Remembering Simone Biles’ Powerful Words About Survivors Makes Her Comeback All the More Meaningful

Biles led Team USA to gold on Tuesday without breaking a sweat. In 2021, she said she continues to compete because “if there weren’t a remaining survivor in the sport, they would’ve just brushed” the other survivors “to the side.”

By Kylie Cheung  |  July 30, 2024 | 5:37pm
Photo: Getty Images LatestOlympics Paris Olympics
Remembering Simone Biles’ Powerful Words About Survivors Makes Her Comeback All the More Meaningful

After leading Team USA to gold in the women’s team final on Tuesday, Simone Biles has officially broken the record for most Olympic medals in gymnastics history. Their sweep is being regarded as a “redemption tour” after winning silver at the Tokyo Games in 2021. And while Biles, who bowed out of some of the events of the 2021 Olympics due to a mental health crisis, has nothing whatsoever to “redeem” herself for, her comeback has been a true marvel to behold. Heck, maybe living through “unprecedented times” isn’t always so bad, if the “unprecedented times” in question are watching Biles pioneer new gymnastics moves, solidify her place as the GOAT, and, somehow, win gold while suffering a calf injury.

Biles, who competed in all categories (vault, bars, floor, and balance beam), held the highest scores on vault and floor, while her teammate Suni Lee—also returning from Tokyo—held the highest scores on beam and uneven bars. Jordan Chiles’ strong performances also helped the team secure a total of 171.268, with Italy, who won silver, trailing by six whole points with 165.494. By the time Biles closed things out for Team USA with the floor routine, the team needed almost nothing from her to win gold. But she delivered perfection, regardless, to standing ovations and a cheering, emotional audience.

The dominant performance from the greatest gymnast, and one of the greatest athletes, of all time is even more meaningful when you recount her powerful words from 2021 about being a survivor of Larry Nassar’s horrific, widespread sexual abuse, which first became public in late 2016. Speaking to NBC about her decision to return to the Olympics for a second time, Biles said, “I had to come back to the sport to be a voice, to have change happen. I feel like if there weren’t a remaining survivor in the sport, they would’ve just brushed it to the side. But since I’m still here, and I have quite a social media presence and platform, they have to do something.”

More than 330 women and girls, including Biles and other former Olympians like fellow Olympic medalist Aly Raisman, accused Nassar of abusing them during his decades-long career. Gymnasts who spoke out described a culture of fear that stopped them from coming forward against USA Gymnastics for years. But, in 2020, when the USA Gymnastics account wished Biles a happy birthday (“HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the most decorated gymnast of all time, @simonebiles! We know you will only continue to amaze us and make history! ✨🎉🥇👑”), Biles responded by publicly demanding action and calling for an independent investigation into the forces that enabled Nassar’s violence for years: “how about you amaze me and do the right thing… have an independent investigation,” she wrote back. 

In 2021, citing her experience and voice as a survivor, Biles maintained that returning to the Olympics is about more than gymnastics to her: “I feel like coming back, gymnastics just wasn’t the only purpose I was supposed to do,” she told NBC.

At 27 years old, Biles’ path to her third Olympics this year would be unthinkable if it weren’t for all the other previously unthinkable things she’s done. As CNN pointed out in 2021, when Biles was 24, most gymnasts either “struggle or retire by age 20,” and “no female gymnast has successfully defended an Olympic all-around title since 1968.” Biles’ teammates Lee and Chiles are 21 and 23, respectively. Simply put, don’t write Biles or any of her teammates out. As Biles stated when Raisman adorably asked Biles what their team name is at a post-competition press conference, “F.A.A.F.O”—Fuck Around and Find Out.

Biles’ performance on Tuesday, like her ability to advocate for herself in 2021, her mentorship to young gymnasts, and her continued, courageous advocacy for survivors, speak to the multiple, endless dimensions of greatness she brings to gymnastics and the sports world, in general. On and off the floor (beam? vault? bars? everything???), she’s changed the game, and it’s just special (and unprecedented!) to see.

 
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