Simone Biles Rising

Simone Biles, indisputably, is one of the greatest athletes of all time. That's just obvious from her achievements and records and firsts.

But this is just a well-made fluff piece. Nothing great, nothing bad, just 4 long-ish episodes of telling people how great Simone Biles is.

And she deserves her praise. But I think perhaps a bit more depth, and a bit more balance, and even a bit more context, stops this documentary from being next level.

Simone Biles is likely the most famous gymnast of all time with five skills named after her. At 27-years-old, she has two past Olympics under her belt heading into the 2024 Paris games with seven Olympic medals and the first part of her Netflix documentary series shows her incredible journey of those games.

Biles drew headlines when she unexpectedly withdrew from the 2020 Tokyo games after a few rough landings in a row, stating her mental health wasn't in a good place. There has been plenty of speculation and rumors surrounding the events going on around that time, and there were a surprising number of people who were hostile and awful about it.

This series finally gives the gymnast the space to talk about her own experiences and her own story for the first time, as well as bring in some other professionals from before her time to fill in blanks and articulate how the sport has changed over time. Given that Simone was one of the victims of Larry Nassar, I was a little concerned going into the documentary because I wasn't sure if further details about that case were going to be discussed, but they are not. Instead, Biles focuses on her own journey, the people who failed her, and how she is healing.

My only hesitancy about recommending this series is that I felt like it could have been longer! I'm glad to know this is only the beginning and there are future installments about her coming soon! This series also was perfectly timed in its release, right before the Olympics begin so I feel 100% prepared to watch the games and cheer her on!