Simone Biles is the greatest American Olympic gymnast of all time, and she solidified that notion at the Paris Games with four medals in the two-week span.
Biles’ backstory is not one that is told too often.
Her birth mother, Shanon Biles, was unable to care for the gymnast and her three other children as they were placed into foster care. Biles’ maternal grandfather, Ronald, and his second wife, Nellie Cayetano Biles, began to care for the children and later adopted them.
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Olympian Simone Biles of Team United States poses on the “Today” show set on Aug. 6, 2024 in Paris. (Kristy Sparow/Getty Images)
Ronald Biles told the Houston Chronicle in 2016 that his daughter struggled with substance abuse and drug addiction. Nellie Biles added at the time that she and her husband were open to Simone and her siblings having a “defined relationship” with her birth mother.
Shanon Biles talked to The Daily Mail on Tuesday and talked about how her struggles affected her relationship with her children. She said it was hard to give up her children, but her father did not want her to come in and out of their lives while she was still doing drugs.
Shanon Biles added that she is “clean and sober” now and working at a grocery store in Ohio. She said she wanted Simone to reach out to her.
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Simone Biles of the USA competes during the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics floor final on Day 10 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on Aug. 5, 2024 in Paris. (Ulrik Pedersen/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
“I want her to reach out to me. She’s 27 now. She’s married. I would have liked to have been a part of that, but I just have to wait for her,” she told The Daily Mail. “You can’t push anybody. It hasn’t happened yet, but I have patience. I’m waiting on her.”
“I would like to make amends with Simone personally,” she said, adding she would like to ask her daughter for forgiveness and “move forward.”
It is unclear whether Biles would entertain that.
Nellie Biles and Ronald Biles, parents of Simone Biles, attend the Artistic Gymnastics on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on Aug. 5, 2024 in Paris. (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
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For now, Biles will focus on the Olympic tour and healing from a calf injury she suffered during the games.
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