Original subtitles

[cheering and applause]

[announcer] Please welcome the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team!

Simone Biles!

[cheering and applause]

[Simone] I've always had really good intuition about things.

Like, freaky.

I never tell people about it,

but I can feel a lot of things,

they're gonna happen before it does happen.

And, unfortunately, I felt that way about the Olympics.

[mysterious music playing]

[commentator] It is the women's team final from Tokyo.

Team USA looking for their third straight gold medal.

[Simone] Before Tokyo, I did feel like I was in the best shape.

I truly thought that would be the peak of my career.

[announcer 2] Simon Biles!

[commentator] Since they were little girls,

they have spent countless hours thinking about this moment.

Exhausting days in the gym,

dream-filled nights at home have carried them

to the biggest stage in the world.

Bye. I'm Simone!

You can stop it now.

[woman] Simone was the face of the Tokyo Olympics.

[commentator 2] Already the most decorated gymnast ever.

So it wasn't a question of whether Simone would win a gold.

It was a question of how many golds.

[commentator 3] Every single medal is gold!

[commentator 4] She's going to be the all-around champion.

She was supposed to present a new vault.

Something really unreal for woman gymnastics.

She was supposed to beat records of medal.

Tokyo was the Everest for her.

[commentator 5] And we'll come back for the vault of the gymnast

universally recognized as the greatest ever, Simone Biles.

Everybody was expecting her to be the superstar.

[commentator 6] I think she's the most dominant athlete in the world.

But it's never done.

Nothing is done, ever. You never know what can happen.

[commentator 7] So many little girls, I'm sure, watching,

saying, "I wanna be just like her when I grow up."

- [commentator 8] Here we go. - [commentator 9] This is an Amanar.

[indistinct cheers]

[heartbeat]

[commentator 9] Wow. And that was not what was planned.

It was shocking. I believe she only did a one and a half twist.

Supposed to do two and a half twists. Got completely lost.

Mm. Never in my life have I seen her do that. Never.

[commentator 8] And we are being told by the officials

that Simone Biles is out of the competition tonight.

- [commentator 9] Speechless. - [commentator 8] Speechless. Uh... Uh... Um...

[Simone] Everything that has happened in my career

that we've shoved down in a box,

and your body can only function for so long before your fuses blow out.

She could not sync her body and her mind together

to compete.

Something broke.

Something broke.

♪ Back again ♪

♪ To take my place ♪

♪ Here to stay ♪

♪ Don't count me out... ♪

[Simone] I never thought I was gonna be competing again after Tokyo

because, like, there were such loud voices in my head.

Mental work needed to be done, but I'm doing that now.

[woman] She breaks barriers in this sport beyond the titles.

♪ Just believe... ♪

[woman 2] If she never competed again,

she would, right now, be the greatest in history.

♪ This is my destiny... ♪

[woman 2] And that's not my opinion. That's just the math.

♪ My heart beats fast... ♪

[Simone] I had to fight demons, like, day in and day out in training.

I really have to prove to myself that I can do this.

I get to write my own ending.

- ♪ To wake me up towards destiny ♪ - ♪ Destiny ♪

♪ This is my destiny ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

[thunder rumbles]

[Simone] What the hell are up with these lights?

Yeah, it's pretty horrible weather.

[woman] Do you still go to physical therapy over here?

Uh, no, it's down that way, but... yeah, I need to start going again.

But, like, I haven't been in the gym very much.

Yeah.

So...

We're here, and it's home!

- Yeah. Just... be careful. - [man] Hey, it's all right.

- We gotta walk the plank? - [Simone] Ugh.

Let's do it.

[Simone laughs]

[Simone] I never thought we'd be building a house or any of the things.

It's just... it's weird. It's different.

'Cause I never thought I'd be at this stage in my life,

but I feel very grateful.

- Yeah. - It's soft close!

- Hey. - [chuckles]

[Jonathan] I see the vision.

[Simone] Over the last two years, I have found my husband.

- [laughs] - I'm a very clean person. Okay.

[Simone] He is an NFL player.

We met online, and we got married May 6th, 2023.

We feel as if this house will be our forever home

and we'll be able to grow into it.

- What are you gon' put in there? - [Simone laughs] My makeup!

So you only have that side. I'm sorry.

[Jonathan chuckles]

- [Simone] Whatever. - We gon' figure it out, baby.

[Simone and Jonathan laugh]

[Jonathan] I have a vision for this room. Don't worry.

And all the space on the walls? Jersey. Jersey.

Uh, your leo gonna go on a spot.

Then we got a picture of my baby on the Wheaties box.

Then we gon' have... We'll blow you up. A Vogue cover gonna be, like, right there.

You know what I'm sayin'? We'll blow my baby up.

[Simone] I feel like it's so crazy because I think back a couple years ago

to who I was and where I was at in life,

and some of it feels so distant.

And I'm like, "Who was that girl?"

That's supposed be black.

I'm going for another Olympic run,

which I thought we would have retired after 2020.

But I feel a lot of us in the gymnastics world

have been able to prove that you can be older and kind of prolong your career.

Now, I'll be 27,

and honestly I never thought I'd still... I'd be at this phase still doing it.

So it's crazy how things work. Just very different.

It should be beautiful.

Simone is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete.

Period.

I don't know when we would see another one that could even come close.

[commentator] Nobody's gonna go higher.

Nobody's gonna land like that.

[commentator 2] She has such explosive power,

but she's able to control it.

She really does seem to have this sense of where she is in the air,

which surpasses any of the other gymnasts.

[woman] She's not just dominant in doing what already exists.

She is so creative, right? She has multiple skills named after her.

She is pushing herself.

[woman 2] The difference between the greats and the greatest of all time,

or the GOATs, like Simone, is that they change their sport.

[man] Simone Biles is one of the hardest athletes to commentate

because I'm running out of words.

[commentator] Is she ever out of breath? I don't think I've seen her out of breath.

I don't think anyone in any other sport has ever been that dominant. Ever.

It's like an NFL team never losing the Super Bowl. Ever.

[indistinct chatter]

[announcer] The Olympic Games will open in Tokyo, Japan,

and this woman is set to be their star.

[reporter] With the Olympics just over a week away,

Tokyo is reporting the highest number of new COVID cases in almost six months,

and it's getting clearer just how different these games are going to be.

No fans. No high fives.

Winning athletes will have to put medals around their own necks.

[Simone] Have you guys ever seen that statue

with the man holding, like, that thing on his back?

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Like, yes! That's what the expectations felt like.

[Jonathan] I remember seeing the commercials leading up to it, like,

"The greatest of all time, Simone Biles!"

"Star of the Olympics!" And I'm like, "Man, it's every other commercial."

[Simone] If I live up to expectations, rise to the challenge...

[reporter 2] The time is now for Simone Biles.

And the pressure, sometimes, from the media can get you

fed up with it.

[reporter 3] How is it that you stay motivated?

I'm trying to be better than I was at the last meet,

so I'm trying to beat myself.

I feel like each one gets better and better.

When eyes on you and every single move...

[commentator] Taking the sport to new heights...

[commentator 2] Every single skill, it is done with ease and perfection.

[commentator 3] What do you think? Five gold medals?

I think five.

People talking about you.

You know, "You're favorite to win. You're gonna win."

[commentator 4] We have gotten so spoiled, seeing this over and over.

[commentator 5] She keeps taking it higher.

People break down.

[commentator 6] Better, faster, stronger. Greatest of all time.

[Simone] So today is July 23rd, Friday.

We're here in Tokyo, Japan.

Guess what tonight is? Tonight is opening ceremonies.

[cheering]

[crowd chanting] USA!

[Onnie] When I think back to watching the Tokyo Olympics,

I don't really understand how the Olympics is happening.

The whole time I was watching Tokyo, I just felt very conflicted and tense.

Because of COVID, it was only gymnastics and gymnastics and gymnastics.

We could not go out.

So you were in the gym. You come back. You're in the room, on social media.

You're just in the room, and what do you think about? Gymnastics.

It's just, like, every day I pray I wake up, spit test is good.

In training, like, we wear a mask as much as we can.

It's been so far, fingers crossed, so good.

[thunder rumbles]

[commentator] It is the Women's Team Final from Tokyo.

Team USA looking for their third straight gold medal.

[woman] We marched in, but everything was so bright at the Games.

And I love when they do dark audience.

And maybe that would've helped some of them just,

maybe, pretending there was people?

[commentator] We have the families back at home. Hello, everybody.

[cheering]

I was immediately just thinking about the social isolation,

the lack of emotional and social support.

[woman] The best we could've done then was to FaceTime.

And I wanted to be there so, so bad

because I knew how much that would mean for her.

But it didn't happen.

My husband and I attended every one of Simone's competition,

except the Tokyo Olympics.

[announcer] Right now, all eyes on Simone Biles.

[woman] She just has this ability, this amazing body awareness,

to be able to turn it on when she needs to.

She's able to pick up skills so quickly,

figure things out so fast,

and it's just really amazing to watch her.

[commentator] Bizarre.

Right there, we just saw Simone kind of almost look like she got a little lost.

And as soon as you did it you're just... as soon as I did it,

I was like, "You gotta be shitting me."

"Like, right now? Really, right now, we're gonna do this?"

[Laurent] And then I look at the face. She pretend, "It's... I'm fine. I'm fine."

No, you're fine when you do a fall.

Like, you make your stuff, but you fall.

But when you get lost in something? No, you're not fine.

I knew from that very moment

that it wasn't just, like, one time and done

'cause I feel like you can, like, feel it in your head.

[commentator] The entire world is expecting for her

to be the best,

just like she always is, and that's a lot.

[commentator 2] It's the rarest air.

There's nobody else occupying it right now.

And it's gotta be a lonely place at times.

I guess she said the lights just... triggered something, and that was it.

She didn't know what she was gonna do,

but she knew it wasn't what she was supposed to do.

[Simone] And I knew it wasn't just like, "Oh, oops, sorry."

I was like, "How am I supposed to tell them

that this is bad bad?"

[suspenseful music playing]

[commentator] Mm. Never in my life have I seen her do that. Never.

But I believe that's what she did in warm-ups as well.

Don't know exactly where things got a little funky.

Just doubting herself somewhere.

Just get these head things out of your head, girl.

I would say, for 20 years,

she's been controlling her skills,

and this one year, she couldn't.

And this one year,

I wish I could've been there.

This one year,

things were beyond our control.

I don't know what I'm gonna do the rest of the meet. That's my problem.

I don't wanna do something stupid.

[Simone] To me, it felt silent.

Almost like deaf.

And if I could've ran out of that stadium, I would have.

But I was like, "Keep it cool, calm, collected. Don't freak anybody out."

Let's go over and be like,

"We're done here."

[commentator] Simone Biles right now gonna exit the floor.

[Onnie] I immediately said,

"She's alone."

Like, the fact that the athletes have to travel

without family, without friends,

without their network,

and it grossly underestimates

the importance of connection and community

to our physical performance and possibilities.

- Be the best. Simone. - [Simone] Yeah.

- I love you. - [Simone] I love you too.

Ooh, I love you.

[man] Mom. Mom. Mom.

Up. It's Simone. Come on.

Talk to her.

[Nellie] Hello?

You can't do it. That's okay, honey. That's okay.

Uh, they will do their best without you.

I don't want you going out there if you're not...

if you're not in a good place, and you need...

you don't need to go out there and hurt yourself.

That's just not right, okay?

You... you need to take care of yourself.

Okay?

Okay. I love you.

Okay. Just take some deep breaths, and just know we're praying for you, okay?

Okay. I love you.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Uh, bye.

That's it. She's done.

- She just pulled out. - [woman] What?

- She just pulled out. - [woman] Why?

She said she can't do it.

[commentator] And we are just being told by the officials

that Simone Biles is out of the competition tonight.

[Simone] I love you guys, but you're gonna be just fine.

I love you.

- [girl 1] It's okay. - [girl 2] No, it's okay.

[commentator] Have you ever seen anything quite to this level?

[commentator 2] Uh, it's quite a movie.

[Simone] I've been to an Olympics. I'll be fine.

This is your first. You gotta kick ass, okay?

[Simone] Afterwards, I kinda felt like I was in jail

with my own brain and body.

Just like, I just feel so ashamed.

[heartbeat pounding]

[Simone] So, having these mental blocks in the gym recently.

It's not been fun. It's been scary.

[somber music playing]

I'm getting lost on my skills.

[cracking knuckles]

I just don't get how. It's like...

I'm so prepared that...

[sniffles]

I don't know if I'm overthinking.

I mean, it's... it's getting to the point where it's becoming dangerous

because I'm getting lost on all of my floor skills.

[sniffling]

And it's like it could happen any other time.

I don't get... [sniffles]

...why it happens at the Olympics. It's like...

In gym, we call it the twisties.

It should be a forbidden word 'cause it sucks to have them.

For anybody.

When you have trouble like that,

it becomes so dangerous

to try to go through.

[reporter] World champion Simone Biles posted video

of her crashing to the mat yesterday,

with what is known as a bad case of the twisties.

Twisties are kind of when the brain stops communicating with the body,

and the body decides to do one thing and the brain wants to do another,

and so the athlete feels very out of control.

So just imagine you're getting on a rollercoaster,

and then you close your eyes,

and then they change the rollercoaster, and then you go.

[reporter 2] We're learning what gymnasts have dreaded for years.

When they're in the middle of a maneuver and they lose their place

in the air and they get lost,

and they could potentially fall and seriously hurt themselves.

I'm not going to put that out there 'cause I don't want young gymnasts to...

But I am gonna say it. You could die.

It's the reality

of flipping up in the air upside down and having to land on your feet.

Your head could hit first.

And the only way to cure it, it's to take some time off

and to understand why this happened.

[groans]

And most of the time, it's... unrelated to gymnastics.

[reporter 3] Simone Biles. Wow, everyone's been talking about her.

There are some who are calling her out for abandoning her team.

I think immediately afterwards, there was a lot of noise on social media

because there wasn't a full understanding of what Simone had experienced.

[overlapping chatter from reporters]

[reporter 4] Right now, the biggest quitter in sports is Simone Biles.

[Alice] That's what engendered a lot of the criticism on social media.

It's like, "Oh, you didn't feel like competing."

You know, "You just dropped out, and you let your team down."

[reporter 5] I thought she might be the GOAT.

You can only silence the noise for so long till it gets to you.

Sports are supposed to teach you life lessons.

I thought that was the whole deal.

The GOAT of all gymnasts,

she quit last night.

What happened to fighting through injury,

working through stuff you didn't really wanna do?

Don't quit. That's an important lesson. When you have a job, things get tough...

"Eh, I'm done. I'm not gonna show up."

[Simone] The people that were yelling, saying mean things

were way louder than all of the support.

You just feel like a big disappointment.

"The GOAT chokes. How appropriate for self-proclaiming yourself

as the greatest of all time. LMAO."

Sitting on our couch watching me from home. Okay.

Everywhere I went,

I felt like they could see, like,

"loser" or, like, whatever, like, "quitter" across my head.

So I always felt like everyone was staring at me,

even if they weren't.

[reporter] This woman just quit at the Olympics,

and I'mma tell you why I'm calling it quittin',

and I'm not accepting an excuse

of, "Oh, the mental stress."

[Simone] We already carry that weight on our own.

Like, I really don't need your two cents.

And not your two cents, because you guys can't even do a cartwheel, so...

yeah.

Everybody had an opinion about what happened.

"Blah, blah, blah. She had that."

Uh, "It's because of that."

[overlapping chatter]

[Céline] How is it possible to deal with people

who are so silly?

That girl, the amazing gymnast who everybody's shitting on.

- [man] Simone Biles. - Yeah. 'Cause she bailed on the Olympics.

"Can't take it anymore."

It's not like she's a... she's not a chicken.

[man] She's the best of all time by all people's accounts.

[Rogan] Aren't they changing rules

because she could do shit that other people can't do?

[curious music playing]

[Simone] Ooh.

This is the forbidden Olympic closet.

[humming]

Work for five years for a dream and just having to give it up,

it was not easy at all.

Tokyo Team USA pins and stuff we were supposed to trade,

but I didn't get to, because my mood was bad.

What else do we have back here?

See our masks.

These COVID, like, dog muzzles.

[reporter] Simone, last question.

Is there something physically that's going on?

As of now, no.

[Simone] I feel like it's more mental, and we're dealing with a couple things.

So we're just gonna take it day by day, and we'll see.

[Simone] So what's this?

San Francisco to Tokyo ticket.

Opening and closing ceremony uniform.

But... Oh, here's my number. Wow.

Sittin' right on top.

A lot of this stuff is good keepsake,

but it's in this closet 'cause I never really come in this room.

So... [scoffs]

I used to sit here and just cry and cry and cry.

Ask God why this happened to me.

[commentator] Simone Biles withdraws from another Olympic event.

The floor exercise final.

[commentator 2] The Olympic All-Around Final.

[commentator 3] Simone Biles not competing tonight,

but watching.

Here it is.

Yeah. Beautiful leo.

[blows raspberry]

Yeah, this is a good spot for it for now.

I mean, even touching it is like, "Ugh, ee... ugh."

But, you know, sometimes you have to take that power back.

[Simone] The sport is changing,

and we're putting mental and physical health

more at the forefront.

I wouldn't even say first, but more at the forefront.

Behind me beginning to warm up

for the women's individual All-Around Finals in gymnastics.

[Onnie] In the '80s and '90s, as a gymnast,

our ideas about what was normal within the sport

were a bit warped.

But there was a deep belief that this was the way

to achieve the success.

[commentator] These performances today

from a woman who dislocated her elbow this spring.

She had surgery.

They inserted a micro screw in her arm to repair it.

[Betty] Even physical well-being wasn't necessarily part of the conversation.

There was, "You can do it," or, "You cannot do it."

If you cannot do it, you need to move out of the way.

[commentator] Betty Okino,

who sports an injury list that you'd more likely see posted

on the door of a trainer for an NFL football team.

[Betty] And if you don't break,

then that makes you resilient and a champion.

[Simone] You don't even think about it until after the fact,

like now, years later.

"Wow, that was probably, like, borderline abuse."

But in the moment, it's like

you wanna become an Olympian, you wanna be a world champion,

so you're gonna do what it takes.

[commentator] Right now for the Americans is 15-year-old Dominique Dawes,

whose ankles are taped for a reason.

She has been in a lot of pain since the Olympic trials.

We were kids back then, and we were supposed to do as we were told.

They thought that is what it takes to build an Olympic champion

or to build a college-scholarship athlete.

And I will say, that's how you rip down a human being.

[cheering]

[commentator] This crowd of over 30,000 here in the Georgia Dome

is getting a chance to see a ladies' final.

[Simone] Kerri Strug, heroic.

Yes, I think we've all seen it, and we've all praised her for it.

But, you know, there's a lot of controversy over it.

[commentator] So Kerri Strug, it is up to her.

If she can score 9.493, and you see her parents...

[Dominique] In 2020, when Simone stepped back,

I think people started to scrutinize and really think about

the pressure that is put upon these athletes.

And I think the Kerri Strug moment,

people started to look at it, and they were like, "Is that too much

on a young child?"

- [commentator] Oh! Three falls in a row. - [commentator 2] This is scary.

[commentator] And she is limping. Kerri is hurt.

[Dominique] We all were injured. We all were beat down and battered.

She's standing at the end of the vault runway,

visibly in physical pain. Emotional pain, as well.

Her coaches are, like, telling her she can do it.

You can do it! You can do it!

[Dominique] That'd be nerve-racking as an adult.

These are young teenagers that have given up their whole childhood.

Nearly 40,000 people screaming for her to go

because it's for your country.

[suspenseful music playing]

[commentator] Kerri Strug is hurt.

She is hurt badly.

[Simone] Watching that video, total badass. You go, girl.

And I know some of us have even competed on injuries,

but I definitely think about it a little bit differently.

[commentator] She has either twisted her ankle...

[Dominique] I think what we did was historic and groundbreaking,

but I think if we look back now,

we're like, "That was not right."

It is not necessary to control and overpower

and undermine the humanity of your gymnast in order to be successful.

[commentator] Probably the last thing she should've done was vault again,

but she did, and now she is in a lot of pain.

[Simone] I know, after Tokyo, that video got brought back up.

Like, "Why couldn't you be Kerri Strug?" And then a lot of people were like,

"Absolutely not. Kerri shouldn't have done that back in the day."

And maybe if my ankle was fractured,

yeah, I would've still done it, but that wasn't the case.

Where I was mentally and physically,

it could've potentially been more than an ankle or something.

It could've been worse.

I say, um, put mental health first

because if you don't, then you're not gonna enjoy your sport

and you're not gonna succeed as much as you want to.

So it's okay sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself

because it shows how strong

of a competitor and person that you really are.

[Simone] After the Olympics, you just go into, like, a depression.

It's like a post-Olympic depression.

[crowd cheering]

[Simone] You feel so alone, and you can't get out of that rut.

It's like, "Okay, the Olympics is over."

"Simone, it's done," but deep down, like, to me, it wasn't done.

[Céline] It's easier to understand when a gymnast is injured with broken leg.

Uh, yes, you have empathy because you can see the problem.

For Simone, it was invisible.

[Laurent] I think only great athletes could take this kind of decision.

Any other athletes that think they know themselves,

they would have kept going and get hurt.

[Onnie] The certainty she must've had, that, "This is exactly what I need,"

and then the courage to live it out,

it's a beautiful lesson for all of us and a beautiful model

of what it means to listen to yourself and care for yourself.

[Simone] On some days, if I talk about it,

and I'm like, "Oh, I'm helping so many people out."

And then other times I talk about it, like, I get choked up.

Everything that has happened, I've just, like, "I'll push it down, shove it down,

wait until my career's done, go fix it."

And something like this happens,

and unfortunately, to me, it happened at the Olympics.

[indistinct yelling]

It's a trauma response...

[reporter] A once trusted physician who preyed on young women

in the USA Gymnastics program...

[Simone]...of everything that has happened.

Just being, like, a survivor and all of the other things.

[reporter 2] The former Olympic doctor was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.

Nassar admits sexually abusing women and girls

while working for Michigan State and USA Gymnastics.

[Simone] The scars of this horrific abuse continue to live with all of us.

As the lone competitor in the recent Tokyo Games

who was a survivor of this horror,

I can assure you that the impacts of this man's abuse

are not ever over or forgotten.

[voice breaking] Sorry.

I didn't get the proper care before because I just thought I was okay.

But your mind and your body is the first one to say, "Actually, no."

Thank you! Bye, guys!

You just never know how you'll react when you start actually talking about that

and trying to start the healing process.

And I knew it would be a long journey.

Whenever I talk to my therapist, she's like,

"If it didn't happen then, it would definitely happen later on

in your life, and you can only shove stuff down for so long."

Because I would've rather had some big world, global meltdown another time.

But it opened up the conversation to a lot of the world,

and a lot of people got the chance to be heard and be seen

and to get the proper help, so...

thank God for that vault. [chuckles]

After Tokyo,

I literally had not one ounce of belief in myself.

You just don't know if you can do it again.

I was like, "Is this really how, like, my career ends?"

"That's... tragic."

I feel I cried a lot more outside of the gym than in the gym

because I didn't want the girls to see

how much I was struggling.

Before I got this tattoo, it was a saying that I loved.

Obviously, Maya Angelou.

And I was like, "'And still I rise' is perfect,"

because I feel like that's kind of the epitome

of my career and my life story

'cause I always rise to the occasion,

and even after all of the traumas and the downfalls,

I've always risen.

Come on! You wanna come inside?

Okay. Let's go.

Whenever I first came back to gym,

I had to start from the basics.

Kind of like when kids come and ask me for advice,

when they have a mental block or they're scared,

I'm like, "Go all the way down to the basics and then build your way up."

Every comeback, so to say, that I've had, is, like,

no matter what happens, I've still come back

and still tried to do everything, like, full force, full difficulty.

Like, even after Tokyo.

Come back, and I'm here, so still I rise.

And that's kinda where we started from.

Square one.

But not just building the skills.

It's building the confidence and the trust

'cause I had to relearn to trust myself again

'cause I was still in the process of understanding why it happened.

Because every day I went to twist, I'm like... I'm like...

I always had the fear in the back of my mind of if I was gonna get lost.

[Cécile] Pretty quickly after Tokyo, she came back to the gym.

First, on the trampoline, and it was just to flip.

Just to see what she could and could not do.

This is, like... this is crazy!

She wasn't doing, like, too much. She was just kinda getting in the gym.

Basically staying in shape, honestly. Conditioning.

[Laurent] I think she had so much fun, and it was good to see.

It was healing part of it, I think.

[whimsical music playing]

[Simone] For a lot of those months,

I was still getting lost a lot.

Like, a couple days I'd be okay, and then I'd be lost for a couple days.

And I'd be okay for another day, then I'd be lost again.

She would come just once every three months,

jump on the tramp, and see if she can do a full-in.

If she can do this, she can do that.

And then she would do this for a year and a half.

[Cécile] But then we would not see her for a couple weeks

and then she would come back and play again

and not see her for a couple days, back.

[Simone] I was in and out of the gym for about a year and a half, till 2023.

That's when I took it serious.

I would hate going into the gym because obviously the girls are watching me,

and they used to be watching, like, this confident, giggly Simone

and I'm over there crying because I'm scared to go

'cause I know I'm about to get lost, and I don't wanna get lost

'cause it's not a good feeling.

[Joscelyn] We talked about the twisties a lot

'cause I've been through it so many times.

We talked about, like, how it doesn't ever really go away.

- Like, it's still back there. - [Laurent] Legs there. Legs.

[Simone] Ooh. Whoa.

You know, they're always coming over to me, saying,

"You're Simone Biles. You can do anything." Da, da, da, da.

So I didn't want them to see how defeated I was,

but I would listen to the girls.

They'd be like, "Please come back tomorrow. Please come back tomorrow."

And that just, like, meant a lot to me.

[Joscelyn] She doubts just as much as any other gymnast.

[Simone] I know, but...

[Laurent] Uh, no, already "but."

Honestly, it helps everyone, I think, to know that even Simone gets nervous.

I always am like, "I don't think you guys understand,

like, how much you've helped me this year."

[Laurent] Yeah.

Okay, it's late.

So, I get emotional 'cause it's like, I feel like I'm a big baby,

but I don't think they realize how much they've helped me.

And snap earlier.

- Oh, yes, like that. - [laughs]

[Simone] I wanted to quit like 500,000 times.

And I would have if it weren't for them.

[Laurent] Oh, it's working!

That's... that's weird.

That's so much better than that too.

Even more. Really stand up this way and then go.

Good job.

[Laurent] I mean, I think it's when she really decided to go

and... and get help.

Where she started to talk to her therapist a little bit more often

and every week, and... and then she started to see the progress,

and she started to see the improvement.

Oh yeah, yeah. I did like that color. Wait, why did he just...

- Oh, he just tripped. - He just... fell.

[laughs]

- Here's some butter. - [Jonathan chuckles]

[Simone] Did you say, "What am I gonna cook?"

- What are we gonna cook? - [Jonathan] Right there.

[Simone] I think the difference now is

I try to keep up with gym as much as possible

and still stay in shape and healthy,

but it's, like, I have to make sure I maintain a healthy relationship,

my husband's healthy.

There are so many different things, and it's not all about gym.

Like, life moves on.

Excuse me.

Thought you had some shells in there, girl.

It's been a... it's been a minute. You ain't losing your touch, are you?

[Jonathan chuckles]

[Simone] I have to take the time and put in the effort

to make everything else work.

[Jonathan] Cheers.

[sighs] Okay, baby.

It's obviously my first time sitting in these chairs.

Yeah, I mean, you don't fit too well.

I appreciate... You fit perfect.

I love you.

[Simone] Post-Tokyo, Jonathan was just like...

I mean, he always has a good head on his shoulders, and he's like,

"You'll get back to where you were,"

and made sure I was staying on top of my training.

He was making sure I was going to my therapy sessions

and was trying to do as much as he could without kind of being bossy,

but he was really just like a shoulder to lean on

'cause he saw, like, those dark times after Tokyo.

You can't grow if you don't go through stuff. You can't.

That's what I'd tell her. You grow through what you go through.

- Our first date? - What did we do?

We played games and we drank...

What? Sangria.

- Sangria. I had some sangria. - Yeah.

- It was just like... - The TV was on.

- It was right when COVID had happened. - Yeah.

You play professional sports, you supposed to be a superhero,

when you have the same issues and everything,

but, really, you're under a bigger microscope.

It was just funny. I remember when she pulled up in her little Range Rover.

I was like, "Okay, I see you, girl. Got your little Range Rover."

And then pulled up on me.

- And then she just, like... - I jumped out the car.

She jumped out, and she's like all the way down here.

- I'm like, "Oh shoot." - [laughs]

- I've never... - He said it scared him at first.

- How short I was. - I've never met someone, like, that tall.

I was like, "Oh shoot. You kind of small, okay."

[both laugh]

[Jonathan] Understanding, like, how much therapy can help,

and it really helped her bounce back and find the love for her sport again

and take the pressure off of herself that she put on herself.

[Simone] What I went through, that kind of opened his eyes.

He sees how athletes can go through something like that

or a big change in their career.

So I think it actually

kind of inspired him to go to therapy or see a sports psychologist

'cause now he does that, like, weekly.

She said, "I think you need to see someone,"

and, you know, I'm like, "See who?"

It's a humbling thing because you have to go back

and look at yourself in the mirror.

You gotta be able to talk about it, and you know,

I feel like when people don't have that outlet to be able to talk,

it makes you keep it in,

and that's the worst thing because stuff just builds up

to the point where you're not in control of your emotions anymore.

I credit that to her, though. She... she really opened my eyes.

Now look at us. Married.

[Jonathan] Now look at us.

[Simone] Sit. Come here.

[kissing sounds] Come over here.

- [dog panting] - [Simone] Good girl.

[clears throat]

[blows raspberry]

[Simone] This time, coming back, it's like it's truly for myself.

Nobody is forcing me in the gym. Like, I'm 26 years old.

It's truly myself.

But it's also, I never wanna look back in ten years and say,

"Oh, what if I could've done another Olympic cycle or at least tried?"

I didn't wanna be afraid of the sport anymore,

because, you know, so much has happened in this sport.

So much has, like, scared the living shit out of me

that I couldn't have it take that one last thing from me.

Also, ending on my own terms.

[reporter] We got some breaking news here on First Take. Simone Biles is back.

[reporter 2] For the first time in nearly two years,

the most decorated gymnast of all time is scheduled to compete again.

[reporter 3] Having been out of this kind of elite training

all these years, is it possible?

[reporter 4] She would be the oldest on a US Olympic women's gymnastics team

in 72 years.

You gotta start someplace to get to the destination. So this is the start.

[reporter] Simone Biles soars yet again.

She has officially secured a spot

on the US World Championship gymnastics team.

Now Biles will be the first American woman to compete

at six World Artistic Gymnastics Championships ever.

- [reporter 2] How does twisting feel? - Twisting feels better, I think.

Sometimes I get in my head about it a lot,

and the girls have to keep reminding me, "You're fine."

"That was like... That stuff doesn't happen."

So I definitely feel a lot better.

The year before the Olympics, they always call Worlds

"the mini Olympics."

And that's basically who you're gonna be competing against,

so it's kinda good to get out there,

do your skills, and kinda see where you land.

[commentator] The warmest of welcomes to the city of Antwerp

hosting the World Championships of Artistic Gymnastics.

And it's a great pleasure to have your company.

Great pleasure to have her company, as well. Back at international level.

She came to Antwerp in 2013 to make her name.

Oh my goodness. I was a scared little gymnast is 2013.

[commentator 2] Simone Biles, who was second on the vault

at the recent US Nationals, where she was the all-around gold medalist.

[commentator 3] This could be a highlight of today's competition.

The hardest vault in the world, and boy, she does it spectacularly.

Oh-ho-ho my!

- Wow! - [commentator 4] Wow!

At that point, I was just trying to go out there and make a name for myself.

[commentator 4] We talked about how powerful this lady is

and where she stands out, where she gets those extra points

on her difficulty are the big elements.

Especially like this. The dismount.

- [commentator 3] Wow! - [commentator 4] Full in!

[chuckles] That was the first and only Worlds that I was an underdog in.

Once you win it, it changes all expectations

for the rest of your career.

It's easy being the underdog.

It feels pretty good, but it hasn't really sunken in yet.

I'm just happy.

It was a lot of fun competing out there, and that's all I can say.

I just had a lot of fun. [chuckles]

Now, every time I show up, I'm expected to win.

Like, this year, specifically, competing,

I haven't been as confident in my gymnastics,

just because of everything that did happen in Tokyo.

So we wanted to try to take a different approach and not talking to media.

Just kind of staying in my zone.

Still following up with my therapist.

I turned off the comments on my Instagram, which I don't care.

If you wanna comment good or bad, you're not gonna be allowed.

And then, Twitter, I've actually deleted a couple times off my phone.

So yeah, I think I'm getting there.

[Simone] Whoa! Sorry.

[Cécile] I think she's ready.

Now, as much as I appreciate the media being so into Simone,

uh, you know, kind of almost leave her alone.

Let her do her thing. Enjoy the show.

To not put too much pressure on her. It's not needed.

Nice job, Simone.

- [Simone] Do half? - [Laurent] No, we're not. No.

- Do your half, and then... - [Simone] Okay.

[Cécile] And just, you know, let her be.

And enjoy it 'cause we won't see another Simone Biles anytime soon.

[heartbeat pounding]

- [Nellie] I could try. Give it a try. - [Simone] Okay.

So, if we're doing that,

it would be a braid coming here and a braid coming... and meeting there.

Or you can just do one at the top.

- Like one big one here? - Yeah.

- And then the one in the back? - Yeah.

Okay.

[Nellie] For me, it's been four years

since I have, um, actually attended an international competition.

So it's been a while.

- Oh, did Dad come in yet? - Yes.

- Is he at the hotel? - [Nellie] Dad came in.

There is a lot of what happened in Tokyo

that tends to creep in, you know?

So those are the things that we wanna make sure

that she doesn't go in that... in that place again.

- [Nellie] No, no, you're going too low. - Oh, okay.

[Nellie] Yeah, I just wanna do something special.

Tokyo was the one time I did not braid Simone's hair.

She is an adult.

I mean, this girl can braid her hair, but it's not about her braiding her hair.

Girl! You look good if I must say so myself.

[Simone] Thank you.

[Nellie] It's that bonding. It's that not saying much.

It's the touch.

That's what doing her hair means.

I'll see you tonight, and good luck to you guys.

- Okay, sounds good. Bye! - Love you all. Love you. Love you.

[Simone] I have to do both of my vaults anyways to qualify for the vault finals,

but I had to land my first vault,

which is Yurchenko double pike, so that I could get it named after me.

[Céline] The Yurchenko double pike.

I don't know if anybody even think how difficult it is.

I mean, yes, the... the... the height that she gets is absolutely extraordinary.

It... it is.

The pike position,

just from a physics point of view,

is very, very difficult to rotate.

It's just the mechanics.

You have a tuck position. Your body is here.

Versus a pike position, when you bring the legs out.

Just think about how much more complex it is to rotate.

[Laurent] That's why no other woman has ever done it,

because the difficulty is to land on the feet and to stay on the feet.

Uh, dangerous because you can get hurt.

[woman] What does it feel like to do that vault?

[Simone] Just scary.

And it's... every time you do it, you're scared.

Every time I do it, I'm like...

[exhales sharply] "Okay."

"One more time."

[Alice] That vault, you know, you have to balance the risk involved

versus the payoff.

But I think not having the opportunity to even make that decision in Tokyo

was part of her unfinished story.

[Onnie] It is challenging to have a new skill named after you.

It's challenging in that you have to be the first one to do it

and complete it successfully in a Worlds or Olympics.

So there aren't that many.

Simone has already done that four times now.

I have two on floor.

One is the Biles I, which is a double lay half out.

[commentator] Watch this double layout with a half at the end.

That's called the Biles as of now.

And then the Biles II on floor is a triple double.

[commentator 2] Triple twisting double back!

[commentator 3] Three times around with a double backflip.

[commentator 4] Forget just gymnastics. How many things in all of sports

are more impressive to watch than that?

Then the vaults are half on,

double full forwards off.

[commentator 5] Get out of town. Holy...

[Simone] And then I have the double double beam dismount.

[commentator 6] Everybody's saying now, "Backflip, double double!"

There it is! That's the Biles! That's what they've been waiting for.

[chuckles] She keeps adding another twist or another flip. What are you gonna do?

It's a new skill. No one else is gonna do it.

The Biles number one can be done,

but so far that is the only skill that has been done successfully at meets

by other people.

[announcer] We have a score for Simone Biles' exercise

from the previous rotation...

[Cécile] Being able to go back to...

I mean, it's Olympic Games and World Championships,

so the next best thing at a big stage,

I think, for her, was, "I'm continuing to write my story. I'm not done yet."

I am sure that she has doubts.

I am sure that she's still, you know, questioning herself.

Even when the media thinks, "Oh my God. She looks amazing."

"Oh my God. Everything is so easy for her."

Most of the time, they get to paint a picture

that they're not living, so of course it's glorious.

But then, on the other side, I'm actually living that picture.

I'm the painter.

[Laurent] We need to always remind ourselves that stuff can happen,

and we need to look at... try to see certain sign

to try to... to prevent it.

[Simone] Probably done 100 Yurchenko double pikes,

and the first one and then the last one I've done,

they all feel the same. Scary.

The vault is a physical thing, but it's also a mental thing too.

You have to have a lot of strength, power,

good air awareness.

There's a lot of components.

It's that split-second on the table,

if I know it's going to be a good vault or not.

Simone!

Most of the time I'm just trying not to die.

[suspenseful music playing]

[dramatic music playing]