Simon Biles is back in the gym in Netflix‘s first trailer for Simone Biles Rising, a four-part documentary following the gymnast’s journey to Olympics 2024.
The Simone Biles Rising trailer focuses in part on Biles’ decision to abruptly step away from Team USA midway through the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Her withdrawal from the competition to focus on her mental health, led to praise from some fans and criticism from others, but sparked talk about the serious issue.
“I wanted to quit like 500,000 times, and I would have if it weren’t for my people,” Biles says. In the trailer, fans see clips of fellow Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, as well as Biles’ family and her husband, former NFL player Jonathan Owens. The couple married in 2023.
“She’s bounced back, and she’s really opened my eyes,” Owens said in the trailer for Simone Biles Rising. To the camera, Biles added: “I knew it would be a long journey, but to me, it wasn’t done.”
Offscreen, another voice says, “She’s the greatest in the world, but she’s also human.”
“Gymnastics is what I do but it’s not who I am”
“We are all the authors of our own journeys, and I am in a place in my life where I’m comfortable with who I am and what I’ve been through as an athlete, but most of all, as a person,” Biles said in a statement shared by Netflix.
“Gymnastics is what I do but it’s not who I am, and I’m excited for people to see another side of me outside of competition.”
Biles most recently won the top title at the 2024 U.S. Gymnastics Championships and swept every individual title on her way back to the Olympics, which kick off on July 26 in Paris. As she looks to make this year’s competition, Biles’ seven career Olympic medals are currently tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by any American gymnast, per the Olympics’ website.
Simone Biles Rising premieres on Netflix July 17 with four 45-minute episodes.