Simone Biles‘ competition days at the Paris Olympics may be over — but there’s plenty more to come for the G.O.A.T.
After winning three gold and one silver medal at the 2024 Games — to add to her collection of seven others — Biles will be busy this fall, between her Gold Over America tour, watching husband Jonathan Owens play for the Chicago Bears as his NFL season kicks off and moving into the home they built in Houston.
And it, along with her golden Paris experience, will all be documented for the second part of her Netflix docuseries, Simone Biles Rising. The first two episodes, which dropped in mid-July, documented her difficult 2020 Tokyo Games and how she repaired her mental health, and fans can expect the final two episodes, coming this fall, to be about her triumphs in Paris, director Katie Walsh tells PEOPLE — but also about Biles off the mat.
“We’re all going to watch her on the field of play. But those are two hours out of five or six days, so what’s all the other time like?” Walsh says. “It’s been great to just be able to be a fly on the wall and just experience it a little bit through her eyes, which, I mean, there’s no better person to experience the Olympics with.”
Courtesy of Netflix
One of Walsh’s favorite moments she caught was coming to athlete processing with Biles and the U.S. gymnastics team — Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera. It’s an area that is not open to the public, and typically not to cameras, either, but Walsh was allowed in this year.
“It’s where all the athletes go and get their swag and all the goodies, and we got to meet her there,” Walsh says. “We got to go through the whole experience with them as they try on the clothes, get the opening and closing ceremonies outfits, the jumpsuits they wear on the podium if they win a medal. They get fitted for their official Olympic rings; all the stuff. That was just fun, especially for this team.”
Walsh points out that it was an experience that returning Tokyo Olympians Lee, Chiles and Carey didn’t get in 2021, due to the pandemic.
“They’re all experiencing this for the first time and they’re especially appreciative because they knew they missed it three years ago. That was a really fun day to be a part of, and Simone’s so funny,” she says. “She’s laughing and making everyone laugh and kind of making fun of the clothes a little bit and just being goofy. It’s just so nice to spend time with her in that kind of environment, when there’s not the weight of the world on her shoulders at that moment.”
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And once Biles and the team got to the mat, Walsh was in the stands with her family documenting their experience, one they missed out on in 2021 because they couldn’t go to Tokyo.
“Her family had never missed a gymnastics competition in her 20 years as a competitor, from when she was 6. I think we underestimate the importance of that family support and the community of people that surround you. What happens on the floor is not in a vacuum. It’s about the people,” Walsh says.
“Even when she’s on the floor, she’s talking to her parents in the stands. I was up in the stands with Jonathan. I’m watching him text her and do heart symbols to her when she’s on the floor. They’re communicating the whole time. It’s so important.”
And Biles’ Olympic run turned out almost as if Walsh had scripted it herself — gold in the all-around, team and vault finals, and a silver to rival (and friend) Rebeca Andrade of Brazil in the floor final. Now, Biles is finally celebrating with her family in Paris and will head home soon.
Walsh isn’t sure if the 2028 L.A. Games are on the table for Biles — “She just built a really nice house,” the director says with a laugh — but she knows that first up is some relaxation time.
“I think she needs some time to just process and take a deep breath, be with Jonathan, be with her friends and family, and just be,” Walsh says.
But then? “I have no doubt — she is so smart, she’s so driven. She will, I’m sure, excel at many things. I don’t think it’ll be one thing. I think she’ll find many things that she loves.”
“I hope she finds something she loves as much or can be passionate about in some sort of parallel way,” Walsh continues. “I don’t think there’s anything that can replicate the feeling of an Olympic moment like this. But I hope she can find other things in her life that she can be equally as passionate and find love in as well.”
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympics newsletter, to get the biggest stories from the Games delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock.
