In the competitive sport of gymnastics, Simone Biles has far surpassed the term “the best ever.” The powerhouse has redefined the boundaries of the sport. With a total of 37 Olympic and world championship medals, she is the most decorated gymnast in history and is often mentioned as the greatest gymnast of all time. However, she is still human.
Netflix’s new documentary series, Simone Biles Rising, follows the journey of not only a world champion but also a woman who dares to find the best version of herself and soar.
“I think it was also important for her to show the world herself as a human being,” said director Katie Walsh in a recent interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “We all see Simone on her field of play as this amazing, dominant, G.O.A.T. [greatest of all-time] of gymnastics. But you don’t always see Simone, the human being. This film is an opportunity to showcase different sides of her life and get a more well-rounded perspective on who she is.”
The central arc of Simone Biles Rising is watching the athlete navigate her way through life after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
As she hit the floor as a member of the final U.S.A. team in 2021, Biles was noticeably not herself. She would later withdraw from most of her competitions, citing a bout of the twisties.
“Our team as a production was really mindful,” Walsh stated regarding the approach her team took to filming Biles during her downtime. “We found time to film with her that wasn’t going to compromise her journey.
Having worked with Biles on a previous project, Walsh understood the gymnast’s needs regarding space and timing.
“We didn’t want to bring up and have these deep conversations a week before she was going to compete somewhere,” the director said.
Fans who tune into the series will not only see Biles head back into beast mode after deciding she would participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but they will also see her funny side interacting with her family and get an inside look at her relationship with her husband, Jonathon Owens, as well her coming into her own as an individual rather than a world-class athlete.
“I hope [the series]helps people reach a little more compassion towards not just Simone but all athletes and human beings. It’s so easy to judge,” Walsh said. “But I hope that by being alongside her for some of the quiet moments that I call the moments in between, it really shines and shows us that while she is so great, she’s just a human being, too. We should keep that in mind when making judgments.”
The first two episodes of Simone Biles Rising are now available on Netflix.
