The first two episodes of Simone Biles Rising offer fans a behind-the-scenes look at the resilience of the beloved 37 Olympic and World Championship medal-winning gymnast, Simone Biles. The Netflix docuseries catapults the viewer into the whirlwind of fame, pressure, and challenges that engulfed the superstar athlete on her journey from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics through her successful 2024 U.S. Classic competition. Biles invites the viewer into a closer look at her life beyond the spotlight via interviews where she discusses her feelings behind some of her historic events. In this docuseries, she also pays homage to her loving family and community who she honors as the nourishment for her comeback and career. In this powerful two-episode assertion, Biles refuses to break under the pressure of trauma and criticism, and she usurps the cinematic pen to write herself down in history on her own terms.

Episode one, “Write Me Down In History…” begins with the jarring event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she experienced a case of twisties while competing in the women’s finals. Biles discusses the horror she felt about the disharmony between her mind and body at the start of the competition. This disharmonious tension resulted in her shocking performance at the 2020 Olympics. In honoring her mental and physical wellbeing, Biles made the decision to pull out of the women’s finals and the docuseries showcases the scrutiny she faced for her bold decision. Overlays of screenshots from social media commentators fill the mise-en-scene and closeup shots of her face during competitions represent feelings of overwhelm as Biles recounts this traumatic experience throughout the episode.

Shortly after the 2020 Olympics opening scene, Biles excitedly introduces her husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens, and the juxtaposition of these two scenes presents her marriage as a source of love, nourishment, and healing from the stressors of gymnastics. The care between Biles and her loved ones are emphasized throughout the episode as a narrative pushback and fortress against her trauma and the criticism she faced throughout her career. The communal love that surrounds Biles inspires her to go on another Olympic run, and this inspiration and resilience set the foundation for the second episode.

In episode two, “I Will Not Be Broken,” Simone Biles Rising encapsulates her impressive comeback and its history-making meaning for women’s gymnastics. This episode begins with Biles’ successful completion of the Yurchenko double pike at the 2023 World Artistic Championships in Belgium, which induced a supportive media frenzy as the superstar athlete lived up to the hype once more. However, the docuseries juxtaposes her successful comeback with a history of gymnastics’ mistreatment of women. Interviews from Professor of Psychology and NCAA Gymnastics Champion, Dr. Onnie Willis Rogers; 1992 Olympic Bronze Medalist Betty Okino, and 1996 Olympic Gymnastics Champion Dominique Dawes recount the impossible beauty standards and physical abuse many girls and young women faced in gymnastics training and competitions. The inclusion of these women and their history in the documentary positions Biles within a groundbreaking genealogy and emphasizes her bravery for taking a break from the competitive sport.

Like the first episode, this episode shows a more intimate view of Biles’ relationship with her family and their powerful influence on her as an Olympic World Champion. Biles credits her parents, Nellie and Ron Biles, her sister Adria Biles, her husband Jonathan Owens, and her gymnastics family as the impetus for her decision to move forward. The episode often provides these intimate glimpses of her family life after she recounts a traumatic experience, and thereby credits them for her unbreakable return.

Simone Biles Rising envelops the Olympic World Champion in love, care, beauty, and grace despite the opposition in her life. This impressive docuseries returns the narrative power back to Simone Biles to write her own ending after a tumultuous journey.

Simone Biles Rising is now streaming on Netflix.

—Dominique Young