Simone Biles had already crashed onto her butt during a bars routine, then crunched her ankles and nearly face-planted during a tumbling pass.
It was July 2013, and she was mortified at her performance during the U.S. Secret Classic. More so when her coach, Aimee Boorman, pulled her from the meet — reasoning that Biles wasn’t mentally in the game and was at risk of badly injuring herself.
And then even more so when, as she walked away, she overheard another coach remarking on her performance: “You know why she crashed? Because she’s too fat, that’s why. How does she expect to compete like that? Maybe if she didn’t look like she’d swallowed a deer, she wouldn’t have fallen.”
That’s right. The powerhouse who earned four gold medals at the Rio Olympics — and has been lauded by many as the world’s best gymnast — was said to look like she’d “swallowed a deer.” It sounds absurd to those awed by the 4-foot-8 athlete’s over-the-top skills. But it illustrates the point she drives home repeatedly in her new book, “Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance.” Even Olympic athletes fall down, both literally and not, and the ride to the top usually isn’t smooth.
“I started crying right then and there, because it’s like — you work so hard, you never want to hear something like that, especially going through puberty at like 15 years old,” Biles told U.S. News, flashing back to the body-shaming incident. “But from there on out, it just made me love my body and who I am.”
That acceptance was hard-earned, Biles said, reflecting on how intensive training changed her body in ways that weren’t always appreciated — in middle school, for example, she insisted on wearing athletic jackets to cover her muscles. “It was difficult to get used to them. Nobody had that body,” Biles said. But eventually, that thinking turned into: “You know what, I have this body for a reason, and I wouldn’t be able to do the things I do if I didn’t have this body.”
Biles, calling in the midst of a stop in Los Angeles, was polite, cheerful and confident, barely pausing before answering even the most personal questions. She said it was “pretty crazy” to be nominated as Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” a title that eventually went to President-elect Donald Trump. She’s really into setting goals and knowing where you’re trying to get — and what you need to do to get there. Before big meets, she often talks with a sports psychologist who helps her mentally prepare to compete, and she loads up on protein, fruits and vegetables, which “give you good energy to do the difficult things we do.” She and her Final Five teammates particularly likes nuts, berries and fruits like bananas that help with muscle cramps.
Oh, and for those of us who haven’t captured Olympic gold (or silver or bronze)? “Sometimes it just feels like a blur, but then in the same moment, you feel overwhelmed with pride, you’re super excited, and you can’t even believe it just happened,” Biles said, describing what it feels like to win. “What you did hasn’t quite processed — and it doesn’t for quite a bit, actually. But you’re definitely so honored to be there and to be selected and compete for your country.”
In “Courage to Sour,” Biles opens up about her turbulent childhood: She was born to a mother addicted to drugs and alcohol, and though her memory is hazy, she recalls playing with a cat outside — maybe a neighbor’s, maybe a stray. She was mad at the cat, because people were always feeding it, and at the time, she was “hungry a lot.” “That moment has just stuck in my mind since I was a kid,” she said. “I’m not a big cat person; they scare me, so sometimes I’m like, ‘I wonder if that’s why.'”
As most who tuned into the Rio Olympics know, Biles’ story has a happy ending: After landing in foster care, she was ultimately adopted by her grandparents, who she calls mom and dad. But she says it’s important to share her story so people “know that professional athletes have their ups and downs and go through rough patches as well,” she says. “Stuff happens in their lives, and they still come out and dream big and have big goals and accomplish things — kids don’t realize that; they just think it’s always an easy route.”
Dream big, big goals, indeed. It seems like an apt description for the girl who appears to abandon all effort, and gravity, as she hurtles through the air — back handspring onto the vaulting table, followed by two-and-a-half twists in the air, followed by a blind landing without budging an inch. Once in a while, though, she will, and it’s OK. It’s even OK if she ends up back on her butt — because if there’s one thing she’s learned about herself, she won’t stay there.
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Health Buzz: Simone Biles Opens Up About Body-Shaming, Perseverance and More originally appeared on usnews.com
