Simone Biles: What Employers Can Learn from the Champion and Survivor

Image Credit: Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil

Note to the Reader: This blog addresses childhood sexual abuse. We encourage readers to take care of themselves and honor their limits when reviewing potentially triggering information.

Simone Biles is nothing short of a legend. As of this year’s Olympics, Biles is the most decorated Olympic gymnast in US history, with 38 medals at world championships and the Olympics (eight Olympic medals in three games). She has five gymnastics skills named after her, an achievement marked by being the first to successfully complete them in international competition. The skills she demonstrates at competition are so complex and pushed the boundaries of difficulty so much that judges debated about how to even score her amongst her peers. When watching Biles flip, jump, and twirl with seemingly such ease, it can be easy for us to forget the hardships Biles overcame to get to this point. In this blog, we’ll give a brief history of Simone Biles’ past, Biles’ reflections on how that impacts her today, and what employers can learn from Biles’ story of survivorship, mental health, and resilience.

Early Adversity and Institutional Betrayal

In Biles’ early childhood, she spent years in foster care when her birth mother could no longer care for her and her siblings due to her struggles with substance abuse. Biles spent some time in foster care before she was eventually adopted by her grandparents, whom she refers to as “Mom and Dad.” She has never forgotten these challenges that she faced at a young age, and formed a partnership with Friends of the Children to make a difference for others in similar circumstances. However, this was not her only hardship.

As she grew up and moved towards her career as an Olympian, she and her teammates endured abuses that were traumatizing and preventable. Former USA Gymnastics Team Doctor, Larry Nassar, sexually abused over 500 girls over his 18-year career. The Netflix documentary, Athlete A, investigates all of the adults and organizations responsible for enabling this abuse, as well as the brave current and former athletes who spoke truth to power.

On September 15, 2021, Biles testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about how the FBI handled the investigation of Nassar. In her testimony, she said the following:

“I sit before you today to raise my voice so that no little girl must endure what I, the athletes at this table, and the countless others who needlessly suffered under Nassar’s guise of medical treatment, which we continue to endure today. We suffered and continue to suffer, because no one at FBI, USAG, or the USOPC did what was necessary to protect us. We have been failed, and we deserve answers. Nassar is where he belongs, but those who enabled him deserve to be held accountable. If they are not, I am convinced that this will continue to happen to others across Olympic sports. In reviewing the OIG’s report, it truly feels like the FBI turned a blind eye to us, and went out of its way to help protect USAG and USOPC. A message needs to be sent: if you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe. Enough is enough.”

At RALIANCE, the Nassar sexual abuse story is one that is close to our heart. We had the opportunity to connect with one of the survivors involved, Olympian Aly Raisman, at the 2024 NFL Unsung Heroes Event. Also, after this story broke out, USA Gymnastics sought to increase efforts to protect their athletes, and we chose them as one of our grantees to support their efforts to expand reporting, processing, and mental health options for their athletes and staff. While they still have much work to do to tackle abuse issues at local gyms, the Nassar survivors on their Advisory Board and outside of it will continue the work to ensure the safety of future athletes.

Survivorship and Championship

For Biles, like many other survivors of childhood sexual abuse, grappling with this mistreatment is a lifelong, non-linear journey. It’s even more difficult to process these emotions when this abuse becomes public knowledge. “When everything came out, that’s all you can think about, because it’s like walking around with ‘survivor’ or something on your forehead,” said Biles in her Netflix docuseries, Simone Biles Rising. “I don’t think people realize that explaining that story and being a survivor and an advocate for that…it’s so mentally exhausting.”

That mental exhaustion, along with the other difficult emotions survivors often go through as they process the events of their abuse, can manifest itself physically too. In the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Biles developed twisties (“temporarily los[ing] awareness of their positioning while performing twisting elements in the air”) and directly attributes this to a combination of isolation at the Olympics, the extreme pressure to succeed, and the unresolved trauma related to the Nassar abuse. Upon realizing that her poor mental health was endangering her, she made the brave decision to drop out of the Olympics, sparking important conversation in and outside of sports about prioritizing one’s mental health.

Learn by Listening

After continued therapy, Biles felt confident enough to return to the 2024 Paris Olympics and showed the world that she is still a champion. Employers can reflect on Biles’ story and learn some important lessons. Here are our takeaways.

Prioritize Mental Health Care

Biles’ continued advocacy around mental health care, and her very public decision to prioritize it, is an example to all employers that they must both offer mental health coverage and stress the importance of mental well-being to their colleagues.

Boost Employee Morale for Better Outcomes

Biles and her fellow gymnasts have discussed how verbal mistreatment and negativity have caused lasting harm. With her more positive experiences at USA gymnastics camp, and with frequent therapy sessions, Biles has come back to work better than ever. This shows all employers that, when they make the effort to boost employee morale, they can expect better outcomes and output.

Protect Employees of Tomorrow as Well as Today

When mistreatment at work occurs, it is easy to think that getting rid of the perpetrator will get rid of the problem. However, as Biles’ testimony details, mistreatment does not occur in a vacuum, and it is up to all of us to investigate the systems that enable these wrongs. Employers should follow in Biles’ example and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to preventing abuses of power from being replicated within those systems.

Biles is and will always be remembered as one of the greatest athletes of all time. As a survivor, she’ll be remembered for her bravery, strength, and tenacity. She is a role model, and we are lucky to look to her as an example.

RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673

RALIANCE is a trusted adviser for organizations committed to building cultures that are safe, equitable, and respectful. RALIANCE offers unparalleled expertise in serving survivors of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse which drives our mission to help organizations across sectors create inclusive environments for all. For more information, please visit www.RALIANCE.org.