'Simone Biles Rising' Lets The Olympic Gymnast Reclaim Her Narrative

The Netflix docuseries offers an inspiring look at Simone Biles' life — before her every move is examined and critiqued at the Olympic Games.

“I could give it a try,” Nellie Biles says as she reaches for strands of her daughter’s hair, debating if she should do one or two braids. “Or you can just do one at the top,” suggests record-setting gymnast Simone Biles. As Nellie smooths and pulls her daughter’s hair into a top and bottom braid that meet at the center of her ponytail, the two could be any mother and daughter on any day of the week anywhere in the world.

But the four-part Netflix docuseries, “Simone Biles Rising,” imbues the moment with meaning. Simone is preparing for her first competition in two years — the 2023 World championships of Artistic Gymnastics in Antwerp, Belgium — or, as Simone refers to it, the “mini-Olympics,” which will be her first time competing on the international stage since withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

For Nellie, it’s the first time she’s been able to see her daughter compete in an international competition in four years since family members were not allowed to attend the Tokyo games because of COVID-19 protocols. “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. It’s that bonding. It’s that not saying much. It’s the touch. That’s what doing her hair means,” says Nellie, a pillar of Simone’s support system.

Katie Walsh, the director of “Simone Biles Rising,” was intentional about highlighting small, quiet moments like this in the series. “You can relate to those more human sides to her, and that’s what I really wanted to show through in the film,” Walsh says.

Whether it’s hair braiding, backyard ping-pong, or breakfast in the kitchen with husband and Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, the two episodes that have been released in this four-part series give viewers a glimpse of Simone’s life outside the gym. While many moments aren’t that different from some of the videos or pictures Simone posts on her social media accounts, their effect in the documentary is to humanize the athlete and tell her comeback story. Ultimately, the documentary frames itself as a way for Simone to regain control over her narrative after enduring an agonizingly public mental health crisis that she refers to as her “global meltdown.”