Simone Biles Bends Excellence to Her Will in WSJ Magazine by Rahim Fortune
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At 4’8” tall, Simone Arianne Biles is called “the most powerful gymnast in history”, by WSJ Magazine. Biles is headed to the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo — the goddesses willing — where she will continue her head-spinning ascent in a sport where she already holds a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals. Globally, Biles is widely considered to be among the greatest and most dominant female gymnasts of all time.
As WSJ Magazine’s August 2021 cover star, Biles is styled by Jessica Willis in luxury ready-to-wear looks from Chanel (cover), Del Core, Fendi, Jil Sander, Kwaidan Editions, Y/Project and more. Austin, Texas born, New York-based photographer Rahim Fortune captures Biles in Houston. / Hair by Tylaria Thomas; makeup by Cinthia Moore
Louise Radnofsky interviews the superstar gymnast and activist about defying all expectations as she becomes even stronger after “surviving abuse, enduring a family ordeal and overcoming her own doubts.” Read Simone Biles Will Not Be Denied at WSJ Magazine. AOC shares the highlights.
Simone Biles is competing stronger at 24 years old than when she was 19. As a gymnast, her competitive career should basically be over, and yet she continues to achieve the unimaginable. Gymnastics enthusiasts believed they had seen the best of Biles when she rang medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics like a human slot machine.
Radnofsky interviewed Simone Biles days after she debuted the hardest vault in the history of women’s gymnastics. Speechless fans set the Internet ablaze, and Biles claimed her GOAT status. That ruffled a few feathers in gymnastics world, as the charming Biles look to embroidering goat motifs on her leotard.
What is so noteworthy about the stellar success of Simone Biles is in the years since Rio, she has revealed the devastating story of revelations about the abuse that she and other gymnasts received at the probing hands of gymnastics national team physician Larry Nassar.
Simone Biles Took On Larry Nassar and USA Olympics
Through the leadership of Simone Biles and other gymnasts — then and now — Larry Nassar is now a convicted sex offender, sentenced to 60 years in federal prison in December, 2017 on charges of child pornography and tampering with evidence.. In January, 2018 Nassar was sentenced to an additional 40-175 years in Michigan State prison, after pleading guilty to seven counts of sexual assault of minors. In February 2018, Nassar received an additional sentence of 40-125 years in Michigan State prison after pleading guilty to an additional three counts of sexual assault in Eaton County. The sentences are running concurrently but Nassar will never be released from prison.
In total under the ‘watchful eyes’ of USA Gymnastics, it’s believed that Nassar repeatedly sexual assaulted at least 265 young women and girls, under the guise of so-called medical treatment. Nassar has admitted to 10 of the accusations.
In a new report by the inspector general released this week, the US Justice Department “sharply criticized the FBI in its handling of the sexual abuse case” involving Lawrence Nassar.
Simone Biles on Quitting
AOC profiled Simone Biles’ Glamour cover story the same day that a judge in Ohio ended what had become a nightmare for the seemingly unflappable gymnast. As she reveals at length to WSJ Magazine, her brother’s charges and the postponement of the 2020 Olympics due to COVID created a vacuum of time for the steely-spine gymnast to consider quitting her pursuit of Olympic excellence.
As the jury deliberated in her brother’s trial, Simone Biles completed the unthinkable. Radnofsky writes:
As the jury was deliberating, Simone headed to Indianapolis; Ron and Nellie went too, to watch her compete at the Indiana Convention Center while awaiting news of the verdict.
There, on a Saturday, she debuted a new floor routine and the Yurchenko double pike: a roundoff and back handspring onto the vault table, propelling herself into the air to complete two back somersaults, bent at the waist, knees straight. . . .
The following Monday, the judge presiding over Tevin’s case declared a mistrial. The jury had mistakenly received legal briefs discussing the extent to which he might have acted in self-defense, and the judge said the case would have to be retried in front of a new jury.
AOC picked up the story, the day Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Joan Synenberg granted a Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal by the defense for lack of evidence, dismissing Biles-Thomas' murder charges and acquitting him of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault charges. Our article explains the facts of the case.
The traditional family life has escaped Simone Biles, although she regards her grandparents as her actual parents. Simone’s brother Tevin Biles-Thomas was her protector when they were young children in foster care. He and an older sister were later adopted by a great-aunt in Ohio, while Simone embarked on a new life in Texas, “adopted with her younger sister by her maternal grandfather, Ron, and his wife, Nellie.”
Clearly, she did not quit, but Biles is also quick to admit that her interest in gymnastics was tied to her desire to get a college scholarship. Unlike other gymnasts, her skill set was a means to another end and not global fame and glory.
At this point, Simone Biles holds a rich and financially profitable future in her hands. Biles left Nike and has aligned herself with Gap brand’s Athleta.
Related: Simone Biles Will Not Be Denied at WSJ Magazine.[Note, WSJ has a paywall. It may be open on this article. We’ve also used our subscriber link in an effort to gain access for you.
