Following her historic victory at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Simone Biles posted a story on Instagram on Tuesday, July 30, showing Ronald Biles watching her participate.
Simone comments, “My dad & his binoculars is soooo freaking cute.” Her real grandfather and his wife adopted the athlete, who has now won eight Olympic medals, after she was placed in foster care when she was just three years old.
The most accomplished gymnast in America, Simone, talked candidly about her early years and how she and her brothers struggled to survive while being raised by her biological mother, who was “struggling with drug and alcohol abuse.”Learn more about this remarkable athlete by reading on!
Simone Biles, 26, was in foster care with her siblings Adria, Tevin, and Ashley long before she was flipping, launching, and spinning.
Shanon, Simone’s birth mother, was unable to provide for her four children due to her drug and alcohol addiction.
Shanon tells the Daily Mail that “it was hard to give up my kids but I had to do what I had to, I wasn’t able to care for them.” She also notes that the father of the child, who is also an addict, wasn’t there.
Simone talks openly about her childhood and the “difficulties” she went through with her addict mother in an interview with CNN.
My siblings and I were placed in foster care because our biological mother was abusing drugs and alcohol. She told CNN, “I was three years old.”
Even now, twenty years later, she can still clearly recall starvation.
In the video, she says, “I just remember, like, us as kids being so hungry and then I just remember this cat that would get fed and not like…us.” We were taken, and happily, we were all together when we were placed in a foster family.Those were some of the most memorable moments. We simply couldn’t contain our excitement.
The regular visits from her younger sister Adria, now 24, and her grandparents Ronald and Nellie Biles, who adopted Simone when she was six, added to the excitement.
“Obviously, Adria was the baby, so I wanted to take care of her,” Simone stated on her Facebook Watch series, Simone vs. Herself.”I simply felt compelled to protect her because, if family doesn’t protect you, then who will?”
Ronald’s sister adopted their siblings Ashley and Tevin, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.
A rainy day that changes your life
Then Simone’s life took a drastic turn after a school trip that was rained off.
Regarding her adoptive daughter on Simone vs. Herself, Nellie states, “I never, ever thought about gymnastics as a sport to put Simone in, that never entered my mind.” “I recall it was a field trip, but because of the rain, they went to Bannon’s Gymnastix instead of this farm or any other place they were meant to go.”
Simone provides her fans with additional details, confirming her mother’s recollection and stating that she was initially introduced to gymnastics while attending “daycare on a school trip.”
The athlete claims that she learnt by “imitating” other females, adding that she never recalls seeing images in a magazine or watching it on TV.
Since then, Nellie and Ronald have gone to every event to watch Simone dominate the field.
Simone explained that she would be “kind of nervous” to perform without her parents present since she has a “bad habit” of looking for her biggest supporters in the crowd.
“Until I locate them amid the crowd, I don’t feel settled and at ease. I become pretty agitated, but when I see them, I feel like knowing they’re in the arena helps me relax.
Due to COVID-19 regulations, fans were not permitted to attend the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, which was the only competition the Biles pair missed. After dealing with a case of what gymnasts refer to as the “twisties,” in which the body and mind become out of sync, Simone ultimately decided to put her health first by withdrawing from the women’s team final and “four subsequent individual finals.”
Dad with his pair of binoculars
Simone’s husband, Jonathan Owens, a football player who took time off from training camp with the Chicago Bears to support his wife (who was married in 2023), joined Ronald and Nellie in cheering on Simone and Team USA in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
She is aware of where we are seated, so it truly makes no difference where we are or what competition we are in. In the Facebook video, a proud Nellie says, “I know she can hear me because I scream so loud.”
Simone was searching for her parents at the Bercy Arena in Paris when she noticed Owens sitting next to Nellie, grinning broadly, wearing a bright t-shirt featuring pictures of his wife, and her father, whose face was obscured by the binoculars he used to observe his daughter.
In an Instagram story that shares the beautiful family photo with her followers, she adds, “My dad and his binoculars are so freaking cute.”
Children’s Friends
Apart from being the most medal-winning gymnast in the United States, Simone is also a supporter of Friends of the Children, a charity that provides foster children with long-term, loving care.
The ardent supporter of the club tells CNN, “It gives them love and support, because that’s what these kids need, so to have that one constant means the world to them.”
In your opinion, did Simone Biles make history? In order for us to hear what other people have to say about this inspirational athlete, kindly share your thoughts with us before sharing this story!
