WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Okay, let's unpack this. We are diving deep into 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:05.040 the career of an athlete whose name, I mean, 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:07.799 regardless of sport or gender, has become the 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:10.060 definitive shorthand for the greatest of all 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:14.339 time. Today, our focus is Simone Biles. And when 00:00:14.339 --> 00:00:16.219 we talk about Simone Biles, you have to understand 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:18.859 that we are tracking a statistical anomaly. It's 00:00:18.859 --> 00:00:22.140 wrapped up in this generational athletic genius. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:25.640 Her numbers are just staggering. You're looking 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:29.269 at 30 world championship medals and 11 Olympic 00:00:29.269 --> 00:00:32.850 medals. She is officially the most decorated 00:00:32.850 --> 00:00:35.890 artistic gymnast, and that's male or female in 00:00:35.890 --> 00:00:38.350 world championships history. That's the critical 00:00:38.350 --> 00:00:39.990 distinction, isn't it? The one we need to make 00:00:39.990 --> 00:00:42.329 right out of the gate. It really is. Her total 00:00:42.329 --> 00:00:45.810 Olympic medal count, 11. that places her tied 00:00:45.810 --> 00:00:49.210 with the Czech legend Vira Aslavska as the second 00:00:49.210 --> 00:00:52.170 most decorated female Olympic gymnast, just behind 00:00:52.170 --> 00:00:55.369 Larisa Latnina. Right. But the sheer volume and, 00:00:55.390 --> 00:00:58.070 you know, the longevity of her dominance at the 00:00:58.070 --> 00:01:00.409 world championships, that's a different story. 00:01:00.509 --> 00:01:02.810 Completely different story. 23 of those 30 world 00:01:02.810 --> 00:01:06.180 medals are gold. 23. That puts her in a category 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:08.620 of one. It fundamentally reshapes the global 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:11.060 record books. Absolutely. So our mission today 00:01:11.060 --> 00:01:13.659 is to track this incredible arc, and we'll be 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:16.420 moving through what we see in the sources as, 00:01:16.579 --> 00:01:18.620 well, two pretty definitive chapters of her life. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:22.560 The first chapter is her initial, I'd say, world 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:25.040 -shaking athletic dominance. That's the era of 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.629 records, unprecedented difficulty. peaking initially 00:01:28.629 --> 00:01:31.069 in Rio and then continuing all the way through 00:01:31.069 --> 00:01:33.730 2019. And the second chapter, which is equally 00:01:33.730 --> 00:01:36.450 important, is her world -changing personal advocacy. 00:01:36.950 --> 00:01:39.450 This chapter is defined largely by her decisions 00:01:39.450 --> 00:01:41.989 in Tokyo regarding mental health, her powerful 00:01:41.989 --> 00:01:44.450 testimony about systemic abuse, and then her 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:46.489 triumphant return to the highest level in Paris. 00:01:46.769 --> 00:01:49.790 Exactly. These two chapters, pure dominance and 00:01:49.790 --> 00:01:52.790 then this profound vulnerability, are what collectively 00:01:52.790 --> 00:01:55.170 redefine what strength and greatness look like 00:01:55.170 --> 00:01:58.129 in elite sports. For you, the audience. and for, 00:01:58.189 --> 00:02:00.250 you know, future generations of athletes. But 00:02:00.250 --> 00:02:01.989 before we jump in, let's look at those foundational 00:02:01.989 --> 00:02:04.650 numbers one more time. Yeah, let's do that. By 00:02:04.650 --> 00:02:06.829 the time she finished her run in Paris in 2024, 00:02:07.329 --> 00:02:10.330 she had surpassed Vitaly Shcherbo as the most 00:02:10.330 --> 00:02:12.669 successful gymnast of all time at the Olympics 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:15.250 and World Championships combined. She just made 00:02:15.250 --> 00:02:18.229 the impossible seem routine. She did. So let's 00:02:18.229 --> 00:02:20.469 jump right into the beginning, the ascent, the 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:22.629 crucial years from her early life up through 00:02:22.629 --> 00:02:25.810 that Rio quad. Right. Simone Ariane Biles was 00:02:25.810 --> 00:02:30.710 born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio. And 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:32.650 the sources make it really clear that her early 00:02:32.650 --> 00:02:35.909 childhood was marked by a lot of challenge. A 00:02:35.909 --> 00:02:38.030 great deal of challenge. She and her three siblings 00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:40.270 moved in and out of the foster care system because 00:02:40.270 --> 00:02:43.050 their birth mother, Shannon Biles, was struggling 00:02:43.050 --> 00:02:46.729 with substance abuse and was just unable to provide 00:02:46.729 --> 00:02:49.650 stable care. That instability is such a crucial 00:02:49.650 --> 00:02:51.930 part of her story. And the pivotal change that 00:02:51.930 --> 00:02:55.409 provided the stability required for such an elite 00:02:55.409 --> 00:02:58.110 trajectory happened in 2003. That's right. Her 00:02:58.110 --> 00:03:00.439 maternal grandfather, Ron Biles. and his second 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:03.180 wife, Nellie Cayetano Biles, took her and her 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:05.460 younger sister, Adria, into their home in Spring, 00:03:05.620 --> 00:03:08.080 Texas. And they formally adopted the two girls. 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:11.219 They did. And that provided the solid, loving 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:13.319 foundation that would underpin everything that 00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:16.240 came after. Ron and Nellie became her parents. 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:18.860 And the sources also highlight this wonderful 00:03:18.860 --> 00:03:22.139 side note to the family history. Because Nellie 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:25.400 is from Belize, Simone actually holds dual U 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:27.780 .S. and Belizean citizenship. Which she's always 00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:30.340 been quite open about. She considers Belize her 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:32.800 second home, which just speaks to that strong 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.819 family bond and the foundation they built in 00:03:34.819 --> 00:03:37.659 Texas. That foundation was so vital because her 00:03:37.659 --> 00:03:40.780 athletic trajectory accelerated fast. Incredibly 00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:43.719 fast. She started training with Amy Borman at 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:46.620 age eight. And Borman recognized her talent immediately. 00:03:46.819 --> 00:03:48.900 But it wasn't just, you know, raw talent. It 00:03:48.900 --> 00:03:51.259 was her willingness to commit fully. And that 00:03:51.259 --> 00:03:54.280 commitment really materialized in 2012 when she 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:56.659 made a pretty significant strategic decision. 00:03:56.840 --> 00:03:59.560 A huge one. It signaled her intent for global 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:01.860 domination. She switched from attending public 00:04:01.860 --> 00:04:04.580 school to being homeschooled. That shift, it 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:06.099 doesn't sound like a big deal on the surface, 00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:07.840 but when you actually look at the training hours, 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:10.900 it was a massive professional sacrifice for a 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:13.979 teenager. It absolutely was. What exactly did 00:04:13.979 --> 00:04:16.639 that scheduling change allow her to do? It was 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.420 purely about maximizing training volume and recovery 00:04:19.420 --> 00:04:22.579 time. The sources show it allowed her to significantly 00:04:22.579 --> 00:04:25.060 increase her training regimen from around 20 00:04:25.060 --> 00:04:28.279 hours a week to an intense professional athlete 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:32.120 standard of 32 hours per week. Wow. Yeah. That 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:35.060 level of dedication, prioritizing the gym over 00:04:35.060 --> 00:04:37.500 traditional schooling, it just shows the singular 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:40.779 focus she had on elite competition. She actually 00:04:40.779 --> 00:04:43.199 completed her high school diploma in mid -2015. 00:04:43.740 --> 00:04:46.160 And even before Rio, she made another critical 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:48.899 choice about her future. She verbally committed 00:04:48.899 --> 00:04:52.220 to UCLA back in 2014, intending to defer until 00:04:52.220 --> 00:04:55.120 after the 2016 games. Right. But the financial 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:57.720 realities and just the trajectory of her dominance 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:00.360 meant that by July 2015, she announced she was 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:03.220 turning professional. Forfeiting her NCAA eligibility. 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:05.620 Exactly. It was just clear even then that her 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:07.819 path was going to be defined by global senior 00:05:07.819 --> 00:05:10.480 competition, not college athletics. Which makes 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.779 sense. She was an elite gymnast by 14, officially 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:15.920 starting her elite career in 2011. And her senior 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:18.459 international debut. came quickly in 2013 at 00:05:18.459 --> 00:05:21.220 the American Cup. Where she finished second behind 00:05:21.220 --> 00:05:24.420 her teammate Kaitlyn Ohashi. But this period 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:26.680 holds another critical detail that I think often 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:29.540 gets overlooked in just the raw medal count. 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:31.920 What's that? The intense struggle she had with 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:34.579 performance anxiety. That feels like the first 00:05:34.579 --> 00:05:37.819 real moment of that applied mental strength that, 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:41.079 you know, foreshadows Tokyo. What does the biographical 00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:43.399 account tell us about this early psychological 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:47.079 hurdle? It was significant after a notably poor 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:49.899 performance at the U .S. Classic in July 2013, 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:53.040 where she fell multiple times. She and her coaches 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:55.459 made the proactive decision to consult a sports 00:05:55.459 --> 00:05:57.279 psychologist. And she's been very open about 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:00.160 that. Incredibly open. She credits this early 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:02.459 intervention with helping her manage the intense 00:06:02.459 --> 00:06:05.220 pressure, the anxiety, the confidence issues 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:08.519 she was facing. She says that work directly preceded 00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:10.920 her monumental streak of dominance later that 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:13.759 same year. So the foundation for her global success 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:16.980 wasn't just physical. It was established by recognizing 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:19.360 a mental weakness and turning it into a strength. 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.139 Right. Through applied knowledge. That insight 00:06:22.139 --> 00:06:24.740 is so vital for anyone who looks up to her. It 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:27.439 really is. It shows that even the greatest of 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.060 all time needs professional help to manage the 00:06:31.060 --> 00:06:34.360 enormous mental load of elite competition. And 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:36.019 the results were, I mean, they were immediate 00:06:36.019 --> 00:06:39.420 and historic. Later in 2013, at just 16 years 00:06:39.420 --> 00:06:41.740 old, she goes to the World Championships in Antwerp 00:06:41.740 --> 00:06:43.980 and becomes the national all -around champion 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:46.660 and then the world all -around champion. Instantly 00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:48.300 placing her in the history books. Instantly. 00:06:48.339 --> 00:06:50.800 First African -American woman and the seventh 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:53.339 American woman overall to win that most prestigious 00:06:53.339 --> 00:06:56.360 of titles. And she didn't just win. She announced 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:59.160 her arrival with a level of technical capability 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:01.699 that just forced everyone to pay attention. For 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:04.079 sure. The sources detail that she was the first 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:06.720 American gymnast since Shannon Miller. back in 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:10.060 1991 to qualify for the all around and all four 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:12.399 event finals at a single world championships. 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:15.560 And she took home gold on floor, silver on vault 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:19.079 and bronze on beam. A stunning senior debut that 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:22.620 proved her all around mastery. And from 2014 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:25.860 to 2015, the accolades moved past promising and 00:07:25.860 --> 00:07:29.480 went straight into unprecedented. In 2014, she 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:32.920 repeated as world all -around champion. This 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:35.540 made her only the second American woman after 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:37.800 Shannon Miller in the mid -90s to get back -to 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:40.519 -back titles. And the U .S. record books just 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:43.120 started to crumble. She surpassed Miller's total 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:45.079 of five to hold the American record for most 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:48.180 world championship gold medals. And that momentum 00:07:48.180 --> 00:07:51.319 carried straight through to 2015. That year, 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:54.420 the discussion shifted from great American gymnast 00:07:54.420 --> 00:07:57.519 to greatest ever. So at the Glasgow Worlds, what 00:07:57.519 --> 00:07:59.899 was the definitive achievement there? The definitive 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:02.459 achievement was becoming the first woman ever 00:08:02.459 --> 00:08:05.079 to win three consecutive world all -around titles. 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:08.420 Ever. No woman had ever demonstrated that level 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:10.620 of consistency and longevity at the top of the 00:08:10.620 --> 00:08:13.540 all -around podium. She capped off that 2015 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:16.300 performance by reaching 14 total world championship 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:19.819 medals, the most for any American, and 10 total 00:08:19.819 --> 00:08:22.139 gold medals, setting the record for any woman 00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:24.540 in world championships history. To win 10 world 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:26.779 gold medals before your first Olympic Games is 00:08:26.779 --> 00:08:28.769 just... It's staggering. That's unbelievable. 00:08:29.129 --> 00:08:31.230 That dominance sets the perfect stage for the 00:08:31.230 --> 00:08:34.669 Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, the games that cemented 00:08:34.669 --> 00:08:36.690 her global superstardom. She was named to the 00:08:36.690 --> 00:08:39.470 legendary team known affectionately as the Final 00:08:39.470 --> 00:08:42.809 Five. The 2016 games were historic. She delivered 00:08:42.809 --> 00:08:45.889 four gold medals, team, individual, all around. 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:49.100 Vault and floor exercise. And that individual 00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:51.279 all -around victory was particularly dominant. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:53.600 She had the highest scores on three of the four 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:57.379 events, vault, beam, and floor. And she and Allie 00:08:57.379 --> 00:08:59.879 Raisman became the second pair of American gymnasts 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:02.120 to win gold and silver in the all -around. I 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:04.620 remember that balance beam final so vividly. 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:07.340 The sources specifically mention a small stumble 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:09.620 where she grabbed the beam with her hands. A 00:09:09.620 --> 00:09:13.220 mandatory .5 deduction. Right. Yet, despite that 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:16.149 major error, a mistake that would doom almost 00:09:16.149 --> 00:09:18.889 any other gymnast. She still walked away with 00:09:18.889 --> 00:09:21.149 the bronze medal. And that fact speaks volumes 00:09:21.149 --> 00:09:23.330 about the sheer chasm of technical difficulty 00:09:23.330 --> 00:09:25.929 she maintained over her rivals. Her baseline 00:09:25.929 --> 00:09:28.289 complexity was so high that she had a built -in 00:09:28.289 --> 00:09:30.690 cushion that allowed her to absorb a major deduction 00:09:30.690 --> 00:09:33.549 and still get on the podium. Her four -gold medal 00:09:33.549 --> 00:09:35.570 set an American record for the most goals in 00:09:35.570 --> 00:09:38.049 women's gymnastics at a single Games. And in 00:09:38.049 --> 00:09:40.730 terms of historical comparison, she was now in 00:09:40.730 --> 00:09:44.139 the most elite of clubs. She became only the 00:09:44.139 --> 00:09:46.740 fourth female gymnast in history to that point 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:49.860 to win every major all -around title in an Olympic 00:09:49.860 --> 00:09:53.019 cycle. The others are legends like Latinina, 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:56.480 Oslovska, and Torsheva. She had conquered every 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.179 significant title the sport offered. Every single 00:09:59.179 --> 00:10:01.700 one. But following the glow of Rio, there was 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:04.399 this moment of unwanted controversy that also 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:07.210 became a moment of personal advocacy. which is 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:09.450 such a key through line in her life. That's right. 00:10:09.509 --> 00:10:12.210 In September 2016, her medical information was 00:10:12.210 --> 00:10:14.409 leaked following the fancy bear hack into the 00:10:14.409 --> 00:10:18.450 World Anti -Doping Agency, WDA, and she was falsely 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:20.429 accused of doping. She handled that moment with 00:10:20.429 --> 00:10:22.450 incredible honesty and transparency. She did. 00:10:22.590 --> 00:10:24.730 She went on Twitter and publicly disclosed that 00:10:24.730 --> 00:10:27.350 she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, 00:10:27.570 --> 00:10:31.110 ADHD, and had a therapeutic use exemption, a 00:10:31.110 --> 00:10:34.090 TEU, to take medication Ritalin for it, a condition 00:10:34.090 --> 00:10:36.610 she'd been diagnosed with as a child. Let's just 00:10:36.610 --> 00:10:38.889 pause on this for a minute. For a young athlete 00:10:38.889 --> 00:10:41.669 who has just achieved global fame facing a hack 00:10:41.669 --> 00:10:44.169 that threatens to derail your reputation, that's 00:10:44.169 --> 00:10:47.389 terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. But her response 00:10:47.389 --> 00:10:49.730 turned this whole incident on its head. It really 00:10:49.730 --> 00:10:52.990 did. By being immediately transparent, she controlled 00:10:52.990 --> 00:10:55.789 the narrative. And she was widely applauded for 00:10:55.789 --> 00:10:58.210 her openness, turning what the hackers intended 00:10:58.210 --> 00:11:01.149 to be a scandal into this powerful moment of 00:11:01.149 --> 00:11:04.190 advocacy for both mental health and the transparency 00:11:04.190 --> 00:11:07.110 of the TUE process. This wasn't just defending 00:11:07.110 --> 00:11:09.649 herself, it was normalizing a medical condition 00:11:09.649 --> 00:11:12.590 for high -achieving athletes. Exactly. So following 00:11:12.590 --> 00:11:15.450 the Games, she took a necessary hiatus in 2017 00:11:15.450 --> 00:11:18.870 to recover and reset. Which is crucial after 00:11:18.870 --> 00:11:20.789 the mental and physical stress of an Olympic 00:11:20.789 --> 00:11:24.470 quad. She also released her autobiography, Courage 00:11:24.470 --> 00:11:26.570 to Soar, and started managing her professional 00:11:26.570 --> 00:11:29.070 life differently, including a coaching change. 00:11:29.269 --> 00:11:32.210 Right after her longtime coach, Amy Borman, relocated 00:11:32.210 --> 00:11:34.190 to Florida. So she returned to conditioning in 00:11:34.190 --> 00:11:37.490 August 2017, and later that year hired the French 00:11:37.490 --> 00:11:40.750 coaching duo Laurent Lundy and Cécile Conquetot 00:11:40.750 --> 00:11:42.809 -Lundy. And that partnership proved instrumental 00:11:42.809 --> 00:11:45.610 not just in maintaining her dominance, but in 00:11:45.610 --> 00:11:48.289 dramatically increasing her difficulty. A strategy 00:11:48.289 --> 00:11:50.990 that would define her post -Rio career and lead 00:11:50.990 --> 00:11:54.029 to the creation of skills that were, well, technically 00:11:54.029 --> 00:11:56.370 impossible for her contemporaries. That brings 00:11:56.370 --> 00:11:58.789 us squarely into the second chapter of her athletic 00:11:58.789 --> 00:12:02.629 dominance, covering the 2018 -2019 period, the 00:12:02.629 --> 00:12:06.029 era of total, quantifiable supremacy and profound 00:12:06.029 --> 00:12:08.610 public reckoning. And when she returned to competition 00:12:08.610 --> 00:12:12.110 in 2018, she didn't just ease back in. She immediately 00:12:12.110 --> 00:12:14.649 dominated the U .S. Classic, setting a new high 00:12:14.649 --> 00:12:17.730 all -around score for the 2017 -2020 Code of 00:12:17.730 --> 00:12:20.730 Points. Crucially, she did this even with a fall 00:12:20.730 --> 00:12:23.549 on bars and an out -of -bounds penalty on floor. 00:12:23.789 --> 00:12:25.909 Which just proved that her base difficulty had 00:12:25.909 --> 00:12:27.950 accelerated past everyone else, even when she 00:12:27.950 --> 00:12:30.009 wasn't perfect. And that dominance continued 00:12:30.009 --> 00:12:32.970 at the 2018 U .S. National Championships. She 00:12:32.970 --> 00:12:35.190 achieved something truly historic there. She 00:12:35.190 --> 00:12:37.769 won gold in every... single event over the two 00:12:37.769 --> 00:12:40.710 days of competition. The all -around vault, beam, 00:12:41.009 --> 00:12:44.049 floor, and uneven bars. A clean sweep. The sources 00:12:44.049 --> 00:12:46.110 confirm it was the first time a woman had done 00:12:46.110 --> 00:12:48.730 that since Dominique Dawes in 1994, securing 00:12:48.730 --> 00:12:51.649 Biles' record fifth national all -around title. 00:12:51.850 --> 00:12:54.330 And the margin of victory was insane. The gap 00:12:54.330 --> 00:12:58.029 she maintained was staggering 6 .55 points ahead 00:12:58.029 --> 00:13:00.509 of the second place finisher. This wasn't competition. 00:13:00.590 --> 00:13:03.549 This was a demonstration. Yet even in the middle, 00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:06.690 Of this total dominance, she faced significant 00:13:06.690 --> 00:13:09.269 physical and emotional trials leading into the 00:13:09.269 --> 00:13:12.830 2018 World Championships in Doha. This is a story 00:13:12.830 --> 00:13:15.889 of almost unbelievable grit. Yeah. She was rushed 00:13:15.889 --> 00:13:17.929 to the emergency room the night before qualifications, 00:13:18.450 --> 00:13:20.809 severe stomach pains, which doctors identified 00:13:20.809 --> 00:13:23.789 as a kidney stone. And she still competed. After 00:13:23.789 --> 00:13:25.750 confirming it wasn't appendicitis and getting 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:28.190 some pain management, she checked herself out 00:13:28.190 --> 00:13:30.700 and competed the next day. Kidney stone and all. 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:32.860 I have to ask, what do you think the long -term 00:13:32.860 --> 00:13:35.419 emotional cost was for competing under that kind 00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:38.240 of duress? Is that a moment of inspiring grit? 00:13:38.419 --> 00:13:40.799 Or is it a moment where the overwhelming pressure 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.620 forces an athlete to perform when they should 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:45.600 be resting? I think it's likely both. And it 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:47.860 just speaks to the immense internal and external 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:50.860 pressure she faced. But she delivered. She qualified 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:53.659 first in the all -round and for most event finals. 00:13:53.940 --> 00:13:56.860 And in the team final. She competed on all four 00:13:56.860 --> 00:13:59.720 events, leading the U .S. team to gold by a record 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:03.879 margin. A record margin of 8 .766 points ahead 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:06.779 of the silver medal Russian team. That shattered 00:14:06.779 --> 00:14:09.259 previous records. But the defining moment of 00:14:09.259 --> 00:14:11.039 that year, the moment that technical analysts 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:14.299 still talk about, was the individual all -around 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:18.340 final in Doha. Right. She won her fourth world 00:14:18.340 --> 00:14:21.600 all -around title, surpassing Svetlana Korkina's 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:24.679 previous record of three. And she did it despite 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:27.039 falling on both the vault and the balance beam. 00:14:27.159 --> 00:14:29.720 I know. How is that possible? Exactly. How is 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:32.019 that possible? This is the definitive technical 00:14:32.019 --> 00:14:34.539 insight that you, the listener, need to understand. 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:37.960 The difficulty gap. Her routines were built with 00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:41.039 such high difficulty values or D scores that 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:43.220 even with mandatory deductions from two major 00:14:43.220 --> 00:14:46.500 falls, her starting score was so high that her 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:48.879 total still eclipsed the highest possible clean 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:51.519 scores of her competitors. So the 1 .7 point 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.019 victory margin, despite two falls, perfectly 00:14:54.019 --> 00:14:56.299 illustrates that. It perfectly illustrates that 00:14:56.299 --> 00:14:58.659 she was fundamentally competing against a different 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:01.360 and far more demanding code of points that she 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:03.720 alone was capable of mastering. She forced the 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:05.840 sport to rewrite its own rulebook. which we'll 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:08.200 get to. But the records just kept tumbling in 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:11.440 2018. They did. She won the vault gold, her first 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.460 career world vault title. And by doing that, 00:15:14.519 --> 00:15:17.500 she broke Vitaly Shcherbo's record for most world 00:15:17.500 --> 00:15:20.559 gold medals, reaching 13. And critically, she 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.419 won silver on the uneven bars. An event often 00:15:23.419 --> 00:15:25.820 considered her relative weakness. That silver 00:15:25.820 --> 00:15:28.879 made her the 10th female gymnast overall and 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.440 the first American woman to win a world championship 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:34.500 medal on every single apparatus. All around vault. 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:38.019 bars, beam, and floor. She had truly mastered 00:15:38.019 --> 00:15:40.500 the entirety of the sport. Before we move into 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:43.419 the technical revolution of 2019, it is just 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:45.820 impossible to discuss this period without dedicating 00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:48.379 significant time to the painful necessity of 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:50.580 her public advocacy around the Nassar abuse. 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:53.820 That's right. In January 2018, Biles made the 00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:56.419 public statement revealing that former USA Gymnastics 00:15:56.419 --> 00:15:59.000 physician Larry Nassar had sexually assaulted 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.840 her. This was a massive, emotionally taxing decision. 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:04.580 It came months after she had shared that she 00:16:04.580 --> 00:16:06.620 wasn't emotionally ready to face Nassar at his 00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:08.919 initial sentencing hearings. And she quickly 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:11.580 became a leading unifying voice for the hundreds 00:16:11.580 --> 00:16:15.039 of survivors. A really powerful symbolic gesture 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:17.440 happened at the 2018 National Championships, 00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:20.139 which she dedicated to them. That was the teal 00:16:20.139 --> 00:16:22.580 leotard moment. Right. She wore a teal leotard, 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:25.340 a color she helped design to honor the survivors 00:16:25.340 --> 00:16:28.100 of Nassar's abuse as this public statement of 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:30.779 unity and resilience. It signaled that she was 00:16:30.779 --> 00:16:32.820 competing for something much larger than herself. 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:35.820 And this advocacy didn't stop at symbolic gestures. 00:16:36.059 --> 00:16:38.399 It culminated in one of the the most devastating 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:41.360 and, frankly, vital pieces of testimony in recent 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:43.740 sports history in 2021. That was her testimony 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:46.059 to the U .S. Senate Judiciary Committee alongside 00:16:46.059 --> 00:16:49.440 Michaela Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Ali Raisman. 00:16:49.500 --> 00:16:51.899 Her testimony was just damning and so clear. 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:54.419 It was. She stated explicitly that she blamed 00:16:54.419 --> 00:16:57.759 the entire system. specifically USA Gymnastics 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.740 and the United States Olympic and Paralympic 00:16:59.740 --> 00:17:02.039 Committee, for enabling and perpetuating the 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:04.740 crimes by failing to act on clear warnings. That 00:17:04.740 --> 00:17:07.299 public act of bravery, of demanding accountability, 00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:10.720 it elevated her role far beyond sport. She became 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:13.599 a force for institutional change. It absolutely 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:16.900 puts her accomplishments into context. She achieved 00:17:16.900 --> 00:17:19.039 her greatest professional dominance during a 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.119 period of immense personal and political trauma, 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:24.400 constantly fighting for change while simultaneously 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.380 pushing the boundaries of human performance. 00:17:27.210 --> 00:17:29.990 So now let's pivot back to that technical superiority 00:17:29.990 --> 00:17:32.150 that allowed her to win while dealing with all 00:17:32.150 --> 00:17:35.509 of this. This is the period, 2019, where she 00:17:35.509 --> 00:17:37.609 officially revolutionized the code of points 00:17:37.609 --> 00:17:39.970 through the introduction of the Biles elements. 00:17:40.250 --> 00:17:42.329 This is a deep dive into the rules, so let's 00:17:42.329 --> 00:17:44.450 get technical for a second. Let's do it. When 00:17:44.450 --> 00:17:47.130 an athlete performs a brand new, never -before 00:17:47.130 --> 00:17:49.849 -seen skill successfully in a major international 00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:52.710 competition, it gets named after them and assigned 00:17:52.710 --> 00:17:55.630 a difficulty score, or D -score. Biles currently 00:17:55.630 --> 00:17:58.650 has five eponymous skills across three different 00:17:58.650 --> 00:18:01.230 apparatuses. And we already have the Biles vault 00:18:01.230 --> 00:18:04.529 from 2018. Right, a Yurchenko half -on, followed 00:18:04.529 --> 00:18:06.630 by a straight front salto with a double twist 00:18:06.630 --> 00:18:09.950 -off. That was originally a 6 .4 difficulty value, 00:18:10.250 --> 00:18:12.470 making it tied with the Protonova as the most 00:18:12.470 --> 00:18:14.289 difficult women's vault ever. ever competed at 00:18:14.289 --> 00:18:16.809 that time. But 2019 is where she truly broke 00:18:16.809 --> 00:18:19.609 the difficulty scale. At the National Championships, 00:18:19.809 --> 00:18:22.569 she debuted two new skills that would be officially 00:18:22.569 --> 00:18:24.930 named after her later that year at the Worlds. 00:18:25.230 --> 00:18:27.509 Let's start with the balance beam. It's already 00:18:27.509 --> 00:18:30.009 the apparatus of risk and precision. What did 00:18:30.009 --> 00:18:32.069 she introduce there? On the balance beam, she 00:18:32.069 --> 00:18:35.269 introduced the Biles dismount, a double -twisting, 00:18:35.269 --> 00:18:38.130 double -tucked salto dismount. This was assigned 00:18:38.130 --> 00:18:40.750 a difficulty rating of H, which translates to 00:18:40.750 --> 00:18:43.609 0 .8 difficulty points. A huge strategic move. 00:18:43.789 --> 00:18:47.150 A critical one. Her coach, Cecile Conkaito -Londi, 00:18:47.210 --> 00:18:49.650 helped her rework her beam performance, removing 00:18:49.650 --> 00:18:52.809 inconsistent lower value skills and replacing 00:18:52.809 --> 00:18:55.930 them with this upgraded high risk, high reward 00:18:55.930 --> 00:18:57.950 dismount. And then there's the famous one on 00:18:57.950 --> 00:19:00.380 floor exercise, the Biles 2. The one that makes 00:19:00.380 --> 00:19:03.519 everyone just gasp. The Biles 2 on floor is the 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.700 triple twisting double tucked salto backwards, 00:19:05.940 --> 00:19:08.460 often called the triple double. This skill was 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:10.859 assigned the letter J, which is one point so 00:19:10.859 --> 00:19:13.099 full difficulty points. And this is where we 00:19:13.099 --> 00:19:16.279 need to emphasize the magnitude. Why is a J rating 00:19:16.279 --> 00:19:18.400 so significant for our listener who may not be 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:21.019 a gymnastics scoring expert? A J rating means 00:19:21.019 --> 00:19:25.339 an element is valued at 1 .0 points. This holds 00:19:25.339 --> 00:19:28.440 a unique distinction. It is the highest difficulty 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:31.299 rating across all disciplines for both men and 00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:33.660 women in artistic gymnastics. The highest for 00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:36.420 the entire sport. For the entire sport. A 1 .0 00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:39.160 difficulty element fundamentally warps the scoring 00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:41.799 strategy. It's almost unheard of. To beat her. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:44.319 competitors wouldn't just need a clean routine. 00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:46.680 They would literally need to perform skills that 00:19:46.680 --> 00:19:49.539 don't yet exist or are significantly lower value. 00:19:49.819 --> 00:19:52.099 She didn't just set a new record for women. She 00:19:52.099 --> 00:19:54.400 set a new difficulty ceiling for the entire sport 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:57.339 globally. Precisely. So she goes into the 2019 00:19:57.339 --> 00:20:00.200 World Championships in Stuttgart as the undisputed 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:02.740 technical monarch. And her goal was simply to 00:20:02.740 --> 00:20:05.349 cement... the statistical reality. And she did. 00:20:05.609 --> 00:20:08.609 Team USA won its fifth consecutive team title. 00:20:08.769 --> 00:20:10.869 Her performance in Stuttgart was almost flawless, 00:20:11.130 --> 00:20:13.329 culminating in her fifth world all -around title. 00:20:13.549 --> 00:20:16.009 She won by an astronomical record -setting margin 00:20:16.009 --> 00:20:19.210 of 2 .1 points. 2 .1 points. That difficulty 00:20:19.210 --> 00:20:21.549 gap again, just insurmountable. She consistently 00:20:21.549 --> 00:20:23.509 posted the highest scores of the day on three 00:20:23.509 --> 00:20:25.930 of the four events, Vault, Beam, and Floor. The 00:20:25.930 --> 00:20:28.849 individual medal haul was just as historic. By 00:20:28.849 --> 00:20:31.609 winning gold on Volt, she tied Sherbo's record 00:20:31.609 --> 00:20:34.910 for most world championships medals at 23. And 00:20:34.910 --> 00:20:37.210 then the following day, by winning balance beam 00:20:37.210 --> 00:20:39.569 gold, she secured her 24th world championships 00:20:39.569 --> 00:20:42.509 medal, officially becoming the sole record holder 00:20:42.509 --> 00:20:45.210 for most world championship medals won by any 00:20:45.210 --> 00:20:48.150 gymnast male or female surpassing Vitaly Sherbo's 00:20:48.150 --> 00:20:50.710 total. It was a monumental haul. She finished 00:20:50.710 --> 00:20:53.349 the Stuttgart Worlds with five gold medals. Tying 00:20:53.349 --> 00:20:56.049 the record for most golds won at a single world 00:20:56.049 --> 00:20:58.829 championships, matching legends Larissa Latinina 00:20:58.829 --> 00:21:01.710 and Boris Shoklin, who did that way back in 1958. 00:21:02.029 --> 00:21:04.289 Wow. And her fifth gold medal on floor exercise 00:21:04.289 --> 00:21:07.029 secured the most titles on one apparatus in world 00:21:07.029 --> 00:21:10.150 championships history. That was the perfect climax 00:21:10.150 --> 00:21:12.829 to her first decade of unparalleled dominance. 00:21:13.230 --> 00:21:16.349 That incredible run sets the stage for the defining 00:21:16.349 --> 00:21:18.869 moment of her career. And maybe the defining 00:21:18.869 --> 00:21:21.710 moment of the decade in women's sports. The period 00:21:21.710 --> 00:21:24.509 from 2020 through the 2024 Paris Olympics. A 00:21:24.509 --> 00:21:26.910 period defined by mental strength, vulnerability, 00:21:27.170 --> 00:21:30.329 and the ultimate comeback. Of course, 2020 was 00:21:30.329 --> 00:21:33.069 derailed by the pandemic. But in 2021, anticipation 00:21:33.069 --> 00:21:35.529 for the Tokyo Olympics was at a fever pitch. 00:21:35.750 --> 00:21:38.329 She was the heavy favorite. Not just to win, 00:21:38.470 --> 00:21:41.440 but to sweep. She qualified first in the all 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:44.079 -around and, remarkably, for all four individual 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:47.119 finals, the only athlete to do so. But the sources 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.380 indicate the mental pressure was already massive. 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:51.680 She was already talking about the strain. She 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:54.640 was. Following qualifications she posted on Instagram, 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.819 saying she felt the weight of the world on her 00:21:56.819 --> 00:21:59.920 shoulders, the expectation was suffocating. Then 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:02.059 came the crisis point during the team final. 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:05.079 On her first rotation, the Aminar Vault. She 00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:07.940 balked midair, only performing 1 .5 twists instead 00:22:07.940 --> 00:22:11.140 of the expected 2 .5, resulting in a low score. 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:13.220 And that was the moment she pivoted away from 00:22:13.220 --> 00:22:15.640 athletic performance and towards self -preservation. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.380 She subsequently withdrew from the rest of the 00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:20.799 team competition, citing mental health issues 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:23.299 and explaining she was experiencing the twisties. 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:26.200 It was a brave and conscious choice. She directly 00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:29.039 cited Naomi Osaka's prior withdrawals from high 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:32.019 profile competitions as an inspiration, showing 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:35.359 a clear generational shift in how elite athletes 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:37.400 were starting to address the crushing mental 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:39.859 toll of competition. And the remaining U .S. 00:22:39.859 --> 00:22:43.380 team, quickly nicknamed the Fighting Four, went 00:22:43.380 --> 00:22:45.900 on to win a well -deserved silver medal. They 00:22:45.900 --> 00:22:48.619 did. So let's break down the twisties. For the 00:22:48.619 --> 00:22:50.640 listener who hasn't experienced this in gymnastics, 00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:53.799 what exactly is it and why is it such a safety 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:57.349 risk? The twisties are a temporary, debilitating 00:22:57.349 --> 00:22:59.990 neurological condition. It's a sudden, complete 00:22:59.990 --> 00:23:02.970 loss of proprioception, the awareness of where 00:23:02.970 --> 00:23:05.970 your body is in space, specifically during complex 00:23:05.970 --> 00:23:09.069 twisting maneuvers. Your brain essentially disconnects 00:23:09.069 --> 00:23:11.309 from the physical reality of the rotation. And 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:12.829 when you're performing a triple -double on the 00:23:12.829 --> 00:23:16.049 floor or a complex dismount from the beam, losing 00:23:16.049 --> 00:23:18.829 that awareness is devastating. It's life -threatening. 00:23:18.890 --> 00:23:21.069 If you lose control mid -air, you can land on 00:23:21.069 --> 00:23:24.019 your head, neck, or spine. And Biles explained 00:23:24.019 --> 00:23:26.039 that while she'd had the twisties before, in 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:28.299 Tokyo, they had spread to apparatuses where she'd 00:23:28.299 --> 00:23:30.539 never had issues, specifically bars and beam. 00:23:30.740 --> 00:23:33.299 So her physical safety was genuinely at risk 00:23:33.299 --> 00:23:36.099 if she continued. Genuinely. The subsequent days 00:23:36.099 --> 00:23:38.900 saw her withdraw from the individual all -around 00:23:38.900 --> 00:23:42.480 vault, uneven bars, and floor finals. And the 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:44.619 public reaction was mixed, to say the least. 00:23:44.619 --> 00:23:48.059 It was polarized. It was. The backlash was immediate 00:23:48.059 --> 00:23:50.640 and harsh from some corners. She was criticized, 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:53.259 called selfish or a quitter by some international 00:23:53.259 --> 00:23:57.420 media and commentators. Sadly, even Russian state 00:23:57.420 --> 00:24:00.279 -owned media tried to resurrect the false doping 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:03.359 scandal, slandering her due to her TUE for ADHD 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:06.240 medication. But the larger, more powerful reaction 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:09.359 was one of widespread international praise. It 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:12.640 was. Her decision sparked a necessary and overdue 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.819 global conversation about mental health in elite 00:24:14.819 --> 00:24:17.359 sports. It was a radical act of self -care performed 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:19.900 on the world stage. It forced high achievers 00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:22.680 everywhere across all fields to question the 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:24.799 narrative that strength means silently pushing 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:27.480 past psychological exhaustion. And after withdrawing 00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:29.539 from most events, she made a symbolic return 00:24:29.539 --> 00:24:32.259 for the balance beam final. She scaled back her 00:24:32.259 --> 00:24:35.019 routine, opting for an easier double pike dismount 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:37.299 instead of the Biles dismount, and she won the 00:24:37.299 --> 00:24:40.000 bronze medal. That bronze medal, which tied her 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:42.980 with Larissa Latina for most combined world and 00:24:42.980 --> 00:24:46.339 Olympic medals at 32, holds immense significance. 00:24:46.859 --> 00:24:49.579 She later said this was her most meaningful medal, 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:52.880 symbolizing perseverance and the prioritization 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:55.759 of mental health over technical perfection. And 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:57.859 the sources provide a layer of context that makes 00:24:57.859 --> 00:25:00.839 that return even more extraordinary. Yes. She 00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:02.480 revealed that her aunt had died unexpectedly 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:05.619 just two days before that final beam performance. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:21.549 Unbelievable. She took another hiatus in 2022, 00:25:21.869 --> 00:25:25.009 but the comeback began in earnest in August 2023 00:25:25.009 --> 00:25:27.309 at the U .S. Classic. And immediately it was 00:25:27.309 --> 00:25:29.049 clear she was back to setting records, finishing 00:25:29.049 --> 00:25:31.210 five points ahead of the runner -up. The 2023 00:25:31.210 --> 00:25:34.369 return was characterized by extreme, almost reckless 00:25:34.369 --> 00:25:36.710 difficulty, showing she hadn't lost her ambition. 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:39.579 Not at all. She performed the Yurchenko double 00:25:39.579 --> 00:25:42.519 pike vault, her eponymous Biles the Seffent vault 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:45.500 -in competition, a vault she had only attempted 00:25:45.500 --> 00:25:48.460 in the 2021 games before the twisties hit. We 00:25:48.460 --> 00:25:50.779 need to give this vault a moment. Why is the 00:25:50.779 --> 00:25:53.700 Yurchenko double pike so groundbreaking? It is 00:25:53.700 --> 00:25:56.220 the pinnacle of women's vaulting. It requires 00:25:56.220 --> 00:25:58.500 the gymnast to block off the vault table and 00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:01.559 perform a double tucked backwards salto. It has 00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:04.940 a preliminary dice score of 6 .6, recognizing 00:26:04.940 --> 00:26:07.539 it as the highest valued vault in women's gymnastics 00:26:07.539 --> 00:26:10.490 history. And only she has competed. Only a handful 00:26:10.490 --> 00:26:12.690 of men perform it, and she is the only woman 00:26:12.690 --> 00:26:14.529 to have successfully landed and competed it. 00:26:14.690 --> 00:26:17.269 It is a technical feat that physically and mentally 00:26:17.269 --> 00:26:19.710 demands total trust in your body's ability to 00:26:19.710 --> 00:26:23.109 rotate perfectly. Her dominance in 2023 was absolute. 00:26:23.309 --> 00:26:25.329 At the U .S. National Championships, she won 00:26:25.329 --> 00:26:27.789 her eighth national all -around title. Which 00:26:27.789 --> 00:26:30.390 broke a 90 -year -old U .S. gymnastics title 00:26:30.390 --> 00:26:32.710 record previously held by Alfred Juckum, whose 00:26:32.710 --> 00:26:36.150 last title was in 1933. 90 years. And she became 00:26:36.150 --> 00:26:38.650 the oldest woman to win the title at 26 years 00:26:38.650 --> 00:26:47.750 and 100. And this incredible momentum carried 00:26:47.750 --> 00:26:50.009 her straight to the 2023 World Championships 00:26:50.009 --> 00:26:52.869 in Antwerp, the site of her first world title 00:26:52.869 --> 00:26:55.509 10 years prior. And she qualified for all five 00:26:55.509 --> 00:26:58.029 individual finals, the only gymnast to do so. 00:26:58.410 --> 00:27:01.329 In the team competition, she led the U .S. women 00:27:01.329 --> 00:27:04.250 to an unprecedented seventh consecutive team 00:27:04.250 --> 00:27:07.980 gold medal. The record just kept piling up. She 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:11.259 clinched her sixth world all -around gold, tying 00:27:11.259 --> 00:27:14.740 the legendary male gymnast Kushe Uchimura. In 00:27:14.740 --> 00:27:16.920 doing so, she officially surpassed Vitaly Shcherbo 00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:19.539 as the most successful gymnast of all time when 00:27:19.539 --> 00:27:21.720 combining Olympics and World Championships results. 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:23.940 And she also continued to set apparatus records. 00:27:24.180 --> 00:27:26.960 Winning an unprecedented sixth gold medal on 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:29.819 floor exercise, the most titles on one apparatus 00:27:29.819 --> 00:27:32.720 in World Championships history. Even with a fall 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:35.079 on her Yurchenko double pike in the vault final, 00:27:35.380 --> 00:27:38.220 she still secured a silver medal. Her floor for 00:27:38.220 --> 00:27:40.819 a medal is just that high. Finally, we reach 00:27:40.819 --> 00:27:43.819 the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Her third Olympic 00:27:43.819 --> 00:27:46.339 Games, a truly rare achievement for an American 00:27:46.339 --> 00:27:49.380 female artistic gymnast. The team, nicknamed 00:27:49.380 --> 00:27:51.859 the Golden Girls, successfully won the team gold 00:27:51.859 --> 00:27:55.000 medal. And her individual campaign was another 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:57.559 piece of history. She won her second Olympic 00:27:57.559 --> 00:28:00.559 AA title. Becoming the third woman to do so, 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:02.740 and the first to achieve it non -consecutively. 00:28:03.210 --> 00:28:05.509 demonstrating remarkable longevity and resilience 00:28:05.509 --> 00:28:07.549 through the hiatuses and the mental health break. 00:28:07.710 --> 00:28:09.849 She then won her second Olympic vault title, 00:28:09.990 --> 00:28:12.529 becoming the second woman after Heslovska to 00:28:12.529 --> 00:28:15.640 do that. And yes, she successfully performed 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:18.420 her ultra -difficult Biles II, the Yurchenko 00:28:18.420 --> 00:28:20.819 double pike, during that final. But the 2024 00:28:20.819 --> 00:28:23.599 Games also showed the immense pressure she still 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:26.660 faces, where small errors carry massive consequences. 00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:29.819 In the balance beam final, she fell off the apparatus 00:28:29.819 --> 00:28:32.740 and incurred a three -tenth neutral deduction 00:28:32.740 --> 00:28:35.940 for not saluting the judges properly. She finished 00:28:35.940 --> 00:28:38.099 fifth. That fifth place finish was significant 00:28:38.099 --> 00:28:40.740 because it was the first time in nine major beam 00:28:40.740 --> 00:28:43.579 finals at the Olympics or Worlds that she had 00:28:43.579 --> 00:28:45.579 failed to medal on the apparatus. Right. And 00:28:45.579 --> 00:28:48.359 then in the floor exercise final, she won silver, 00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:50.900 ending her streak of 10 consecutive international 00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:54.380 gold medals on floor due to out -of -bounds deductions. 00:28:54.579 --> 00:28:57.000 These small misses, the beam fall, the floor 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:59.359 deductions, they don't detract from her greatness. 00:28:59.869 --> 00:29:02.150 No, they contextualize the immense difficulty 00:29:02.150 --> 00:29:04.710 she performs under pressure. Even with these 00:29:04.710 --> 00:29:07.930 rare errors, she ended the games with 11 Olympic 00:29:07.930 --> 00:29:10.450 medals in total, making her the most decorated 00:29:10.450 --> 00:29:14.009 U .S. gymnast. Her consistency is a marvel. It's 00:29:14.009 --> 00:29:16.470 a career that necessitates a complete discussion 00:29:16.470 --> 00:29:19.849 of her accolades, influence, and enduring legacy 00:29:19.849 --> 00:29:22.069 because it goes so far beyond the score sheets 00:29:22.069 --> 00:29:24.329 and the medals. It certainly does. And we have 00:29:24.329 --> 00:29:26.349 to start with the recognition she received outside 00:29:26.349 --> 00:29:29.440 the arena. In July 2022, she was presented with 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:31.440 the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President 00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:34.119 Joe Biden. The nation's highest civilian honor. 00:29:34.279 --> 00:29:36.359 And crucially, she is the youngest person ever 00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:38.660 to receive it, highlighting her immediate and 00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:41.140 profound impact on American culture and advocacy. 00:29:41.500 --> 00:29:44.940 She is a true awards magnet. four -time Laureus 00:29:44.940 --> 00:29:47.220 World Sportswoman of the Year, winning in 2017, 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:50.259 2019, 2020, and then again recently in 2025. 00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:53.660 The Laureus organization also named her Comeback 00:29:53.660 --> 00:29:56.119 of the Year in 2024, acknowledging how difficult 00:29:56.119 --> 00:29:58.259 it was to return to the pinnacle of her sport 00:29:58.259 --> 00:30:01.480 after Tokyo. She's also won the Best Female Athlete 00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:05.099 ESPY Award twice and Best Comeback Athlete ESPY 00:30:05.099 --> 00:30:08.819 in 2024. The Associated Press named her Female 00:30:08.819 --> 00:30:11.430 Athlete of the Year three times. And speaking 00:30:11.430 --> 00:30:13.869 of honors that transcend gymnastics, she and 00:30:13.869 --> 00:30:16.029 Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky were the first 00:30:16.029 --> 00:30:18.910 Olympians named as sponsors of a U .S. Navy aircraft 00:30:18.910 --> 00:30:22.680 carrier, the USS Enterprise. That just underscores 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:25.000 that her influence is recognized at the highest 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:27.500 levels of civic and military honor. It does. 00:30:27.740 --> 00:30:30.240 So let's revisit the Biles difficulty scale now 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:32.700 and look at the cumulative effect of her eponymous 00:30:32.700 --> 00:30:34.819 skills, because this is her concrete lasting 00:30:34.819 --> 00:30:37.420 impact on the sport's rules and future. The breadth 00:30:37.420 --> 00:30:40.000 of her technical contribution is unmatched. You've 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.059 got the Biles eye vault and the Biles the second 00:30:42.059 --> 00:30:44.200 vault, officially the most difficult vault in 00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:46.339 the women's code of points. On balance beam, 00:30:46.420 --> 00:30:49.299 the Biles dismount. And on floor, the Biles the 00:30:49.299 --> 00:30:51.759 first and most famously. the Biles too, Sue. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:53.859 We have to reiterate that the Biles, the second 00:30:53.859 --> 00:30:55.960 on floor, the triple -double, holds the unique 00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:58.759 status of being the only J -rated element in 00:30:58.759 --> 00:31:01.039 artistic gymnastics across all disciplines for 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:03.380 both men and women. That is the definition of 00:31:03.380 --> 00:31:06.660 creating a new difficulty plateau. And her ambition 00:31:06.660 --> 00:31:10.289 continued right up to Paris. It did. In 2024, 00:31:10.630 --> 00:31:13.190 she attempted to submit a new skill on uneven 00:31:13.190 --> 00:31:17.269 bars a whiler kip with a 1 .5 pirouette. Although 00:31:17.269 --> 00:31:19.369 she didn't compete in Paris, had she done it 00:31:19.369 --> 00:31:21.430 successfully, she would have become the only 00:31:21.430 --> 00:31:24.009 female gymnast to have a skill named on every 00:31:24.009 --> 00:31:27.210 single apparatus. That drive. just encapsulates 00:31:27.210 --> 00:31:29.369 her relentless pursuit of technical excellence. 00:31:30.049 --> 00:31:32.269 Finally, let's touch briefly on her personal 00:31:32.269 --> 00:31:34.529 life and her openness, because her transparency 00:31:34.529 --> 00:31:37.289 is an extension of her legacy of influence and 00:31:37.289 --> 00:31:40.369 self -determination. In 2023, she married professional 00:31:40.369 --> 00:31:42.950 football player Jonathan Owens, a relationship 00:31:42.950 --> 00:31:45.210 that provided a great deal of emotional support 00:31:45.210 --> 00:31:47.789 during her most challenging years. And she has 00:31:47.789 --> 00:31:50.609 been remarkably transparent, not just about her 00:31:50.609 --> 00:31:53.170 clinical diagnosis like ADHD and the TUE for 00:31:53.170 --> 00:31:55.589 Ritalin, but also about personal choices regarding 00:31:55.589 --> 00:31:59.079 her. Right. The sources note she has openly discussed 00:31:59.079 --> 00:32:01.779 details of a breast augmentation she underwent 00:32:01.779 --> 00:32:04.819 in 2025, as well as a lower blepharoplasty and 00:32:04.819 --> 00:32:07.460 earlobe surgery. That level of transparency is 00:32:07.460 --> 00:32:10.779 unusual for a public figure of her stature. Why 00:32:10.779 --> 00:32:12.640 do you think that openness is so important to 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:14.960 her overall legacy? I think her willingness to 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:16.940 share these facets of her life, the medical, 00:32:17.079 --> 00:32:19.640 the personal, the surgical, contributes to the 00:32:19.640 --> 00:32:22.000 idea that athletes can be complex, ambitious, 00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:24.119 and open about their challenges and choices, 00:32:24.299 --> 00:32:27.180 free from the pressure of maintaining a perfect 00:32:27.180 --> 00:32:30.480 public facade. It's another way she applies agency 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:32.940 and control over her own narrative. A powerful 00:32:32.940 --> 00:32:35.059 lesson for you, the high achiever, dealing with 00:32:35.059 --> 00:32:37.380 public scrutiny. So what does this all mean? 00:32:37.579 --> 00:32:40.140 When we look back at the definitive biographical 00:32:40.140 --> 00:32:43.099 account of Simone Biles, it's a study in extremes. 00:32:43.789 --> 00:32:46.849 absolute perfection, record -breaking difficulty, 00:32:47.230 --> 00:32:51.150 and applied Critical mental resilience. A resilience 00:32:51.150 --> 00:32:53.650 which she learned to harness very early in her 00:32:53.650 --> 00:32:56.509 career. Her total medal count at the World Championships 00:32:56.509 --> 00:32:59.390 and Olympics combined, making her the most successful 00:32:59.390 --> 00:33:01.809 gymnast in history, is only half the story. Right. 00:33:01.869 --> 00:33:04.150 Her career is also a monumental case study in 00:33:04.150 --> 00:33:06.390 knowledge application. The way she used sports 00:33:06.390 --> 00:33:09.170 psychology in 2013 to kickstart her career, the 00:33:09.170 --> 00:33:11.190 way she consciously chose to listen to her body 00:33:11.190 --> 00:33:14.390 and mind in 2021 in Tokyo, and the calculated 00:33:14.390 --> 00:33:16.569 way she increased her difficulty through eponymous 00:33:16.569 --> 00:33:19.670 skills. It's true. The medals, the six world 00:33:19.670 --> 00:33:22.410 all -around titles, the non -consecutive Olympic 00:33:22.410 --> 00:33:25.190 AA golds, and the highest difficulty ratings 00:33:25.190 --> 00:33:29.130 all prove she mastered the sport itself. But 00:33:29.130 --> 00:33:31.589 the vulnerability she showed in Tokyo changed 00:33:31.589 --> 00:33:34.029 the conversation around mental health for high 00:33:34.029 --> 00:33:36.269 achievers everywhere. Making her not just the 00:33:36.269 --> 00:33:38.190 greatest gymnast, but a transformative cultural 00:33:38.190 --> 00:33:41.170 figure. So here is the provocative thought for 00:33:41.170 --> 00:33:43.700 you to carry forward after this deep dive. Simone 00:33:43.700 --> 00:33:46.299 Biles' career is defined not just by the medals 00:33:46.299 --> 00:33:48.839 she won in Rio and Paris, but by the medals she 00:33:48.839 --> 00:33:52.019 consciously walked away from in Tokyo. How has 00:33:52.019 --> 00:33:54.099 her decision to prioritize mental health over 00:33:54.099 --> 00:33:56.980 performance, despite facing immense public and 00:33:56.980 --> 00:33:59.619 personal pressure, fundamentally altered how 00:33:59.619 --> 00:34:01.720 we measure strength and success in the world 00:34:01.720 --> 00:34:04.599 of elite sports? And what enduring lessons does 00:34:04.599 --> 00:34:06.740 this vulnerability offer the next generation 00:34:06.740 --> 00:34:09.199 of high achievers when they're facing that impossible 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:11.860 choice between external perfection and internal 00:34:11.860 --> 00:34:14.239 well -being? Think about that next time you face 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:16.039 a difficult decision under intense pressure.