Olympian Simone Biles's most emotional bombshells from Netflix doc: Twisties to abuse hell

Simone Biles Rising - Official Netflix trailer with Olympic star

Simone Biles earned her fifth and sixth gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this week - further solidifying her claim as one of the greatest-ever female gymnasts. The 27-year-old now has the opportunity to add a further three medals to her trove with the vault, balance beam and floor exercise finals still to come.

But her phenomenal success hasn’t been without its disappointments. In 2020 Biles was famously forced to retire from the Tokyo Games to prioritise her mental health.

Moreover, she and her teammates faced relentless abuse at the hands of former Team USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. The disgraced practitioner is currently serving up to 175 years in prison for sexual assault convictions and other charges relating to images of child sex abuse.

In her new Netflix documentary, Simone Biles Rising, the Ohio-native discusses how her Olympic withdrawal was a “trauma response” to Nassar’s abuse. “You can only shove stuff down for so long,” she revealed.

Express.co.uk is diving into the four-part documentary series to break down some of the most emotional moments. These include Simone overcoming ‘the Twisties’ and coming face-to-face with her past.

READ MORE Richard Madeley blasts Paris Olympics over one 'gratuitous' detail

Simone Biles: Rising is available to stream on Netflix. (Image: NETFLIX ) Opening up about 'Twisties'

During Simone Biles: Rising, the US star claims she’s had to overcome serious cases of the ‘twisties’.

The dangerous phenomenon sees gymnasts feeling lost in the air and renders them unable to perform to the best of their ability.

Unfortunately, Simone has suffered the twisties on multiple occasions—including in the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and the Tokyo event too.

She claimed that a combination of mental stress and pressure leading up to the Olympics affected her confidence, thus causing a case of the twisties.

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Blast-from-the-past: forbidden Olympics wardrobe

One fan wrote Simone was a 'model to all those over coming traumatic incidents'. (Image: NETFLIX)

In one scene of the new Simone Biles documentary, the star enters a rarely-used bedroom in her house.

Whilst inside she treats viewers to what she calls the "forbidden Olympic closet".

Inside, she pulled out various Team USA memorabilia such as face masks, pins and plane tickets.

"I used to sit here and just cry and cry and cry and ask god why this happened to me," she said before pulling out a leotard. “Even touching it is like [winces].”

Larry Nassar abuse case

Simone discussed her feelings towards Larry in her documentary (Image: Getty)

The USA gymnast previously testified against Larry Nassar—a former USA Gymnastics team doctor who is currently serving up to 175 years in prison.

Opening up about the toll the court proceedings took on her, Simone explained: “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'.

"Then something like this happens, and unfortunately, to me, it happened at the Olympics. It's a trauma response.”

She carried on to say that you’ll “never know how you’ll react when you actually start talking” about your feelings and beginning the healing process.

“You can only shove stuff down for so long.”

Beauty standards are ‘too much’

Simone opened up about the 'pressure' she feels regarding beauty standards (Image: NETFLIX)

Simone revealed that trolls have taken a toll on her mental health in the past.

"People are way too comfortable commenting on things,” she revealed. “I think the beauty standard, everything, is just too much.”

The star also heartbreakingly revealed that one remark she hasn’t ever forgotten is when someone claimed her hair looked “crunchy”.

She also admitted sometimes it’s difficult to be “the only Black girl on the team” as she believes gymnastics has previously been about “blonde” girls with “straight hair”.

window.topArticlesScript="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/js/dist/article-top-articles202408011.min.js"Biles wins the World Championship Again

Years after her withdrawal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Simone made her return to the 2023 World Championships.

At the time, she cinched her sixth all-around title and shared the podium with Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and fellow American Shilese Jones.

"The podium was full of Black girl magic,” she reminisced. “That's something that's never ever happened at a world championship before.

“Growing up in this sport that's something you could only dream of seeing or being able to witness.

“And I think a lot of girls needed to see that. To all be on one podium together and that's the three best in the world—I hope it inspired them.”

Olympian Simone Biles's most emotional bombshells from Netflix doc: Twisties to abuse hell

Olympian Simone Biles's most emotional bombshells from Netflix doc: Twisties to abuse hell

Olympian Simone Biles's most emotional bombshells from Netflix doc: Twisties to abuse hell

Olympian Simone Biles's most emotional bombshells from Netflix doc: Twisties to abuse hell

Olympian Simone Biles's most emotional bombshells from Netflix doc: Twisties to abuse hell