{"id":240114,"date":"2021-02-21T09:39:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T15:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=240114"},"modified":"2021-02-19T19:08:11","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T01:08:11","slug":"legendary-gymnast-adoptee-simone-biles-final-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legendary-gymnast-adoptee-simone-biles-final-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary gymnast and adoptee Simone Biles prepares for her final Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Simone Biles, considered the greatest gymnast of all time and one of the most decorated Olympians ever, is one of the best athletes in the world and has overcome difficult circumstances to get there. Now, as she prepares for what she says will be her final Olympics, she’s reflecting on her life and how she became an Olympic legend.<\/p>\n

In an interview with 60 Minutes<\/a>, Biles discussed her athletic talent, the difficulties of the training she had to endure, and her time spent in foster care. Born to a single mother who was struggling with drug addiction, Biles and her siblings were placed in foster care. \u201cAlthough I was young when my foster care ordeal began, I remember how it felt to be passed off and overlooked,\u201d she previously wrote<\/a>. \u201cLike nobody knew me or wanted to know me. Like my talents didn\u2019t count, and my voice didn\u2019t matter.” After three years of being shuffled from foster home to foster home, her grandparents \u2014 who became her parents \u2014 discovered what was happening.<\/p>\n

“I remember we didn’t really have a lot of food. We were always hungry,” Biles told 60 Minutes. “And we went to, like, my Uncle Danny’s house. And they gave us cereal. But we didn’t have any milk, couldn’t afford milk. So we just put water in it. And he was like, ‘Look, it’s the same thing.’ And we were like, ‘Nope, it’s not, but okay, nice try.'”<\/p>\n

Eventually, Biles’ adoptive father (also her biological grandfather) Ron Biles was contacted by a social worker. “I wasn’t aware that it was that bad,” he said. “I mean, just the thought of them being in foster care \u2014 it just sounded so bad, and at that time we had the ability to take care of them. So, ‘Send them to me.'”<\/p>\n