Burford Michelle - Courage to Soar (with Bonus Content)

by Mary Lou Retton

T he first time I met Simone Biles, I knew she was special. She was an outrageously talented twelve-year-old dynamo, and I was handing her a gold medal at the Mary Lou Retton Invitational meet in Houston. As she gave that now famous smile and thanked me, I immediately noticed she possessed a unique combination of skill and character: an incredible God-gifted athleticism and explosive power on the mat, a commitment to doing the hard work, and, most important of all, the grace, belief, and joy in gymnastics that would take her all the way. It was only a matter of time before the world learned just how high Simone could fly.

Even before the 2016 Olympics, Simone had already amassed a total of fourteen World medals, ten of them gold, the most ever won by an American female gymnast. Shed garnered three consecutive World Championship titlesthe only woman to win three in a rowand claimed her fourth straight US National title. In Rio, on the worlds biggest stage, she quickly added to that medal count when the American women took gold in the team competition. Then, in the all-around final, Simone continued her historic bid, posting huge scores on vault, uneven bars, and beam. But this was the Olympics, and Russias Aliya Mustafina and Simones own teammate Aly Raisman were on her heels. In the final rotation, Simone was the last to take the floor.

Watching her, my mind flashed back to my own make-or-break Olympic moment in Los Angeles in 1984, when all that stood between me and the all-around gold medal was a flawless routine. In my case, the last rotation was vault, and my coach, Bela Karolyi, was on the sidelines yelling, You can do it, Panda! Never better! Hearing my nickname, and feeling the full weight of everyones hopes, I focused. Somehow, I knew I would do the vault of my life that day. It didnt matter that an American gymnast had never won the Olympic all-around. I would be excellent, because I believed I could be.

Now, all these years later in Rio, as Simone saluted the judges and stepped onto the mat, something about the way she held her shoulders, loose yet determined, told me that she, too, believed. I thought, Shes got this. The crowd hushed. The music rose. And Simone took off, tumbling, spinning, and soaring her way into the record books. Her routine was impeccable. She didnt just winshe dominated. I may have been the first American gymnast to earn all-around Olympic gold, and Im proud of that, but Im even more proud that Im now part of a special sorority that includes Carly Patterson in 2004, Nastia Liukin in 2008, Gabby Douglas in 2012, and in 2016, Simone Biles.

After Simones all-around win, Nastia Liukin, an NBC Olympic commentator, declared, Simone Biles is the best weve seen. And US team captain Aly Raisman, who took silver in the Olympic all-around, joked that second place was the first slot available to the rest of the field, because Simone was in a class of her own. Over the course of the two-week competition, Simone would earn five medals in alltwo more golds in the event finals for vault and floor, and a bronze for the balance beam. She became the first American woman ever to win the vault title, and the only one to take home four gold medals in a single Olympic year.

Everyone now knows what I sensed in Simone back in 2009that she is one of the greatest athletes of all time. In Rio, she remained steady and even lighthearted in the midst of a media storm of expectations. She resisted the hype. She simply went into the arena and did her job, enjoying every moment without allowing the weight of what shed set out to accomplish to crush her. She understood that whatever happened, as long as she did her best out there, she would get up the next morning, still smiling. This is what Ive come to admire most about Simoneher ability to stay humble, shake off setbacks, cheer wholeheartedly for her teammates, and stand in her own true light.

Like all of us, Simone has faced her share of adversity. As her story here will reveal, she has had her dark days, her moments of despair. But she has emerged from her trials and sacrifices stronger and more determined to make them count. And along the way, she has helped to transform gymnastics, pushing its athleticism to new heights. When I went to the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, female gymnasts were expected to be cute little pixies; slender, graceful butterflies. I was never that. I was solid and muscular, a born tumbler, exploding off the apparatus with force. Mine was the kind of athletic power more often associated with male gymnasts than female. Today, that very style is Simones strength. Combined with her skill and artistry, her level of difficulty and technical mastery are nearly unbeatable, which may be why Simone hasnt lost an all-around meet since 2013. Thanks to Simone and her generation of competitorsand to the oversight of the now legendary USAG womens coordinator Martha Karolyi (whos been described as her husband Belas engine)female gymnasts are no longer asked to be demure little girls as they perform what may well be the hardest and most dangerous maneuvers in all of sports. With Simone at the forefront, American women gymnasts have embraced and now fully express their formidable athletic power.