"My mom was never a gym mom in that way" - When Simone Biles opened up on ideal support she received from her parents early in her career

In her memoir, Simone Biles reflected on her parents Ronald and Nellie's support during her early days in gymnastics. Biles and her sister Adria were adopted by her grandparents Ronald and Nellie after their biological mother's inability to provide for them while struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

Her adoptive parents enrolled her and her sister in a gymnastics program when they were six and four years old, respectively, helping Biles in the early stages of her gymnastics career. Her parents are frequently seen supporting her from the stands in all competitions, including the national championship, world championships, and Olympics.

In her autobiography, Courage to Soar, which was published in November 2016, Biles acknowledged her parents' support, saying they never forced her to pursue gymnastics.

"My family supported my gymnastics, cheering me on at meets both at home and away," Biles wrote. "And now that I was winning more, they began paying closer attention. 'Simone,' Mom said, hugging me after I’d earned the all-around highest score at the 2008 South Padre Invitational meet. 'God truly gave you a gift.' Yet I never felt as if my parents were forcing me to keep going."

Further highlighting that she never felt pressured by her parents in her gymnastics training, Biles wrote:

"A lot of other moms came to watch their kids during practice, my mom was never a gym mom in that way. Of course I’d have loved looking up to see her in the viewing area as I trained, but I also enjoyed the feeling that my gymnastics practice was completely my own."

Notably, in 2014, Simone Biles' parents also set up a training center for her training.

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Simone Biles' parents Ronald and Nellie built the World Champions Center for her training

Simone Biles of Team United States at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. (Photo by Getty Images)

Simone Biles' mother and father Ronald and Nellie built the World Champions Center, an elite-level facility for gymnastics training in Spring, Texas. To make Biles' training more convenient with her longtime coach Aimee Boorman, the gymnast's parents built the property in 2014.

Three years later in 2017, coaching couple Cecile Canqueteau-Landi and her husband Laurent Landi joined the facility, guiding Simone Biles to six Olympic medals, including two at Tokyo, and four at the Paris edition in 2024.

Simone Biles trained alongside other elite gymnasts at the World Champions Center, including Jordan Chiles, Joscelyn Roberson, Zoe Miller, and Tiana Sumanasekera. Before training under the coaching couple, Biles was trained by coach Boorman, under whom she bagged three consecutive world all-around titles and four national all-around titles.