Simone Biles’ life was thrust into chaos when she was separated from her mother before the age of six, but she found a new home after being taken in by Ronald and Nellie Biles, so who are her adoptive parents, who helped raise one of the most successful athletes of all time?
The 27-year-old claimed another gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris by winning the team’s final to take her career haul up to eight medals in the most prestigious sports competition on the planet and she credits her foster parents for setting her up for life.
“Being separated from my biological mom, being placed in foster care before I officially got adopted by my grandparents,” Biles said in Simone Vs. Herself. “It just set me up for a better route at life.
“I feel like I wouldn’t be where I am unless that turning point happened. I would still be Simone Biles, probably not Simone Biles that everybody else knows, the world knows.
“But I also believe everything happens for a reason and I’m forever grateful for that because I definitely got a second shot at life.”
Biles added: “They mean the world to me.”
But their support hasn’t stopped as the adult has transitioned into her professional career as a senior artistic gymnast and even at the 2020 Olympic Games, hosted in Tokyo in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, did they prove to care for her.
Biles had suffered a sudden loss of form and air awareness called the “twisties”, which can plague athletes managing mental health issues by causing them to lose sync with the very fine nuances of skill that makes them so good at their sport.
As a result, she left the event after collecting a bronze medal on the balance beam and credited their support through her “highs and lows”.
“Thanks for making sacrifices since day 1,” Biles said of her parents on Instagram.
“So, I can live out my dream. but most importantly thanks for always being there for me through all the highs and lows. You guys are the absolute best. I love y’all.”
Who are Ronald and Nellie Biles?
The adoptive parents of Simone have known each other for over 47 years, meeting when Ronald was serving in the United States Air Force whilst Nellie was working as a nursing student in San Antonio, Texas.
Ronald was already the parent to Biles’ mother, but it didn’t take long for he and Nellie to fall in love as she looked straight past his status as a single dad before they tied the knot in January 1977.
The pair went on two have two children named Ronald Jr., and Adam before adopting their granddaughter at the age of six after she was split from her mother, Ronald’s daughter after battling drug addiction along with the pressure of four kids.
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The family then moved to Houston, Texas and the rest is history, with Biles now considering Ronald and Nellie her parents.
“[They] support me in any way possible,” Biles added of Ronald and Nellie. “My parents make sure we have everything we need so that we compete to the best of our abilities.”