What qualities does the world’s best gymnast need to possess? It’s more than just athletic ability for Gymnast extraordinaire Simone Biles. Her path has been characterized by rigorous training, self-denial, and a never-ending struggle with mental health. The 37 Olympic and World Championship medallist is up against her hardest test to date.

“Simone Biles Rising,” a new Netflix series that aims to reveal the inner turmoil and physical struggles she faced, is highly anticipated by fans. On July 17, the much-awaited documentary will be accessible on Netflix. Offering viewers a close-up view of Biles’s journey, the series premieres in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The four 45-minute episodes of the series look to be a detailed look at one of the greatest individuals in sports of all time.
The documentary looks to be engaging in the process from her challenges during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to her preparations for a historic return.

The first scene of the June 19 series trailer features Biles thinking back on her vision regarding the Tokyo Olympics. Biles says, “I’ve always had really good intuition about things, and unfortunately, I felt that way about the Olympics.” Her withdrawal from several events owing to mental health issues—most notably the “twisties,” which are perilous disorientations in midair—made this feeling come true.

However, viewers are treated to suspense peeks of Biles’s secrets in Netflix’s promotional video. The unfiltered feelings she experienced are shown in the short clip. In the teaser, Biles acknowledges, “I wanted to quit like 500,000 times, and I would have if it weren’t for my people.” This claim reveals the extreme strain and difficulties she encountered. The documentary chronicles her battle with mental obstacles and includes candid footage of her sobbing. It goes into detail about her trauma reaction and the tremendous amount of work it takes to get beyond these challenges.

Additionally, a key component of Simone’s journey is her network of support. Her partner, NFL athlete Jonathan Owens, and family are featured in the documentary. Owens highlights the inner strength Biles discovered from her loved ones, saying, “She’s bounced back, and she’s really opened my eyes.” Even the best athletes require solid backing, as presented by the series’ characterization of her balancing act between her personal and professional goals.

Simone Biles aims for “another Olympic run”

Biles is followed throughout the documentary as she gets ready for “another Olympic run.” She has a desire to come back stronger than ever, even in the face of extreme pressure. “I knew it would be a long journey, but to me, it wasn’t done,” Biles states, her eyes gleaming with passion. Asserting her will to regain her standing in gymnastics, Biles says, “Sometimes you have to take that power back.” Furthermore, audiences witness Biles accompanying Owens on a tour of a newly constructed home and cheering him on during football games. These incidents show the human aspect of an athlete who is frequently viewed as unbeatable. The series also features glimpses into their 2023 marriage, which gives her career story an extra personal touch.

Biles says of herself, “Gymnastics is what I do, but it’s not who I am.” The documentary highlights this sentiment as a major subject while showcasing her multifaceted existence. “I’m going for another Olympic run,” says Biles as she gets ready for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Interestingly, Biles will be one of the 16 female competitors in the 2024 Olympic Team Trials, which will take place in Minneapolis from June 27 to June 30, according to USA Gymnastics.  “I get to write my own ending,” the 27-year-old concluded, making it clear that she aims to be the writer of her story. Thus, only a few days before the Paris Olympics, “Simone Biles Rising” will be released. Timely announcements of her next shows will have more meaning when spectators get to see her trip firsthand.

 Simone Biles stated once rather emphatically that –“I feel like I learned the most about myself during Tokyo,” reflecting on her tumultuous brush with the twisties journey. It’s hard to let the ghost of your past die down for good, but Simone Biles seems to be learning from the past, which is a chisel shaping her up for Paris. In 2021, Biles withdrew from the Tokyo Summer Olympics, unable to manage even a twist. Letting bygones be bygones is never easy but life is all about moving on and how. Watch and learn as Biles does the unthinkable. She’s had a pretty solid year thus far, achievements wise. In 2024, Simone Biles earned the highest score ever by a female gymnast in an Olympic cycle at the Xfinity Championships, trudging mindful steps towards the city of Paris.

With some ace tricks up her sleeve now, she is not one to let history repeat itself. With the mental health month bringing more rabble rousing and active discussions about self-preservation, Biles recently divulged in an interview as to how she’s looking at the big picture. Don’t let her size fool you as there’s more to the diminutive queen than meets the eye.

In a recent interview with Stuff, Simone Biles detailed her journey to rebuilding her mental health following the 2020 Tokyo Games. She shared insights into the steps she took to strengthen her resilience and well-being. The 9-time US National Championships winner highlighted the mental and physical fortitude required to look past her past and get her head back in the game. She required to regain trust in her abilities after the Twisties scare in 2021. Most importantly, she needed to trust herself and she quipped by saying that -“I think that was the hardest part after Tokyo – I didn’t trust myself to do gymnastics.”

She is ready to tackle the inevitable pressures that her sport and her life throw at her as she would like to “move on with my life while gym is still happening. But again, I don’t have a choice. It’s not pausing anymore. It’s happening whether I keep up or not. So for me I would rather keep up and stay in the now and stay in the present.” Her open approach to physiological struggles has begun to alter the stigma around the topic, inviting other voices to join in with her. Simone Biles emphasized how in Tokyo she had not gotten “certain variables taken care of,” meaning therapy. While doing inner work seems to be her forte, she has also received laurels from Michael Phelps for her mental health stances.

So she has also turned to professionals to get help that is scientific and truly helpful, “I’ve been doing therapy every week, lot of sessions, lot of hours. So I’ve put in the work. So that I know that’s not gonna happen. That’s not gonna affect me moving forward.” It’s also around the clock, as Simone’s therapist is available to her anytime she needs, even out of her sessions. Even during the 2023 World Championships, her first after a 2-year hiatus, Simone attended therapy sessions in her hotel room. Even though the other athletes headed to Chuckle Land (specialized mental health sessions) to get a hold of their mental health. Biles went the other route.

Her coach and WCC women’s program head Cecile Landi, said, this time Simone’s approach is much gentler and more self-focused. This is perhaps what’s making Biles top every single qualifier before the Olympics trials. Landi said, “It’s not even the skills. It’s the attitude and her behavior. I really feel like she’s happy to be here. I know she says she’s ready to be done, but I think she’s really enjoying it and appreciating every meet she gets to do.”

Simone remains untouched by the pressure of the elite stage that has affected everyone else. She told Leah Faye Cooper of Fair, “If I don’t make it to Paris, it won’t absolutely crush me.” However, her knockout performances this season spell otherwise. She’s just getting better and better. “I use the phrase ‘ageing like fine wine,’ ” Simone said. “… It’s just getting better and better. We’ll see. Hopefully we get to ride this out for the rest of the year.” This year at the Xfinity games, she had a combined score of 119.750, leaving runner-up Skye Blakely’s score of 113.850 in the dust with a six-point lead. Moreover she won gold across all four apparatuses and hence the all-around as well.

In fact, her one mistake came during the Xfinity Championships wherein she rolled backward out of a Yurchenko double pike vault. Which led to a one-point deduction. That’s all. This year, Biles is most eager to not have any regrets going forward, In 2024, the Olympics is about Simone Biles competing against herself and coming out on top.

Oh, to love something so much, you say, “Maybe the day I stop doing gymnastics is the day I die.” They say age is just a number, but has anyone ever embodied that as well as 98-year-old Johanna Quaas has? Quaas is breaking all age barriers as the world’s oldest gymnast, and in doing so, the German legend has gone viral, captivating audiences worldwide! But long before this happened, Simone Biles showed her admiration for the 98-year-old with a heartfelt gesture.

Johanna Quaas has gone viral several times, but the most recent occurrence was after a Reddit user posted a video of the 98-year-old on the r/toptalent subreddit. It showcased Quaas performing a stunning routine on the parallel bars to Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud. She effortlessly executed a full split atop the bars, wowed the crowd with flawless planks and a head plank while gripping the bars, and wrapped it all up with a perfect landing that sent the audience wild.

While the video continues to make the rounds on the internet, we can’t help but recall what happened seven years ago. In 2017, Simone Biles had already shown her respect and admiration for Johanna Quaas on NBC’s Little Big Shots: Forever Young. Back then, at 91 years old, Johanna Quaas dazzled the audience with her parallel bars routine, leaving Biles “speechless.”

According to TODAY, host Steve Harvey even invited Biles on stage to surprise and honor Quaas. By 2012, videos of Quaas’ routines had gone viral on YouTube, racking millions of views. Biles mentioned that the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team often found inspiration in Quaas’ performances. Even at 98 years old, the German remains a strong competitor. Often competing in age groups where she stands alone, one such instance was when she dominated the 70-75 age category at 84 years old, claiming first place.

Reflecting on her achievement, she told The Strait Times, “My proudest moment so far was when I was 84 years old, and there was no one in my age group competing in the championships. So they put me with the others in the 70-75 age group, and I still won by one point.” Despite her age, Johanna stays active, training daily for an hour and maintaining a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Maybe she’s the inspiration behind Simone Biles pushing the limits and setting new standards as well!

Simone Biles, 27, has been pushing the age barrier in gymnastics for a while now – a sport where athletes typically retire early. With her 8th U.S. all-around title at the 2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Biles made history by becoming the oldest woman to achieve this feat, following it up with a 9th title in 2024. As she puts it, “I use the phrase, ‘aging like fine wine.’” That said, she’s chasing more records at the Paris Olympics this year.

With just one gold, Biles could become the oldest American woman to win Olympic gold in gymnastics and the oldest woman in the sport since the Soviet Union’s Polina Astakhova did at age 27 in 1964. With a love for gymnastics that is just as intense as that of Johanna Quaas’, it looks like Simone Biles will continue making history, too, further solidifying her position as the most decorated gymnast in history. That said, reflecting on the heartwarming moment where two gymnastics legends connected in 2017, let’s look at Johanna Quaas’ journey and how she has continually set the world record as the oldest gymnast.

Johanna Quaas: a gymnastics journey spanning decades, inspiring Simone Biles

Johanna Quaas started her gymnastics journey at 10 and has never looked back. Her journey spans back to 1934, and despite taking breaks to raise a family, she returned to gymnastics in 1982. Quaas achieved global recognition when, on March 26, 2012, YouTube user LieveDaffy shared two videos showcasing the 86-year-old’s training at the Tournament of Masters in Cottbus. One video captured her performance on the parallel bars, while the other showcased her floor exercise routine.

These clips quickly went viral, each garnering over 1.1 million views within 6 days of posting. That year, in 2012, Johanna Quaas secured the Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest gymnast at 86 years old. Now, almost at the century mark, Johanna continues her rigorous gymnastics routines not just for competition but also as a safeguard against falls in her old age.

Her spirit is as vibrant as ever, as captured in her famous quote: “My face is old, but my heart is young. Maybe the day I stop doing gymnastics is the day I die.” In a sport like gymnastics, where most elite female gymnasts retire in their mid-twenties, Johanna Quaas continues to defy barriers, proving that age is truly just a number. As Simone Biles continues to rewrite the record books herself in 2024, their meeting in 2017 holds profound significance.