A nation held its collective breath as the image of Simone Biles limping and even crawling across the competition floor at the Paris Olympics emerged. After the twisties episode of the Tokyo Olympics, Biles made it her life’s mission to make a comeback in Paris, but she had an injury scare during warmups on the floor exercise. At first, she feared she had torn her Achilles tendon, which could have ended her campaign and perhaps her gymnastics career, but it turned out to be a calf “strain slash tear.” Biles persisted through this injury, which was revealed to be more extensive than what was first believed, to lead Team USA to gold medal success. 

This was not the first time Biles had overcome adversity to prevail. In 2018, she competed at the World Championships in Doha and won medals in every event despite suffering from a kidney stone on the eve of the competition. It turns out her struggles with injury are as old as her gymnastics career.

In 2013, Biles began her senior gymnastics career with an international debut at the American Cup. In the same year, she competed at the U.S. Secret Classic, but during one event, she missed her landing on a rotation and hurt her ankles. While she had a disappointing show overall in addition to the injury, she carried on and competed at the Worlds in Antwerp. However, the pain got too much to bear at one point. Biles narrated the ordeal in her 2016 autobiography, Courage to Soar.

Biles revealed how she headed into St. James the Apostle Church for her confirmation class to be interviewed by the bishop to assess her “spiritual readiness.” She pointed out that at that time, she was recovering from the surgery on her ankle.

“In all my confirmation photographs, you can see two little Band-Aids on my right ankle,” she wrote in one of the chapters. “I’d recently undergone surgery on that ankle to remove a bone spur. It was a lingering effect from the injury I’d sustained at the Secret Classic in Chicago when I’d landed short on a rotation and jammed my ankles into the mat, but the ankle still bothered me when I landed just a little bit wrong on a dismount, or when I was tired. On my final floor exercise at Worlds, I’d felt a sharp pain every time I came down from a tumbling sequence. My parents scheduled me for ankle surgery a couple of weeks later,” Biles mentioned.

X-rays showed that Biles has a calcium buildup that needs to be trimmed down. She noted, “It was a simple procedure to scope out the calcium buildup, but the doctor explained I’d be put to sleep with anesthesia.” Thus, the 11x Olympic champion underwent the surgery, but not before curiously asking the doctor, “Will my parents be with me when I wake up?”

The answer from the doctors, however, did not help to calm Biles’ nerves down. “No. We don’t want anyone talking in the room before you wake up. We want you to come out of the anesthesia on your own,” was the reply as jotted down by Biles in her book. Luckily for Biles, there was one thing dear to her that was allowed with her inside the operation room. It was a monkey-printed blanket that Nellie Biles had gifted Biles a few winters back.

The surgery was a success and the doctor told Biles, “You’ll probably feel some pain and soreness around that ankle, so we’re sending you home with pain medicine and an orthopedic boot. You’ll be on crutches for about three weeks.” 

This injury she suffered at the Secret Classic wasn’t the only challenge. At the event, she slipped from the uneven bars, missed her landing during her floor exercise, and lost her footing on the balance beam. The pressure of competition and performing at a high level was affecting her mentally.

She then sought the help of sports psychologist Robert Andrews, director of The Institute of Sports Performance, who helped her overcome her nerves by refocusing her mental approach. Biles won the P&G Championship all-around title less than a month after the Secret Classic in her first senior appearance at the meet. She then won the World Championship in Antwerp, Belgium, in October 2013.

A year later, Biles would return to Secret Classic, as a different gymnast. She scored an impressive 61.7 as she impressed on all four fronts and took home the senior title, completing her redemption.

Notably, it was through her coach, Aimee Boorman that Biles was treated for her bone spur by doctors from Houston Methodist Orthopedics & Sports Medicine.

Scott Rand, M.D., Boorman’s longtime friend and Biles’ primary care sports medicine specialist at Houston Methodist reached out to his colleague Travis Hanson, M.D., chief of orthopedic surgery at the hospital, to perform the minimally invasive procedure that took care of the issue.

But Boorman, who had been behind much of Biles’ early success, decided that she would be leaving the gym that Biles practiced in. Realizing that her gymnastics career could be in jeopardy, the future GOAT came to her mother and narrated the incident. This was when Nellie Biles took a bold step. 

Nellie Biles risked her career to build a golden future for Simone Biles

When Nellie Biles listened to her daughter’s crisis, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. Simone’s mother was an accomplished nurse and won a chain of hospitals that catered to the daily and lifestyle needs of the Biles family. Shockingly, she immediately decided to sell off the entire chain of her hospitals and build her daughter an exclusive new gym to practice in.

Nellie Biles also approached Aimee Boorman to stay put with a young Simone, and luckily, she agreed. The sacrifice of Nellie Biles soon bore rich fruit as Simone and Boorman continued together for the next 11 years. Competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Biles, under the close supervision of Boorman, won 5 Olympic medals to announce her arrival on the big stage in style. 

Well, that gym, as it is known now, is the World Champions Center. Becoming a hub for US gymnastics, the WCC now has an approximate revenue of $7.7 million, as reported by ‘Rocketreach.’ Thus, with things turning out pretty well for Simone Biles, looking back at her journey, she will surely cherish the whole of it.

It is quite surprising to imagine that someone as celebrated as Biles had to face such hardships. In fact, it would not be far-fetched to say that she was this close to having her dreams stripped away. However, the resilience that has been the soundtrack of her career and her parents both proved to be too much for these injuries to conquer. Fans can only be grateful that this icon has a mother who is as iconic as her daughter.