Simone Biles spent part of her early childhood in and out of foster care, after her mother struggled with substance abuse issues that made it unsafe for Biles and her siblings to remain in her care, before she and a sister were formally adopted and raised by their grandparents, who she has since referred to as her parents.
She discovered gymnastics almost by accident, on a daycare field trip to a gym, and went on to develop into one of the most decorated gymnasts in history, winning multiple Olympic and World Championship medals and having several uniquely difficult skills named after her due to being the first gymnast to successfully perform them in competition.
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, during the team final, she experienced a disorienting loss of spatial awareness mid-air on a vault, a dangerous phenomenon gymnasts call 'the twisties,' and made the decision to withdraw from several subsequent events, citing both her mental state and the serious physical risk of continuing to compete while disoriented in the air.
Her decision drew intense public debate at the time, but also significant support from athletes and mental health advocates who saw it as a rare, high-profile example of an elite competitor prioritizing safety and wellbeing over external pressure to perform. She returned to competition in later years, eventually adding further Olympic medals to her record.