Even before Simone Biles Olympic debut, she was described by these adjectives – “The best ever.” “The perfect 10.” “The best gymnast in history.” “A Legend in the making.” 19-year-old Simon is a breathtaking gymnast from team U.S.A and is already considered as the most decorated gold medalist in world championship gymnastics history. In this year Olympics going in Rio, she is expected to bring as many as 5 gold medals for her country.
Biles is such a stunning gymnast and performs in a way that other gymnasts are awe-struck by her performance.
There is also a stunt which is her signature and is named “The Biles” .
With her ease and ability, she is all set to bring more medals to her country and make them proud. She would be earning million dollars and making herself as an international icon.
But the journey of this unbeatable gymnast has not been that easy. Biles was born to a drug addict mother and her father abandoned her and her siblings.
According to report in Texas Monthly,
Biles was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1997 to drug-addicted parents who struggled to care for their children. Biles and her three siblings were shuffled back and forth between their mother’s house and a foster home. (Biles’s father had abandoned her mother and was never present in his daughter’s life.)
When I asked her what memories she has from those days, Biles recalled that one of the foster homes had a trampoline that she and her siblings weren’t allowed to play on.
Her upbringing was not a normal one. They switched from foster care and state until Biles was six years old. It was in 2001 when their grandparents Ron and Nellie Bile officially adopted Simone and her sister Adria and took them to Spring, Texas.
For a girl who has never experienced the love of parents, the moment when their grandparents became their parents was a memorable one. Simon recalls
“At the time, the sisters called Ron and Nellie “Grandpa” and “Grandma,” but one day Nellie sat Simone and Adria down for a talk. “She said, ‘It’s up to you guys. If you want to, you can call us Mom and Dad,’ ” Simone remembered.
I went upstairs and tried practicing it in the mirror—‘Mom, Dad, Mom, Dad.’ Then I went downstairs, and she was in the kitchen. I looked up at her and I was like, ‘Mom?’ She said, ‘Yes!’ ”
It was her grandparents who made her aware of the world of gymnastics. They made her join the local gymnast club where she was spotted by the trainer and former competitive gymnast, Aimee Boorman. She is her mentor and since then and one of the major hand behind her achievements.
Apart from being an athlete,she is quite religious and the Christian faith is inculcated in her by her parents. She attends the mass every Sunday if she is free and also carries a rosary which was given to her by her mother.
Simon’s faith in God and her hard work made her stand in the crowd. Her parents are there to support her every step. Her routine is not an easy one to follow but a hectic one. According to Texas Monthly, it is as follows-
In a typical week Biles trains on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30 to 5:30; on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9 to noon and 3 to 6; and on Saturdays from 9 to 1. On Sundays, her one day off, she goes to church with her family.
Here is a video of her jaw-dropping performance –
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