On Tuesday, July 30, after her historic win at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simone Biles shared an Instagram story featuring her grandfather, Ronald Biles, watching her compete.
“My dad & his binoculars is soooo freaking cute,” Simone wrote about her biological grandfather, who, along with his wife, adopted her after she was placed in foster care at the age of three. Now an eight-time Olympic medalist, Simone is the most decorated American gymnast.
She has spoken openly about her challenging childhood, including how she and her siblings suffered from hunger while in the care of their biological mother, who struggled with drug and alcohol abuse.
Keep reading to learn more about this inspiring athlete!
Long before 26-year-old Simone Biles was flipping, launching, and spinning, she and her siblings—Adria, Tevin, and Ashley—were living in foster care.
Simone’s birth mother, Shanon, was dependent on alcohol and drugs and unable to care for her four children. “It was hard to give up my kids, but I had to do what I had to; I wasn’t able to care for them,” Shanon told the Daily Mail, adding that the children’s father, also an addict, was absent.
In an interview with CNN, Simone candidly discussed her childhood and the hardships she faced with her mother’s addiction. “When my siblings and I entered foster care, it was because our biological mom was struggling with drug and alcohol abuse. I was three years old,” she said.
Even two decades later, Simone still has vivid memories of starving.
“I just remember us as kids being so hungry, and I remember this cat that would get fed while we didn’t,” Simone shared in the clip. “Thankfully, we got to stay in one foster home together, and it was some of the best times ever. We were just so excited.”
Adding to that excitement were the frequent visits from her grandparents, Ronald and Nellie Biles, who adopted Simone (then six) and her younger sister Adria, now 24.
“I wanted to take care of Adria because she was the baby,” Simone said on her Facebook Watch series, Simone vs. Herself. “I felt like I needed to look out for her because if family doesn’t look out for you, who will?”
Their siblings, Tevin and Ashley, were adopted by Ronald’s sister and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.
Life changing rain day
Then, a rained-out school trip completely changed the course of Simone’s life.
“I never, ever thought about gymnastics as a sport for Simone; that never entered my mind,” Nellie Biles, her adoptive mother, said on Simone vs Herself. “I remember it was a field trip, but it rained, so instead of going to the farm or wherever they were supposed to go, they went to Bannon’s Gymnastix.”
Confirming her mother’s memory, Simone added that her first exposure to gymnastics was during “daycare on a school trip.”
“I don’t ever remember watching it on TV or seeing pictures in a magazine,” Simone said, noting that she learned by “imitating” other girls.
Ever since that day, Nellie and Ronald have attended every meet, watching Simone dominate the competition.
Simone explained that she has a “bad habit” of trying to locate her biggest cheerleaders in the crowd, saying she feels “kind of nervous” competing without her parents watching.
“I don’t feel set and comfortable until I find where they are in the crowd. I just get really antsy, and once I see them, it calms me down to know they’re in the arena.”
The only competition the Biles couple missed was the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where fans were not allowed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Ultimately, Simone pulled out of the women’s team final and “four subsequent individual finals to prioritize her health as she dealt with a case of what gymnasts call the ‘twisties,’ where the body and mind fall out of sync.”
Dad and his binoculars
Cheering on Simone and Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ronald and Nellie Biles were joined by Simone’s husband, Jonathan Owens. The football player took a break from his training camp with the Chicago Bears to support his wife (they married in 2023).
“No matter where we are or which competition it is, she always knows where we’re sitting. She can hear me, I know, because I scream so loudly,” the proud Nellie says in a Facebook clip.
When Simone looked across the Bercy Arena in Paris, she spotted Owens in a colorful t-shirt featuring images of her, sitting next to Nellie with a huge smile. Her dad was there too, peering through binoculars to get a closer view of his daughter.
“My dad and his binoculars is so freaking cute,” Simone wrote in an Instagram story, sharing the heartwarming family moment with her fans.
Friends of the Children
In addition to holding the record for the most medals won by a U.S. gymnast, Simone Biles also supports Friends of the Children, an organization that provides long-term, nurturing care to kids in foster care.
How it started: How it’s going: pic.twitter.com/rirskHYKIJ
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) October 8, 2020
“It gives them love and support, which is exactly what these kids need. Having that one constant means the world to them,” Simone, a passionate advocate for the organization, tells CNN.
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