During this summer, Simone Biles solidified her status as the Greatest of All Time. However, the individuals she acknowledged as ‘mom’ and ‘pop’ from the Bercy Arena audience or celebrated her victory with in a Paris nightclub were not her biological parents.
No. Instead, it has been her maternal grandfather and grandmother who have been by her side from Rio to Paris.
Standing at 4 feet 8 inches, Biles’ exceptional combination of petite stature, immense strength, and astonishing agility has been the fundamental components fueling her illustrious career in gymnastics.
But it’s her mental fortitude and ability to overcome any obstacle that’s tossed in front of her that truly sets her apart.
While Biles clinched three gold medals and a silver in Paris this summer, her biological mother Shanon, situated thousands of miles away in Columbus, Ohio, observed with a mix of emotions as her daughter attained remarkable success. A success she cannot lay any claim to.
When Biles was just six, she and her younger sister Adira went to live with their maternal grandparents after Shannon’s drug addiction led to her to abandon her children.
With seven Olympic gold medals and over two dozen world championships, Simone Biles is now the most decorated gymnast in the world
Her biological mother Shanon Biles remains estranged from the Olympian since she abandoned her at childhood due to her drug addiction
Yet, if Biles had grown up anywhere near her mother, sporting history would be very different now.
Shanon was an alcoholic and drug addict living in Columbus who was incapable of looking after her four young children.
He father Ronald Biles was forced to step in when Shanon’s life spiraled out of control due to her addictions resulting in her children going in and out of foster care.
When Biles was three, she and her younger sister, Adria, were taken in by her maternal grandfather Ron and his second wife Nellie Cayetano and they moved to Spring, a suburb of Houston, Texas.
Three years later, Ron and Nellie formally adopted her and Adria. Shanon’s two eldest children Tevin, now 29 and Ashley, now 34, were taken in by Ronald’s sister.
Biles’ biological father, Kevin Clemons who lives in Cleveland has no contact with his daughter and struggled with his own addiction problems in the past.
Shannon, 52, racked up a string of debts and, for years, has lived in the same corner red-brick row house in the crime-ridden neighborhood of Franklinton.
Meanwhile, 1,000 miles away in Spring, Texas, Biles and Adira began to call Nellie and Ronald ‘Mum and Dad.’
Ronald and Nellie were forced to step in and adopt Simone when Shanon’s life spiraled out of control due to her drug and alcohol addiction
Biles and her sister Adria, 22, a former gymnast, were brought up by Ronald and Nellie
And it was in the Lone Star State that Biles’ path to stardom began. Something which she has publicly acknowledged.
‘Getting separated from my biological mom and getting put in foster care before I was officially adopted by my grandparents, it just set me up for a better route at life,’ she confessed in a 2021 episode of her Facebook Watch Show, ‘Simone vs Herself.’
Ronald and Nellie enrolled her in gymnastics aged six after she became enthralled with the sport.
Nicknamed ‘Little Turtle’ by her grandmother for Nellie’s insistence to go at her own pace, Biles embraced her individuality in the gym, according to the New York Times.
Marta Karolyi, former USA national team coordinator, eventually allowed Biles to break with the tradition of silent and obedient gymnasts because letting her be herself is what worked for her.
And work it did. Now, Biles, with seven Olympic gold medals, over two dozen world championships, and multiple endorsement deals under her belt, is one of the most decorated – and highly paid – female athletes in the world.
Yet, while Biles sits on a $25million fortune her biological mother still lives on the poverty line.
Their relationship is understandably strained and while they have spoken, the communication is limited.
The gymnastic icon won three gold medals and a silver in the French capital this summer
From her gymnastic success, Biles has deservedly earned a $25million fortune
Ahead of the summer’s Olympics, Shannon admitted that she lives in hope for the day Biles reaches out so she can ask her daughter for forgiveness for the past she cannot change.
‘It was hard to give up my kids, but I had to do what I had to do. I wasn’t able to care for them. I was still using and [my father] didn’t want me coming in and out of their lives when I wasn’t right,’ she explained to DailyMail.com.
And she has told of her sadness that, to this day, she has no part in major life events such as Biles’s wedding last year to NFL star Jonathan Owens.
She said: ‘I would like to make amends with Simone personally – I’m just waiting for her and Adria. I speak to Adria more than I speak to Simone.’
But Biles’ fortune is hard-earned. Her gymnastic prowess has won her sponsorships with brands like Visa, gymnastics apparel company GK Elite and athleisure company Athleta, seeing her rake in millions.
But the view from the top hasn’t been entirely picturesque either.
Biles is one of more than 150 gymnasts who were abused by Larry Nassar, the former national team doctor, during his 30-year career.
In 2018 she came forward and joined more than 150 other women and girls whose testimonies sent Nassar to prison for life for sexual abuse.
The Olympic legend married NFL player Jonathan Owens (right) back in 2023
Shanon posed for a family picture with tiny Simone on her knee alongside her two older children, Tevin and Ashley
USA Gymnastics was ripped apart by the scandal and Biles, as the face of the team, has had to relive the ordeal under a spotlight.
In 2019, revealed that the trauma of the assaults had left her struggling with suicidal thoughts. She also previously revealed she took anxiety medication to deal with the fallout.
But ultimately the fallout came to be too much. At the Tokyo Olympics, just two years later, disaster struck.
Biles, who went into the Games in 2021 having already won four golds in Rio in 2016, pulled out midway through the individual all-around competition, plagued by the Twisties – a condition suffered by gymnasts causing them to become disorientated as they complete turns, flips and twists in the air.
She later hinted that the shock withdrawal was in part due to the sexual abuse she had suffered at the hands of the pedophile doctor.
At the time, she admitted that she was ‘sleeping all the time’ because it was ‘the closest thing to death’, while revealing that she was undergoing therapy in order to deal with the abuse.
The athlete returned days later to win a medal for the USA in the team event but permanent retirement seemed likely for the decorated gymnast.
Yet, after a two-year hiatus, she was convinced to return by NFL player husband Jonathan Owens.
Biles has amassed riches, climbed to the highest echelons of fame and dazzled millions
In Paris, she came full circle. With four more medals to add to her haul, she was the golden girl again.
Yet, the Biles the world witnessed achieve greatness at Bercy Arena was one who had taken the mold and destroyed it. She rebuilt the image of the successful athlete.
She’d had the courage to admit she’d lost her direction. Better yet she’d had the courage to admit that the mental fatigue on the mat was just as great as the physical, becoming one of the commanding voices on athlete’s mental health.
Biles has amassed riches, climbed to the highest echelons of fame and dazzled millions with her mind-boggling ability. But throughout her career, her life even, there has been one common theme that has forged her success: Resilience.
Whether that grit and determination is enough to power Biles through to Los Angeles 2028 remains to be seen.
