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Netflix released the trailer for Simone Biles Rising, a four-part documentary chronicling the gymnast’s return to the Olympics, on Wednesday. The preview drops a month ahead of the Paris Olympics, in which Biles plans to compete.
Biles pulled out of several competitions, including the team and all around finals, at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after suffering from the “twisties,” a term gymnasts use to describe a disorienting condition that inhibits their ability to twist. In the trailer, Biles wipes away tears as she reflects on the unexpected exit from the 2021 Olympics and the mental stress she experiences as a world-renowned athlete.
“I wanted to quit like 500,000 times,” Biles said in the trailer, “and I would have if it weren’t for my people.”
Biles spent two years out of competition after winning four gold medals at the 2016 Olympics.Biles has also spoken up about the lingering cloudhanging over USA Gymnastics following theLarry Nassersex abusescandal. (Nassar abused about 300 young athletes under the guise of medical treatment and in 2018, was sentenced to 100 years in prison.) In a 2021 Today show interview, Biles said she was “still scared to do gymnastics” after dealing with the disorienting condition “the twisties.”
“To do something that I’ve done forever and just not be able to do it because of everything I’ve gone through is really crazy because I love this sport so much,” Biles said.“It’s hard. I’m sorry. And I don’t think people understand the magnitude of what I go through, but for so many years to go through everything that I’ve gone through having a front, I’m proud of myself.”
The documentary, directed by Katie Walsh, also features interviews with Biles’ husband and Chicago Bears player Jonathan Owens, mother Nellie Biles, and Olympic medalist and gymnast Aly Raisman. The documentary premieres July 17.
