Commentary

All Eyes On Biles As NBC Paris Olympics Start On Friday

Out of 10,714 athletes who are set to compete at the Paris Summer Olympics beginning this Friday, the spotlight will shine the brightest on Simone Biles.

Here in the U.S., she is clearly the main attraction at the summer Games, and for all the TV Blog knows, she might be the most anticipated Olympic athlete throughout the entire world this summer.

By universal acclaim, Biles, 27, is the world's best gymnast and possibly the greatest in history. She is also remembered for her dramatic, surprise exit from the 2020 Tokyo Games in the middle of the competition.

She withdrew due to a sudden case of what the gymnastics community calls “the twisties,” a condition in which a gymnast loses “air awareness.” 

In Biles’ case, it rendered her unable to safely perform her trademark aerial twists and somersaults, and she took herself out of the competition, later also citing mental health issues.

advertisement

advertisement

Now, she hopes for a comeback at the Paris Games. She talks about her 2020 experience and her perspective on it today in the two-part documentary “Simone Biles Rising,” which started on Netflix last Wednesday. The doc also shows her preparing for Paris.

Information on Biles' performance schedule can be found on NBCOlympics.com.

The Summer Olympics start this Friday, July 26, with the Opening Ceremonies on NBC. They end with the Closing Ceremonies on Sunday, August 11.

Coverage can be seen on NBC, Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and other NBCU platforms.

In all, there will be teams representing 206 countries competing in 329 events and 32 sports.

In addition to Paris, Olympics events will be staged in 16 other French cities plus French Polynesia, a southern Pacific French territory 9,765 miles from Paris where the Olympics surfing competition will take place.

The 2024 Summer Games are the first Olympics for competitive surfing. Also new this year, skateboarding, sport climbing and breakdancing.

Photo courtesy of Netflix from the new documentary “Simone Biles Rising.”

Next story loading loading..