after the fact,
like now, years later.
"Wow, that was probably,
like, borderline abuse."
But in the moment, it's like
you wanna become an Olympian,
you wanna be a world champion,
so you're gonna do what it takes.
[commentator] Right now for the Americans
is 15-year-old Dominique Dawes,
whose ankles are taped for a reason.
She has been in a lot of pain
since the Olympic trials.
We were kids back then, and we were
supposed to do as we were told.
They thought that is what it takes
to build an Olympic champion
or to build a college-scholarship athlete.
And I will say,
that's how you rip down a human being.
[cheering]
[commentator] This crowd of over 30,000
here in the Georgia Dome
is getting a chance
to see a ladies' final.
[Simone] Kerri Strug, heroic.
Yes, I think we've all seen it,
and we've all praised her for it.
But, you know,
there's a lot of controversy over it.
[commentator] So Kerri Strug,
it is up to her.
If she can score 9.493,
and you see her parents
[Dominique] In 2020,
when Simone stepped back,
I think people started to scrutinize
and really think about
the pressure
that is put upon these athletes.
And I think the Kerri Strug moment,
people started to look at it,
and they were like, "Is that too much
on a young child?"
- [commentator] Oh! Three falls in a row.
- [commentator 2] This is scary.
[commentator] And she is limping.
Kerri is hurt.
[Dominique] We all were injured.
We all were beat down and battered.
She's standing at the end
of the vault runway,
visibly in physical pain.
Emotional pain, as well.
Her coaches are,
like, telling her she can do it.
You can do it! You can do it!
[Dominique] That'd be
nerve-racking as an adult.
These are young teenagers
that have given up their whole childhood.
Nearly 40,000 people
screaming for her to go
because it's for your country.
[suspenseful music playing]
[commentator] Kerri Strug is hurt.
She is hurt badly.
[Simone] Watching that video,
total badass. You go, girl.
And I know some of us
have even competed on injuries,
but I definitely
think about it a little bit differently.
[commentator] She has either
twisted her ankle
[Dominique] I think what we did
was historic and groundbreaking,
but I think if we look back now,
we're like, "That was not right."
It is not necessary
to control and overpower
and undermine the humanity
of your gymnast in order to be successful.
[commentator] Probably the last thing
she should've done was vault again,
but she did,
and now she is in a lot of pain.
[Simone] I know, after Tokyo,
that video got brought back up.
Like, "Why couldn't you be Kerri Strug?"
And then a lot of people were like,
"Absolutely not. Kerri shouldn't
have done that back in the day."
And maybe if my ankle was fractured,
yeah, I would've still done it,
but that wasn't the case.
Where I was mentally and physically,
it could've potentially
been more than an ankle or something.
It could've been worse.
I say, um, put mental health first
because if you don't,
then you're not gonna enjoy your sport
and you're not gonna succeed as much
as you want to.
So it's okay sometimes to even sit out
the big competitions to focus on yourself
because it shows how strong
of a competitor
and person that you really are.
[Simone] After the Olympics,
you just go into, like, a depression.
It's like a post-Olympic depression.
[crowd cheering]
[Simone] You feel so alone,
and you can't get out of that rut.
It's like, "Okay, the Olympics is over."
"Simone, it's done," but deep down,
like, to me, it wasn't done.
[Céline] It's easier to understand
when a gymnast is injured with broken leg.
Uh, yes, you have empathy
because you can see the problem.
For Simone, it was invisible.
[Laurent] I think only great athletes
could take this kind of decision.
Any other athletes
that think they know themselves,
they would have kept going and get hurt.
[Onnie] The certainty she must've had,
that, "This is exactly what I need,"
and then the courage to live it out,
it's a beautiful lesson for all of us
and a beautiful model
of what it means to listen to yourself
and care for yourself.
[Simone] On some days, if I talk about it,
and I'm like, "Oh, I'm helping
so many people out."
And then other times I talk about it,
like, I get choked up.
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.
[indistinct yelling]
It's a trauma response
[reporter] A once trusted physician
who preyed on young women
in the USA Gymnastics program
[Simone]of everything that has happened.
Just being, like, a survivor
and all of the other things.
[reporter 2] The former Olympic doctor was
sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.
Nassar admits sexually abusing
women and girls
while working for Michigan State
and USA Gymnastics.
[Simone] The scars of this horrific abuse
continue to live with all of us.
As the lone competitor
in the recent Tokyo Games
who was a survivor of this horror,
I can assure you
that the impacts of this man's abuse
are not ever over or forgotten.
[voice breaking] Sorry.
I didn't get the proper care before
because I just thought I was okay.
But your mind and your body
is the first one to say, "Actually, no."
Thank you! Bye, guys!
You just never know how you'll react
when you start actually talking about that
and trying to start the healing process.
And I knew it would be a long journey.
Whenever I talk to my therapist,
she's like,
"If it didn't happen then,
it would definitely happen later on
in your life, and you can only
shove stuff down for so long."
Because I would've rather had some
big world, global meltdown another time.
But it opened up
the conversation to a lot of the world,
and a lot of people got the chance
to be heard and be seen
and to get the proper help, so
thank God for that vault. [chuckles]
After Tokyo,
I literally had
not one ounce of belief in myself.
You just don't know
if you can do it again.
I was like, "Is this really
how, like, my career ends?"
"That's tragic."
I feel I cried a lot more
outside of the gym than in the gym
because I didn't want the girls to see
how much I was struggling.
Before I got this tattoo,
it was a saying that I loved.
Obviously, Maya Angelou.
And I was like,
"'And still I rise' is perfect,"
because I feel like
that's kind of the epitome
of my career and my life story
'cause I always rise to the occasion,
and even after
all of the traumas and the downfalls,
I've always risen.
Come on! You wanna come inside?
Okay. Let's go.
Whenever I first came back to gym,
I had to start from the basics.
Kind of like
when kids come and ask me for advice,
when they have
a mental block or they're scared,
I'm like, "Go all the way down
to the basics and then build your way up."
Every comeback, so to say,
that I've had, is, like,
no matter what happens,
I've still come back
and still tried to do everything,
like, full force, full difficulty.
Like, even after Tokyo.
Come back, and I'm here, so still I rise.
And that's kinda where we started from.
Square one.
But not just building the skills.
It's building the confidence and the trust
'cause I had to relearn
to trust myself again
'cause I was still in the process
of understanding why it happened.
Because every day
I went to twist, I'm like I'm like
I always had the fear in the back
of my mind of if I was gonna get lost.
[Cécile] Pretty quickly after Tokyo,
she came back to the gym.
First, on the trampoline,
and it was just to flip.
Just to see
what she could and could not do.
This is, like this is crazy!
She wasn't doing, like, too much.
She was just kinda getting in the gym.
Basically staying in shape, honestly.
Conditioning.
[Laurent] I think she had so much fun,
and it was good to see.
It was healing part of it, I think.
[whimsical music playing]
[Simone] For a lot of those months,
I was still getting lost a lot.
Like, a couple days I'd be okay,
and then I'd be lost for a couple days.
And I'd be okay for another day,
then I'd be lost again.
She would come
just once every three months,
jump on the tramp,
and see if she can do a full-in.
If she can do this, she can do that.
And then she would
do this for a year and a half.
[Cécile] But then we would not
see her for a couple weeks
and then she would come back
and play again
and not see her for a couple days, back.
[Simone] I was in and out of the gym
for about a year and a half, till 2023.
That's when I took it serious.
I would hate going into the gym because
obviously the girls are watching me,
and they used to be watching,
like, this confident, giggly Simone
and I'm over there crying
because I'm scared to go
'cause I know I'm about to get lost,
and I don't wanna get lost
'cause it's not a good feeling.
[Joscelyn] We talked about
the twisties a lot
'cause I've been through it so many times.
We talked about, like,
how it doesn't ever really go away.
- Like, it's still back there.
- [Laurent] Legs there. Legs.
[Simone] Ooh. Whoa.
You know, they're always
coming over to me, saying,
"You're Simone Biles.
You can do anything." Da, da, da, da.
So I didn't want them to see
how defeated I was,
but I would listen to the girls.
They'd be like, "Please come back
tomorrow. Please come back tomorrow."
And that just, like, meant a lot to me.
[Joscelyn] She doubts just as much
as any other gymnast.
[Simone] I know, but
[Laurent] Uh, no, already "but."
Honestly, it helps everyone, I think,
to know that even Simone gets nervous.
I always am like,
"I don't think you guys understand,
like, how much
you've helped me this year."
[Laurent] Yeah.
Okay, it's late.
So, I get emotional 'cause it's like,
I feel like I'm a big baby,
but I don't think they realize
how much they've helped me.
And snap earlier.
- Oh, yes, like that.
- [laughs]
[Simone] I wanted to quit
like 500,000 times.
And I would have if it weren't for them.
[Laurent] Oh, it's working!
That's that's weird.
That's so much better than that too.
Even more.
Really stand up this way and then go.
Good job.
[Laurent] I mean, I think
it's when she really decided to go
and and get help.
Where she started to talk
to her therapist a little bit more often
and every week, and
and then she started to see the progress,
and she started to see the improvement.
Oh yeah, yeah. I did like that color.
Wait, why did he just
- Oh, he just tripped.
- He just fell.
[laughs]
- Here's some butter.
- [Jonathan chuckles]
[Simone] Did you say,
"What am I gonna cook?"
- What are we gonna cook?
- [Jonathan] Right there.
[Simone] I think the difference now is
I try to keep up with gym
as much as possible
and still stay in shape and healthy,
but it's, like, I have to make sure
I maintain a healthy relationship,
my husband's healthy.
There are so many different things,
and it's not all about gym.
Like, life moves on.
Excuse me.
Thought you had
some shells in there, girl.
It's been a it's been a minute.
You ain't losing your touch, are you?
[Jonathan chuckles]
[Simone] I have to take the time
and put in the effort
to make everything else work.
[Jonathan] Cheers.
[sighs] Okay, baby.
It's obviously my first time
sitting in these chairs.
Yeah, I mean, you don't fit too well.
I appreciate You fit perfect.
I love you.
[Simone] Post-Tokyo,
Jonathan was just like
I mean, he always has a good head
on his shoulders, and he's like,
"You'll get back to where you were,"
and made sure
I was staying on top of my training.
He was making sure
I was going to my therapy sessions
and was trying to do as much as he could
without kind of being bossy,
but he was really just like
a shoulder to lean on
'cause he saw, like,
those dark times after Tokyo.
You can't grow
if you don't go through stuff. You can't.
That's what I'd tell her.
You grow through what you go through.
- Our first date?
- What did we do?
We played games and we drank
What? Sangria.
- Sangria. I had some sangria.
- Yeah.
- It was just like
- The TV was on.
- It was right when COVID had happened.
- Yeah.
You play professional sports,
you supposed to be a superhero,
when you have
the same issues and everything,
but, really,
you're under a bigger microscope.
It was just funny. I remember when
she pulled up in her little Range Rover.
I was like, "Okay, I see you, girl.
Got your little Range Rover."
And then pulled up on me.
- And then she just, like
- I jumped out the car.
She jumped out, and she's
like all the way down here.
- I'm like, "Oh shoot."
- [laughs]
- I've never
- He said it scared him at first.
- How short I was.
- I've never met someone, like, that tall.
I was like, "Oh shoot.
You kind of small, okay."
[both laugh]
[Jonathan] Understanding, like,
how much therapy can help,
and it really helped her bounce back
and find the love for her sport again
and take the pressure off of herself
that she put on herself.
[Simone] What I went through,
that kind of opened his eyes.
He sees how athletes
can go through something like that
or a big change in their career.
So I think it actually
kind of inspired him to go to therapy
or see a sports psychologist
'cause now he does that, like, weekly.
She said,
"I think you need to see someone,"
and, you know, I'm like, "See who?"
It's a humbling thing
because you have to go back
and look at yourself in the mirror.
You gotta be able to talk about it,
and you know,
I feel like when people
don't have that outlet to be able to talk,
it makes you keep it in,
and that's the worst thing
because stuff just builds up
to the point where you're not
in control of your emotions anymore.
I credit that to her, though.
She she really opened my eyes.
Now look at us. Married.
[Jonathan] Now look at us.
[Simone] Sit. Come here.
[kissing sounds] Come over here.
- [dog panting]
- [Simone] Good girl.
[clears throat]
[blows raspberry]
[Simone] This time, coming back,
it's like it's truly for myself.
Nobody is forcing me in the gym.
Like, I'm 26 years old.
It's truly myself.
But it's also, I never wanna
look back in ten years and say,
"Oh, what if I could've done
another Olympic cycle or at least tried?"
I didn't wanna be
afraid of the sport anymore,
because, you know,
so much has happened in this sport.
So much has, like,
scared the living shit out of me
that I couldn't have it take
that one last thing from me.
Also, ending on my own terms.
[reporter] We got some breaking news
here on First Take. Simone Biles is back.
[reporter 2] For the first time
in nearly two years,
the most decorated gymnast of all time
is scheduled to compete again.
[reporter 3] Having been out
of this kind of elite training
all these years, is it possible?
[reporter 4] She would be the oldest
on a US Olympic women's gymnastics team
in 72 years.
You gotta start someplace to get
to the destination. So this is the start.
[reporter] Simone Biles soars yet again.
She has officially secured a spot
on the US World Championship
gymnastics team.
Now Biles will be
the first American woman to compete
at six World Artistic Gymnastics
Championships ever.
- [reporter 2] How does twisting feel?
- Twisting feels better, I think.
Sometimes I get in my head about it a lot,
and the girls have to keep reminding me,
"You're fine."
"That was like
That stuff doesn't happen."
So I definitely feel a lot better.
The year before the Olympics,
they always call Worlds
"the mini Olympics."
And that's basically
who you're gonna be competing against,
so it's kinda good to get out there,
do your skills,
and kinda see where you land.
[commentator] The warmest of welcomes
to the city of Antwerp
hosting the World Championships
of Artistic Gymnastics.
And it's a great pleasure
to have your company.
Great pleasure to have her company,
as well. Back at international level.
She came to Antwerp
in 2013 to make her name.
Oh my goodness.
I was a scared little gymnast is 2013.
[commentator 2] Simone Biles,
who was second on the vault
at the recent US Nationals, where she was
the all-around gold medalist.
[commentator 3] This could be
a highlight of today's competition.
The hardest vault in the world,
and boy, she does it spectacularly.
Oh-ho-ho my!
- Wow!
- [commentator 4] Wow!
At that point, I was just trying to
go out there and make a name for myself.
[commentator 4] We talked about
how powerful this lady is
and where she stands out,
where she gets those extra points
on her difficulty are the big elements.
Especially like this. The dismount.
- [commentator 3] Wow!
- [commentator 4] Full in!
[chuckles] That was the first and only
Worlds that I was an underdog in.
Once you win it,
it changes all expectations
for the rest of your career.
It's easy being the underdog.
It feels pretty good,
but it hasn't really sunken in yet.
I'm just happy.
It was a lot of fun competing out there,
and that's all I can say.
I just had a lot of fun. [chuckles]
Now, every time I show up,
I'm expected to win.
Like, this year, specifically, competing,
I haven't been
as confident in my gymnastics,
just because of everything
that did happen in Tokyo.
So we wanted to try to take a different
approach and not talking to media.
Just kind of staying in my zone.
Still following up with my therapist.
I turned off the comments on my Instagram,
which I don't care.
If you wanna comment good or bad,
you're not gonna be allowed.
And then, Twitter, I've actually deleted
a couple times off my phone.
So yeah, I think I'm getting there.
[Simone] Whoa! Sorry.
[Cécile] I think she's ready.
Now, as much as I appreciate the media
being so into Simone,
uh, you know,
kind of almost leave her alone.
Let her do her thing. Enjoy the show.
To not put too much pressure on her.
It's not needed.
Nice job, Simone.
- [Simone] Do half?
- [Laurent] No, we're not. No.
- Do your half, and then
- [Simone] Okay.
[Cécile] And just, you know, let her be.
And enjoy it 'cause we won't see
another Simone Biles anytime soon.
[heartbeat pounding]
- [Nellie] I could try. Give it a try.
- [Simone] Okay.
So, if we're doing that,
it would be a braid coming here
and a braid coming and meeting there.
Or you can just do one at the top.
- Like one big one here?
- Yeah.
- And then the one in the back?
- Yeah.
Okay.
[Nellie] For me, it's been four years
since I have, um, actually attended
an international competition.
So it's been a while.
- Oh, did Dad come in yet?
- Yes.
- Is he at the hotel?
- [Nellie] Dad came in.
There is a lot of what happened in Tokyo
that tends to creep in, you know?
So those are the things
that we wanna make sure
that she doesn't go in that
in that place again.
- [Nellie] No, no, you're going too low.
- Oh, okay.
[Nellie] Yeah, I just wanna
do something special.
Tokyo was the one time
I did not braid Simone's hair.
She is an adult.
I mean, this girl can braid her hair,
but it's not about her braiding her hair.
Girl! You look good
if I must say so myself.
[Simone] Thank you.
[Nellie] It's that bonding.
It's that not saying much.
It's the touch.
That's what doing her hair means.
I'll see you tonight,
and good luck to you guys.
- Okay, sounds good. Bye!
- Love you all. Love you. Love you.
[Simone] I have to do both of my vaults
anyways to qualify for the vault finals,
but I had to land my first vault,
which is Yurchenko double pike,
so that I could get it named after me.
[Céline] The Yurchenko double pike.
I don't know if
anybody even think how difficult it is.
I mean, yes, the the the height
that she gets is absolutely extraordinary.
It it is.
The pike position,
just from a physics point of view,
is very, very difficult to rotate.
It's just the mechanics.
You have a tuck position.
Your body is here.
Versus a pike position,
when you bring the legs out.
Just think about
how much more complex it is to rotate.
[Laurent] That's why no other woman
has ever done it,
because the difficulty is to land
on the feet and to stay on the feet.
Uh, dangerous because you can get hurt.
[woman] What does it feel like
to do that vault?
[Simone] Just scary.
And it's
every time you do it, you're scared.
Every time I do it, I'm like
[exhales sharply] "Okay."
"One more time."
[Alice] That vault, you know,
you have to balance the risk involved
versus the payoff.
But I think not having the opportunity
to even make that decision in Tokyo
was part of her unfinished story.
[Onnie] It is challenging
to have a new skill named after you.
It's challenging in that
you have to be the first one to do it
and complete it successfully
in a Worlds or Olympics.
So there aren't that many.
Simone has already done that
four times now.
I have two on floor.
One is the Biles I,
which is a double lay half out.
[commentator] Watch this double layout
with a half at the end.
That's called the Biles as of now.
And then the Biles II on floor
is a triple double.
[commentator 2]
Triple twisting double back!
[commentator 3] Three times around
with a double backflip.
[commentator 4] Forget just gymnastics.
How many things in all of sports
are more impressive to watch than that?
Then the vaults are half on,
double full forwards off.
[commentator 5] Get out of town. Holy
[Simone] And then I have
the double double beam dismount.
[commentator 6] Everybody's saying now,
"Backflip, double double!"
There it is! That's the Biles!
That's what they've been waiting for.
[chuckles] She keeps adding another twist
or another flip. What are you gonna do?
It's a new skill.
No one else is gonna do it.
The Biles number one can be done,
but so far that is the only skill
that has been done successfully at meets
by other people.
[announcer] We have a score
for Simone Biles' exercise
from the previous rotation
[Cécile] Being able to go back to
I mean, it's Olympic Games
and World Championships,
so the next best thing at a big stage,
I think, for her, was, "I'm continuing
to write my story. I'm not done yet."
I am sure that she has doubts.
I am sure that she's still,
you know, questioning herself.
Even when the media thinks,
"Oh my God. She looks amazing."
"Oh my God.
Everything is so easy for her."
Most of the time,
they get to paint a picture
that they're not living,
so of course it's glorious.
But then, on the other side,
I'm actually living that picture.
I'm the painter.
[Laurent] We need to always
remind ourselves that stuff can happen,
and we need to look at
try to see certain sign
to try to to prevent it.
[Simone] Probably done
100 Yurchenko double pikes,
and the first one
and then the last one I've done,
they all feel the same. Scary.
The vault is a physical thing,
but it's also a mental thing too.
You have to have a lot of strength, power,
good air awareness.
There's a lot of components.
It's that split-second on the table,
if I know it's going to
be a good vault or not.
Simone!
Most of the time
I'm just trying not to die.
[suspenseful music playing]
[dramatic music playing]
[cheering and applause]
[announcer] Please welcome
the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team!
Simone Biles!
[cheering and applause]
[Simone] I've always had
really good intuition about things.
Like, freaky.
I never tell people about it,
but I can feel a lot of things,
they're gonna happen
before it does happen.
And, unfortunately,
I felt that way about the Olympics.
[mysterious music playing]
[commentator] It is
the women's team final from Tokyo.
Team USA looking
for their third straight gold medal.
[Simone] Before Tokyo,
I did feel like I was in the best shape.
I truly thought
that would be the peak of my career.
[announcer 2] Simon Biles!
[commentator] Since they were
little girls,
they have spent countless hours
thinking about this moment.
Exhausting days in the gym,
dream-filled nights
at home have carried them
to the biggest stage in the world.
Bye. I'm Simone!
You can stop it now.
[woman] Simone was the face
of the Tokyo Olympics.
[commentator 2] Already
the most decorated gymnast ever.
So it wasn't a question
of whether Simone would win a gold.
It was a question of how many golds.
[commentator 3]
Every single medal is gold!
[commentator 4] She's going
to be the all-around champion.
She was supposed to present a new vault.
Something really unreal
for woman gymnastics.
She was supposed to beat records of medal.
Tokyo was the Everest for her.
[commentator 5] And we'll come back
for the vault of the gymnast
universally recognized
as the greatest ever, Simone Biles.
Everybody was expecting her
to be the superstar.
[commentator 6] I think she's
the most dominant athlete in the world.
But it's never done.
Nothing is done, ever.
You never know what can happen.
[commentator 7] So many little girls,
I'm sure, watching,
saying, "I wanna be
just like her when I grow up."
- [commentator 8] Here we go.
- [commentator 9] This is an Amanar.
[indistinct cheers]
[heartbeat]
[commentator 9] Wow.
And that was not what was planned.
It was shocking. I believe
she only did a one and a half twist.
Supposed to do two and a half twists.
Got completely lost.
Mm. Never in my life
have I seen her do that. Never.
[commentator 8] And we are being told
by the officials
that Simone Biles
is out of the competition tonight.
- [commentator 9] Speechless.
- [commentator 8] Speechless. Uh Uh Um
[Simone] Everything
that has happened in my career
that we've shoved down in a box,
and your body can only function
for so long before your fuses blow out.
She could not sync
her body and her mind together
to compete.
Something broke.
Something broke.
Back again ♪
To take my place ♪
Here to stay ♪
Don't count me out ♪
[Simone] I never thought I was gonna be
competing again after Tokyo
because, like, there were
such loud voices in my head.
Mental work needed to be done,
but I'm doing that now.
[woman] She breaks barriers
in this sport beyond the titles.
Just believe ♪
[woman 2] If she never competed again,
she would, right now,
be the greatest in history.
This is my destiny ♪
[woman 2] And that's not my opinion.
That's just the math.
My heart beats fast ♪
[Simone] I had to fight demons,
like, day in and day out in training.
I really have to prove
to myself that I can do this.
I get to write my own ending.
- To wake me up towards destiny ♪
- Destiny ♪
This is my destiny ♪
Oh, oh ♪
Oh, oh, oh ♪
[thunder rumbles]
[Simone] What the hell
are up with these lights?
Yeah, it's pretty horrible weather.
[woman] Do you still go
to physical therapy over here?
Uh, no, it's down that way,
but yeah, I need to start going again.
But, like, I haven't been
in the gym very much.
Yeah.
So
We're here, and it's home!
- Yeah. Just be careful.
- [man] Hey, it's all right.
- We gotta walk the plank?
- [Simone] Ugh.
Let's do it.
[Simone laughs]
[Simone] I never thought we'd be
building a house or any of the things.
It's just it's weird. It's different.
'Cause I never thought
I'd be at this stage in my life,
but I feel very grateful.
- Yeah.
- It's soft close!
- Hey.
- [chuckles]
[Jonathan] I see the vision.
[Simone] Over the last two years,
I have found my husband.
- [laughs]
- I'm a very clean person. Okay.
[Simone] He is an NFL player.
We met online,
and we got married May 6th, 2023.
We feel as if this house
will be our forever home
and we'll be able to grow into it.
- What are you gon' put in there?
- [Simone laughs] My makeup!
So you only have that side. I'm sorry.
[Jonathan chuckles]
- [Simone] Whatever.
- We gon' figure it out, baby.
[Simone and Jonathan laugh]
[Jonathan] I have a vision for this room.
Don't worry.
And all the space on the walls?
Jersey. Jersey.
Uh, your leo gonna go on a spot.
Then we got a picture
of my baby on the Wheaties box.
Then we gon' have We'll blow you up.
A Vogue cover gonna be, like, right there.
You know what I'm sayin'?
We'll blow my baby up.
[Simone] I feel like it's so crazy
because I think back a couple years ago
to who I was and where I was at in life,
and some of it feels so distant.
And I'm like, "Who was that girl?"
That's supposed be black.
I'm going for another Olympic run,
which I thought
we would have retired after 2020.
But I feel a lot of us
in the gymnastics world
have been able to prove that you can
be older and kind of prolong your career.
Now, I'll be 27,
and honestly I never thought I'd still
I'd be at this phase still doing it.
So it's crazy how things work.
Just very different.
It should be beautiful.
Simone is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete.
Period.
I don't know when we would see
another one that could even come close.
[commentator] Nobody's gonna go higher.
Nobody's gonna land like that.
[commentator 2] She has
such explosive power,
but she's able to control it.
She really does seem to have
this sense of where she is in the air,
which surpasses any of the other gymnasts.
[woman] She's not just dominant
in doing what already exists.
She is so creative, right?
She has multiple skills named after her.
She is pushing herself.
[woman 2] The difference between
the greats and the greatest of all time,
or the GOATs, like Simone,
is that they change their sport.
[man] Simone Biles is one of
the hardest athletes to commentate
because I'm running out of words.
[commentator] Is she ever out of breath?
I don't think I've seen her out of breath.
I don't think anyone in any other sport
has ever been that dominant. Ever.
It's like an NFL team
never losing the Super Bowl. Ever.
[indistinct chatter]
[announcer] The Olympic Games
will open in Tokyo, Japan,
and this woman is set to be their star.
[reporter] With the Olympics
just over a week away,
Tokyo is reporting the highest number
of new COVID cases in almost six months,
and it's getting clearer just
how different these games are going to be.
No fans. No high fives.
Winning athletes will have to put
medals around their own necks.
[Simone] Have you guys ever seen
that statue
with the man holding,
like, that thing on his back?
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Like, yes!
That's what the expectations felt like.
[Jonathan] I remember seeing
the commercials leading up to it, like,
"The greatest of all time, Simone Biles!"
"Star of the Olympics!" And I'm like,
"Man, it's every other commercial."
[Simone] If I live up to expectations,
rise to the challenge
[reporter 2] The time is now
for Simone Biles.
And the pressure,
sometimes, from the media can get you
fed up with it.
[reporter 3] How is it
that you stay motivated?
I'm trying to be better
than I was at the last meet,
so I'm trying to beat myself.
I feel like each one
gets better and better.
When eyes on you and every single move
[commentator] Taking the sport
to new heights
[commentator 2] Every single skill,
it is done with ease and perfection.
[commentator 3] What do you think?
Five gold medals?
I think five.
People talking about you.
You know, "You're favorite to win.
You're gonna win."
[commentator 4] We have gotten so spoiled,
seeing this over and over.
[commentator 5] She keeps
taking it higher.
People break down.
[commentator 6] Better, faster, stronger.
Greatest of all time.
[Simone] So today is July 23rd, Friday.
We're here in Tokyo, Japan.
Guess what tonight is?
Tonight is opening ceremonies.
[cheering]
[crowd chanting] USA!
[Onnie] When I think back
to watching the Tokyo Olympics,
I don't really understand
how the Olympics is happening.
The whole time I was watching Tokyo,
I just felt very conflicted and tense.
Because of COVID, it was only gymnastics
and gymnastics and gymnastics.
We could not go out.
So you were in the gym. You come back.
You're in the room, on social media.
You're just in the room,
and what do you think about? Gymnastics.
It's just, like, every day I pray
I wake up, spit test is good.
In training, like,
we wear a mask as much as we can.
It's been so far,
fingers crossed, so good.
[thunder rumbles]
[commentator] It is
the Women's Team Final from Tokyo.
Team USA looking
for their third straight gold medal.
[woman] We marched in,
but everything was so bright at the Games.
And I love when they do dark audience.
And maybe that would've helped
some of them just,
maybe, pretending there was people?
[commentator] We have the families back
at home. Hello, everybody.
[cheering]
I was immediately
just thinking about the social isolation,
the lack of emotional and social support.
[woman] The best we could've done then
was to FaceTime.
And I wanted to be there so, so bad
because I knew
how much that would mean for her.
But it didn't happen.
My husband and I attended
every one of Simone's competition,
except the Tokyo Olympics.
[announcer] Right now,
all eyes on Simone Biles.
[woman] She just has this ability,
this amazing body awareness,
to be able
to turn it on when she needs to.
She's able to pick up skills so quickly,
figure things out so fast,
and it's just really amazing to watch her.
[commentator] Bizarre.
Right there, we just saw Simone kind of
almost look like she got a little lost.
And as soon as you did it you're just
as soon as I did it,
I was like, "You gotta be shitting me."
"Like, right now?
Really, right now, we're gonna do this?"
[Laurent] And then I look at the face.
She pretend, "It's I'm fine. I'm fine."
No, you're fine when you do a fall.
Like, you make your stuff, but you fall.
But when you get lost in something?
No, you're not fine.
I knew from that very moment
that it wasn't
just, like, one time and done
'cause I feel like
you can, like, feel it in your head.
[commentator] The entire world
is expecting for her
to be the best,
just like she always is, and that's a lot.
[commentator 2] It's the rarest air.
There's nobody else
occupying it right now.
And it's gotta be a lonely place at times.
I guess she said the lights just
triggered something, and that was it.
She didn't know what she was gonna do,
but she knew it wasn't
what she was supposed to do.
[Simone] And I knew it wasn't just like,
"Oh, oops, sorry."
I was like,
"How am I supposed to tell them
that this is bad bad?"
[suspenseful music playing]
[commentator] Mm. Never in my life
have I seen her do that. Never.
But I believe that's what
she did in warm-ups as well.
Don't know exactly where
things got a little funky.
Just doubting herself somewhere.
Just get these head things out
of your head, girl.
I would say, for 20 years,
she's been controlling her skills,
and this one year, she couldn't.
And this one year,
I wish I could've been there.
This one year,
things were beyond our control.
I don't know what I'm gonna do
the rest of the meet. That's my problem.
I don't wanna do something stupid.
[Simone] To me, it felt silent.
Almost like deaf.
And if I could've ran
out of that stadium, I would have.
But I was like, "Keep it cool,
calm, collected. Don't freak anybody out."
Let's go over and be like,
"We're done here."
[commentator] Simone Biles right now
gonna exit the floor.
[Onnie] I immediately said,
"She's alone."
Like, the fact that
the athletes have to travel
without family, without friends,
without their network,
and it grossly underestimates
the importance of connection and community
to our physical performance
and possibilities.
- Be the best. Simone.
- [Simone] Yeah.
- I love you.
- [Simone] I love you too.
Ooh, I love you.
[man] Mom. Mom. Mom.
Up. It's Simone. Come on.
Talk to her.
[Nellie] Hello?
You can't do it.
That's okay, honey. That's okay.
Uh, they will do their best without you.
I don't want you
going out there if you're not
if you're not in a good place,
and you need
you don't need to go out there
and hurt yourself.
That's just not right, okay?
You you need to take care of yourself.
Okay?
Okay. I love you.
Okay. Just take some deep breaths,
and just know we're praying for you, okay?
Okay. I love you.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Uh, bye.
That's it. She's done.
- She just pulled out.
- [woman] What?
- She just pulled out.
- [woman] Why?
She said she can't do it.
[commentator] And we are just being told
by the officials
that Simone Biles is out
of the competition tonight.
[Simone] I love you guys,
but you're gonna be just fine.
I love you.
- [girl 1] It's okay.
- [girl 2] No, it's okay.
[commentator] Have you ever seen anything
quite to this level?
[commentator 2] Uh, it's quite a movie.
[Simone] I've been to an Olympics.
I'll be fine.
This is your first.
You gotta kick ass, okay?
[Simone] Afterwards, I kinda felt
like I was in jail
with my own brain and body.
Just like, I just feel so ashamed.
[heartbeat pounding]
[Simone] So, having these
mental blocks in the gym recently.
It's not been fun. It's been scary.
[somber music playing]
I'm getting lost on my skills.
[cracking knuckles]
I just don't get how. It's like
I'm so prepared that
[sniffles]
I don't know if I'm overthinking.
I mean, it's it's getting to the point
where it's becoming dangerous
because I'm getting lost
on all of my floor skills.
[sniffling]
And it's like it could happen
any other time.
I don't get [sniffles]
why it happens at the Olympics.
It's like
In gym, we call it the twisties.
It should be a forbidden word
'cause it sucks to have them.
For anybody.
When you have trouble like that,
it becomes so dangerous
to try to go through.
[reporter] World champion Simone Biles
posted video
of her crashing to the mat yesterday,
with what is known
as a bad case of the twisties.
Twisties are kind of 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.
So just imagine
you're getting on a rollercoaster,
and then you close your eyes,
and then they change
the rollercoaster, and then you go.
[reporter 2] We're learning what
gymnasts have dreaded for years.
When they're in the middle
of a maneuver and they lose their place
in the air and they get lost,
and they could potentially fall
and seriously hurt themselves.
I'm not going to put that out there
'cause I don't want young gymnasts to
But I am gonna say it. You could die.
It's the reality
of flipping up in the air upside down
and having to land on your feet.
Your head could hit first.
And the only way to cure it,
it's to take some time off
and to understand why this happened.
[groans]
And most of the time,
it's unrelated to gymnastics.
[reporter 3] Simone Biles. Wow,
everyone's been talking about her.
There are some who are calling her out
for abandoning her team.
I think immediately afterwards,
there was a lot of noise on social media
because there wasn't a full understanding
of what Simone had experienced.
[overlapping chatter from reporters]
[reporter 4] Right now, the biggest
quitter in sports is Simone Biles.
[Alice] That's what engendered
a lot of the criticism on social media.
It's like, "Oh,
you didn't feel like competing."
You know, "You just dropped out,
and you let your team down."
[reporter 5] I thought
she might be the GOAT.
You can only silence the noise
for so long till it gets to you.
Sports are supposed
to teach you life lessons.
I thought that was the whole deal.
The GOAT of all gymnasts,
she quit last night.
What happened to fighting through injury,
working through stuff
you didn't really wanna do?
Don't quit. That's an important lesson.
When you have a job, things get tough
"Eh, I'm done. I'm not gonna show up."
[Simone] The people that were yelling,
saying mean things
were way louder than all of the support.
You just feel like a big disappointment.
"The GOAT chokes. How appropriate
for self-proclaiming yourself
as the greatest of all time. LMAO."
Sitting on our couch
watching me from home. Okay.
Everywhere I went,
I felt like they could see, like,
"loser" or, like, whatever,
like, "quitter" across my head.
So I always felt like
everyone was staring at me,
even if they weren't.
[reporter] This woman just quit
at the Olympics,
and I'mma tell you
why I'm calling it quittin',
and I'm not accepting an excuse
of, "Oh, the mental stress."
[Simone] We already carry that weight
on our own.
Like, I really don't need your two cents.
And not your two cents, because you guys
can't even do a cartwheel, so
yeah.
Everybody had an opinion
about what happened.
"Blah, blah, blah. She had that."
Uh, "It's because of that."
[overlapping chatter]
[Céline] How is it possible
to deal with people
who are so silly?
That girl, the amazing gymnast
who everybody's shitting on.
- [man] Simone Biles.
- Yeah. 'Cause she bailed on the Olympics.
"Can't take it anymore."
It's not like she's a
she's not a chicken.
[man] She's the best of all time
by all people's accounts.
[Rogan] Aren't they changing rules
because she could do shit
that other people can't do?
[curious music playing]
[Simone] Ooh.
This is the forbidden Olympic closet.
[humming]
Work for five years for a dream
and just having to give it up,
it was not easy at all.
Tokyo Team USA pins
and stuff we were supposed to trade,
but I didn't get to,
because my mood was bad.
What else do we have back here?
See our masks.
These COVID, like, dog muzzles.
[reporter] Simone, last question.
Is there something physically
that's going on?
As of now, no.
[Simone] I feel like it's more mental,
and we're dealing with a couple things.
So we're just gonna take it day by day,
and we'll see.
[Simone] So what's this?
San Francisco to Tokyo ticket.
Opening and closing ceremony uniform.
But Oh, here's my number. Wow.
Sittin' right on top.
A lot of this stuff is good keepsake,
but it's in this closet
'cause I never really come in this room.
So [scoffs]
I used to sit here
and just cry and cry and cry.
Ask God why this happened to me.
[commentator] Simone Biles withdraws
from another Olympic event.
The floor exercise final.
[commentator 2]
The Olympic All-Around Final.
[commentator 3] Simone Biles
not competing tonight,
but watching.
Here it is.
Yeah. Beautiful leo.
[blows raspberry]
Yeah, this is a good spot for it for now.
I mean, even touching it is like,
"Ugh, ee ugh."
But, you know, sometimes
you have to take that power back.
[Simone] The sport is changing,
and we're putting
mental and physical health
more at the forefront.
I wouldn't even say first,
but more at the forefront.
Behind me beginning to warm up
for the women's individual
All-Around Finals in gymnastics.
[Onnie] In the '80s and '90s,
as a gymnast,
our ideas about what was normal
within the sport
were a bit warped.
But there was a deep belief
that this was the way
to achieve the success.
[commentator] These performances today
from a woman
who dislocated her elbow this spring.
She had surgery.
They inserted a micro screw
in her arm to repair it.
[Betty] Even physical well-being wasn't
necessarily part of the conversation.
There was, "You can do it,"
or, "You cannot do it."
If you cannot do it,
you need to move out of the way.
[commentator] Betty Okino,
who sports an injury list
that you'd more likely see posted
on the door of a trainer
for an NFL football team.
[Betty] And if you don't break,
then that makes you
resilient and a champion.
[Simone] You don't even think about it
until after the fact,
like now, years later.
"Wow, that was probably,
like, borderline abuse."
But in the moment, it's like
you wanna become an Olympian,
you wanna be a world champion,
so you're gonna do what it takes.
[commentator] Right now for the Americans
is 15-year-old Dominique Dawes,
whose ankles are taped for a reason.
She has been in a lot of pain
since the Olympic trials.
We were kids back then, and we were
supposed to do as we were told.
They thought that is what it takes
to build an Olympic champion
or to build a college-scholarship athlete.
And I will say,
that's how you rip down a human being.
[cheering]
[commentator] This crowd of over 30,000
here in the Georgia Dome
is getting a chance
to see a ladies' final.
[Simone] Kerri Strug, heroic.
Yes, I think we've all seen it,
and we've all praised her for it.
But, you know,
there's a lot of controversy over it.
[commentator] So Kerri Strug,
it is up to her.
If she can score 9.493,
and you see her parents
[Dominique] In 2020,
when Simone stepped back,
I think people started to scrutinize
and really think about
the pressure
that is put upon these athletes.
And I think the Kerri Strug moment,
people started to look at it,
and they were like, "Is that too much
on a young child?"
- [commentator] Oh! Three falls in a row.
- [commentator 2] This is scary.
[commentator] And she is limping.
Kerri is hurt.
[Dominique] We all were injured.
We all were beat down and battered.
She's standing at the end
of the vault runway,
visibly in physical pain.
Emotional pain, as well.
Her coaches are,
like, telling her she can do it.
You can do it! You can do it!
[Dominique] That'd be
nerve-racking as an adult.
These are young teenagers
that have given up their whole childhood.
Nearly 40,000 people
screaming for her to go
because it's for your country.
[suspenseful music playing]
[commentator] Kerri Strug is hurt.
She is hurt badly.
[Simone] Watching that video,
total badass. You go, girl.
And I know some of us
have even competed on injuries,
but I definitely
think about it a little bit differently.
[commentator] She has either
twisted her ankle
[Dominique] I think what we did
was historic and groundbreaking,
but I think if we look back now,
we're like, "That was not right."
It is not necessary
to control and overpower
and undermine the humanity
of your gymnast in order to be successful.
[commentator] Probably the last thing
she should've done was vault again,
but she did,
and now she is in a lot of pain.
[Simone] I know, after Tokyo,
that video got brought back up.
Like, "Why couldn't you be Kerri Strug?"
And then a lot of people were like,
"Absolutely not. Kerri shouldn't
have done that back in the day."
And maybe if my ankle was fractured,
yeah, I would've still done it,
but that wasn't the case.
Where I was mentally and physically,
it could've potentially
been more than an ankle or something.
It could've been worse.
I say, um, put mental health first
because if you don't,
then you're not gonna enjoy your sport
and you're not gonna succeed as much
as you want to.
So it's okay sometimes to even sit out
the big competitions to focus on yourself
because it shows how strong
of a competitor
and person that you really are.
[Simone] After the Olympics,
you just go into, like, a depression.
It's like a post-Olympic depression.
[crowd cheering]
[Simone] You feel so alone,
and you can't get out of that rut.
It's like, "Okay, the Olympics is over."
"Simone, it's done," but deep down,
like, to me, it wasn't done.
[Céline] It's easier to understand
when a gymnast is injured with broken leg.
Uh, yes, you have empathy
because you can see the problem.
For Simone, it was invisible.
[Laurent] I think only great athletes
could take this kind of decision.
Any other athletes
that think they know themselves,
they would have kept going and get hurt.
[Onnie] The certainty she must've had,
that, "This is exactly what I need,"
and then the courage to live it out,
it's a beautiful lesson for all of us
and a beautiful model
of what it means to listen to yourself
and care for yourself.
[Simone] On some days, if I talk about it,
and I'm like, "Oh, I'm helping
so many people out."
And then other times I talk about it,
like, I get choked up.
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.
[indistinct yelling]
It's a trauma response
[reporter] A once trusted physician
who preyed on young women
in the USA Gymnastics program
[Simone]of everything that has happened.
Just being, like, a survivor
and all of the other things.
[reporter 2] The former Olympic doctor was
sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.
Nassar admits sexually abusing
women and girls
while working for Michigan State
and USA Gymnastics.
[Simone] The scars of this horrific abuse
continue to live with all of us.
As the lone competitor
in the recent Tokyo Games
who was a survivor of this horror,
I can assure you
that the impacts of this man's abuse
are not ever over or forgotten.
[voice breaking] Sorry.
I didn't get the proper care before
because I just thought I was okay.
But your mind and your body
is the first one to say, "Actually, no."
Thank you! Bye, guys!
You just never know how you'll react
when you start actually talking about that
and trying to start the healing process.
And I knew it would be a long journey.
Whenever I talk to my therapist,
she's like,
"If it didn't happen then,
it would definitely happen later on
in your life, and you can only
shove stuff down for so long."
Because I would've rather had some
big world, global meltdown another time.
But it opened up
the conversation to a lot of the world,
and a lot of people got the chance
to be heard and be seen
and to get the proper help, so
thank God for that vault. [chuckles]
After Tokyo,
I literally had
not one ounce of belief in myself.
You just don't know
if you can do it again.
I was like, "Is this really
how, like, my career ends?"
"That's tragic."
I feel I cried a lot more
outside of the gym than in the gym
because I didn't want the girls to see
how much I was struggling.
Before I got this tattoo,
it was a saying that I loved.
Obviously, Maya Angelou.
And I was like,
"'And still I rise' is perfect,"
because I feel like
that's kind of the epitome
of my career and my life story
'cause I always rise to the occasion,
and even after
all of the traumas and the downfalls,
I've always risen.
Come on! You wanna come inside?
Okay. Let's go.
Whenever I first came back to gym,
I had to start from the basics.
Kind of like
when kids come and ask me for advice,
when they have
a mental block or they're scared,
I'm like, "Go all the way down
to the basics and then build your way up."
Every comeback, so to say,
that I've had, is, like,
no matter what happens,
I've still come back
and still tried to do everything,
like, full force, full difficulty.
Like, even after Tokyo.
Come back, and I'm here, so still I rise.
And that's kinda where we started from.
Square one.
But not just building the skills.
It's building the confidence and the trust
'cause I had to relearn
to trust myself again
'cause I was still in the process
of understanding why it happened.
Because every day
I went to twist, I'm like I'm like
I always had the fear in the back
of my mind of if I was gonna get lost.
[Cécile] Pretty quickly after Tokyo,
she came back to the gym.
First, on the trampoline,
and it was just to flip.
Just to see
what she could and could not do.
This is, like this is crazy!
She wasn't doing, like, too much.
She was just kinda getting in the gym.
Basically staying in shape, honestly.
Conditioning.
[Laurent] I think she had so much fun,
and it was good to see.
It was healing part of it, I think.
[whimsical music playing]
[Simone] For a lot of those months,
I was still getting lost a lot.
Like, a couple days I'd be okay,
and then I'd be lost for a couple days.
And I'd be okay for another day,
then I'd be lost again.
She would come
just once every three months,
jump on the tramp,
and see if she can do a full-in.
If she can do this, she can do that.
And then she would
do this for a year and a half.
[Cécile] But then we would not
see her for a couple weeks
and then she would come back
and play again
and not see her for a couple days, back.
[Simone] I was in and out of the gym
for about a year and a half, till 2023.
That's when I took it serious.
I would hate going into the gym because
obviously the girls are watching me,
and they used to be watching,
like, this confident, giggly Simone
and I'm over there crying
because I'm scared to go
'cause I know I'm about to get lost,
and I don't wanna get lost
'cause it's not a good feeling.
[Joscelyn] We talked about
the twisties a lot
'cause I've been through it so many times.
We talked about, like,
how it doesn't ever really go away.
- Like, it's still back there.
- [Laurent] Legs there. Legs.
[Simone] Ooh. Whoa.
You know, they're always
coming over to me, saying,
"You're Simone Biles.
You can do anything." Da, da, da, da.
So I didn't want them to see
how defeated I was,
but I would listen to the girls.
They'd be like, "Please come back
tomorrow. Please come back tomorrow."
And that just, like, meant a lot to me.
[Joscelyn] She doubts just as much
as any other gymnast.
[Simone] I know, but
[Laurent] Uh, no, already "but."
Honestly, it helps everyone, I think,
to know that even Simone gets nervous.
I always am like,
"I don't think you guys understand,
like, how much
you've helped me this year."
[Laurent] Yeah.
Okay, it's late.
So, I get emotional 'cause it's like,
I feel like I'm a big baby,
but I don't think they realize
how much they've helped me.
And snap earlier.
- Oh, yes, like that.
- [laughs]
[Simone] I wanted to quit
like 500,000 times.
And I would have if it weren't for them.
[Laurent] Oh, it's working!
That's that's weird.
That's so much better than that too.
Even more.
Really stand up this way and then go.
Good job.
[Laurent] I mean, I think
it's when she really decided to go
and and get help.
Where she started to talk
to her therapist a little bit more often
and every week, and
and then she started to see the progress,
and she started to see the improvement.
Oh yeah, yeah. I did like that color.
Wait, why did he just
- Oh, he just tripped.
- He just fell.
[laughs]
- Here's some butter.
- [Jonathan chuckles]
[Simone] Did you say,
"What am I gonna cook?"
- What are we gonna cook?
- [Jonathan] Right there.
[Simone] I think the difference now is
I try to keep up with gym
as much as possible
and still stay in shape and healthy,
but it's, like, I have to make sure
I maintain a healthy relationship,
my husband's healthy.
There are so many different things,
and it's not all about gym.
Like, life moves on.
Excuse me.
Thought you had
some shells in there, girl.
It's been a it's been a minute.
You ain't losing your touch, are you?
[Jonathan chuckles]
[Simone] I have to take the time
and put in the effort
to make everything else work.
[Jonathan] Cheers.
[sighs] Okay, baby.
It's obviously my first time
sitting in these chairs.
Yeah, I mean, you don't fit too well.
I appreciate You fit perfect.
I love you.
[Simone] Post-Tokyo,
Jonathan was just like
I mean, he always has a good head
on his shoulders, and he's like,
"You'll get back to where you were,"
and made sure
I was staying on top of my training.
He was making sure
I was going to my therapy sessions
and was trying to do as much as he could
without kind of being bossy,
but he was really just like
a shoulder to lean on
'cause he saw, like,
those dark times after Tokyo.
You can't grow
if you don't go through stuff. You can't.
That's what I'd tell her.
You grow through what you go through.
- Our first date?
- What did we do?
We played games and we drank
What? Sangria.
- Sangria. I had some sangria.
- Yeah.
- It was just like
- The TV was on.
- It was right when COVID had happened.
- Yeah.
You play professional sports,
you supposed to be a superhero,
when you have
the same issues and everything,
but, really,
you're under a bigger microscope.
It was just funny. I remember when
she pulled up in her little Range Rover.
I was like, "Okay, I see you, girl.
Got your little Range Rover."
And then pulled up on me.
- And then she just, like
- I jumped out the car.
She jumped out, and she's
like all the way down here.
- I'm like, "Oh shoot."
- [laughs]
- I've never
- He said it scared him at first.
- How short I was.
- I've never met someone, like, that tall.
I was like, "Oh shoot.
You kind of small, okay."
[both laugh]
[Jonathan] Understanding, like,
how much therapy can help,
and it really helped her bounce back
and find the love for her sport again
and take the pressure off of herself
that she put on herself.
[Simone] What I went through,
that kind of opened his eyes.
He sees how athletes
can go through something like that
or a big change in their career.
So I think it actually
kind of inspired him to go to therapy
or see a sports psychologist
'cause now he does that, like, weekly.
She said,
"I think you need to see someone,"
and, you know, I'm like, "See who?"
It's a humbling thing
because you have to go back
and look at yourself in the mirror.
You gotta be able to talk about it,
and you know,
I feel like when people
don't have that outlet to be able to talk,
it makes you keep it in,
and that's the worst thing
because stuff just builds up
to the point where you're not
in control of your emotions anymore.
I credit that to her, though.
She she really opened my eyes.
Now look at us. Married.
[Jonathan] Now look at us.
[Simone] Sit. Come here.
[kissing sounds] Come over here.
- [dog panting]
- [Simone] Good girl.
[clears throat]
[blows raspberry]
[Simone] This time, coming back,
it's like it's truly for myself.
Nobody is forcing me in the gym.
Like, I'm 26 years old.
It's truly myself.
But it's also, I never wanna
look back in ten years and say,
"Oh, what if I could've done
another Olympic cycle or at least tried?"
I didn't wanna be
afraid of the sport anymore,
because, you know,
so much has happened in this sport.
So much has, like,
scared the living shit out of me
that I couldn't have it take
that one last thing from me.
Also, ending on my own terms.
[reporter] We got some breaking news
here on First Take. Simone Biles is back.
[reporter 2] For the first time
in nearly two years,
the most decorated gymnast of all time
is scheduled to compete again.
[reporter 3] Having been out
of this kind of elite training
all these years, is it possible?
[reporter 4] She would be the oldest
on a US Olympic women's gymnastics team
in 72 years.
You gotta start someplace to get
to the destination. So this is the start.
[reporter] Simone Biles soars yet again.
She has officially secured a spot
on the US World Championship
gymnastics team.
Now Biles will be
the first American woman to compete
at six World Artistic Gymnastics
Championships ever.
- [reporter 2] How does twisting feel?
- Twisting feels better, I think.
Sometimes I get in my head about it a lot,
and the girls have to keep reminding me,
"You're fine."
"That was like
That stuff doesn't happen."
So I definitely feel a lot better.
The year before the Olympics,
they always call Worlds
"the mini Olympics."
And that's basically
who you're gonna be competing against,
so it's kinda good to get out there,
do your skills,
and kinda see where you land.
[commentator] The warmest of welcomes
to the city of Antwerp
hosting the World Championships
of Artistic Gymnastics.
And it's a great pleasure
to have your company.
Great pleasure to have her company,
as well. Back at international level.
She came to Antwerp
in 2013 to make her name.
Oh my goodness.
I was a scared little gymnast is 2013.
[commentator 2] Simone Biles,
who was second on the vault
at the recent US Nationals, where she was
the all-around gold medalist.
[commentator 3] This could be
a highlight of today's competition.
The hardest vault in the world,
and boy, she does it spectacularly.
Oh-ho-ho my!
- Wow!
- [commentator 4] Wow!
At that point, I was just trying to
go out there and make a name for myself.
[commentator 4] We talked about
how powerful this lady is
and where she stands out,
where she gets those extra points
on her difficulty are the big elements.
Especially like this. The dismount.
- [commentator 3] Wow!
- [commentator 4] Full in!
[chuckles] That was the first and only
Worlds that I was an underdog in.
Once you win it,
it changes all expectations
for the rest of your career.
It's easy being the underdog.
It feels pretty good,
but it hasn't really sunken in yet.
I'm just happy.
It was a lot of fun competing out there,
and that's all I can say.
I just had a lot of fun. [chuckles]
Now, every time I show up,
I'm expected to win.
Like, this year, specifically, competing,
I haven't been
as confident in my gymnastics,
just because of everything
that did happen in Tokyo.
So we wanted to try to take a different
approach and not talking to media.
Just kind of staying in my zone.
Still following up with my therapist.
I turned off the comments on my Instagram,
which I don't care.
If you wanna comment good or bad,
you're not gonna be allowed.
And then, Twitter, I've actually deleted
a couple times off my phone.
So yeah, I think I'm getting there.
[Simone] Whoa! Sorry.
[Cécile] I think she's ready.
Now, as much as I appreciate the media
being so into Simone,
uh, you know,
kind of almost leave her alone.
Let her do her thing. Enjoy the show.
To not put too much pressure on her.
It's not needed.
Nice job, Simone.
- [Simone] Do half?
- [Laurent] No, we're not. No.
- Do your half, and then
- [Simone] Okay.
[Cécile] And just, you know, let her be.
And enjoy it 'cause we won't see
another Simone Biles anytime soon.
[heartbeat pounding]
- [Nellie] I could try. Give it a try.
- [Simone] Okay.
So, if we're doing that,
it would be a braid coming here
and a braid coming and meeting there.
Or you can just do one at the top.
- Like one big one here?
- Yeah.
- And then the one in the back?
- Yeah.
Okay.
[Nellie] For me, it's been four years
since I have, um, actually attended
an international competition.
So it's been a while.
- Oh, did Dad come in yet?
- Yes.
- Is he at the hotel?
- [Nellie] Dad came in.
There is a lot of what happened in Tokyo
that tends to creep in, you know?
So those are the things
that we wanna make sure
that she doesn't go in that
in that place again.
- [Nellie] No, no, you're going too low.
- Oh, okay.
[Nellie] Yeah, I just wanna
do something special.
Tokyo was the one time
I did not braid Simone's hair.
She is an adult.
I mean, this girl can braid her hair,
but it's not about her braiding her hair.
Girl! You look good
if I must say so myself.
[Simone] Thank you.
[Nellie] It's that bonding.
It's that not saying much.
It's the touch.
That's what doing her hair means.
I'll see you tonight,
and good luck to you guys.
- Okay, sounds good. Bye!
- Love you all. Love you. Love you.
[Simone] I have to do both of my vaults
anyways to qualify for the vault finals,
but I had to land my first vault,
which is Yurchenko double pike,
so that I could get it named after me.
[Céline] The Yurchenko double pike.
I don't know if
anybody even think how difficult it is.
I mean, yes, the the the height
that she gets is absolutely extraordinary.
It it is.
The pike position,
just from a physics point of view,
is very, very difficult to rotate.
It's just the mechanics.
You have a tuck position.
Your body is here.
Versus a pike position,
when you bring the legs out.
Just think about
how much more complex it is to rotate.
[Laurent] That's why no other woman
has ever done it,
because the difficulty is to land
on the feet and to stay on the feet.
Uh, dangerous because you can get hurt.
[woman] What does it feel like
to do that vault?
[Simone] Just scary.
And it's
every time you do it, you're scared.
Every time I do it, I'm like
[exhales sharply] "Okay."
"One more time."
[Alice] That vault, you know,
you have to balance the risk involved
versus the payoff.
But I think not having the opportunity
to even make that decision in Tokyo
was part of her unfinished story.
[Onnie] It is challenging
to have a new skill named after you.
It's challenging in that
you have to be the first one to do it
and complete it successfully
in a Worlds or Olympics.
So there aren't that many.
Simone has already done that
four times now.
I have two on floor.
One is the Biles I,
which is a double lay half out.
[commentator] Watch this double layout
with a half at the end.
That's called the Biles as of now.
And then the Biles II on floor
is a triple double.
[commentator 2]
Triple twisting double back!
[commentator 3] Three times around
with a double backflip.
[commentator 4] Forget just gymnastics.
How many things in all of sports
are more impressive to watch than that?
Then the vaults are half on,
double full forwards off.
[commentator 5] Get out of town. Holy
[Simone] And then I have
the double double beam dismount.
[commentator 6] Everybody's saying now,
"Backflip, double double!"
There it is! That's the Biles!
That's what they've been waiting for.
[chuckles] She keeps adding another twist
or another flip. What are you gonna do?
It's a new skill.
No one else is gonna do it.
The Biles number one can be done,
but so far that is the only skill
that has been done successfully at meets
by other people.
[announcer] We have a score
for Simone Biles' exercise
from the previous rotation
[Cécile] Being able to go back to
I mean, it's Olympic Games
and World Championships,
so the next best thing at a big stage,
I think, for her, was, "I'm continuing
to write my story. I'm not done yet."
I am sure that she has doubts.
I am sure that she's still,
you know, questioning herself.
Even when the media thinks,
"Oh my God. She looks amazing."
"Oh my God.
Everything is so easy for her."
Most of the time,
they get to paint a picture
that they're not living,
so of course it's glorious.
But then, on the other side,
I'm actually living that picture.
I'm the painter.
[Laurent] We need to always
remind ourselves that stuff can happen,
and we need to look at
try to see certain sign
to try to to prevent it.
[Simone] Probably done
100 Yurchenko double pikes,
and the first one
and then the last one I've done,
they all feel the same. Scary.
The vault is a physical thing,
but it's also a mental thing too.
You have to have a lot of strength, power,
good air awareness.
There's a lot of components.
It's that split-second on the table,
if I know it's going to
be a good vault or not.
Simone!
Most of the time
I'm just trying not to die.
[suspenseful music playing]
[dramatic music playing]