I'm Rebecca Levoy, and this is You Can't Make This Up.

You Can't Make This Up is the podcast where we uncover the true stories behind your favorite Netflix documentaries and films.

On today's episode, we take a closer look at the Netflix documentary series, Simone Biles Rising.

I've always had really good intuition about things, like, freaky.

I never tell people about it, but I can feel a lot of things they're going to happen

before it does happen. And unfortunately, I felt that way about the Olympics.

She's widely considered the greatest of all time, a gymnast so special that five of the most

difficult skills are named after her. But Simone Biles stunned the world when she withdrew from the

2020 Olympics, citing a need to protect her mental health. But after a break from the sport,

the champion returned to the gym and confronted her physical and emotional challenges.

The Netflix documentary series Simone Biles Rising follows the gymnast journey from disappointment in Tokyo

to her return to the Olympic stage in Paris.

It provides a deep dive into her life story and her challenges off the mat.

The comeback is more personal because I had been fighting my own demons for so long.

And I'm joined now by director Katie Walsh. Katie, welcome to you can't make this up.

Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.

So this is a big question, but for the Martians among us who may have beamed in from space,

tell me, who is Simone Biles? What has her impact been on the sport of gymnastics?

Oh my gosh. Well, Simone Biles, she is called the goat of this sport. And you don't get that title without earning it. She's 37 World and Olympic medals. Most of any person on planet Earth, any gymnast on planet Earth. This will be her third Olympics. She won in 2016. She walked away with five Olympic medals. In 2021, she walked away with two, despite not competing in most of the events. And then here we are leading to 2024. She is not just the goat on the field of play. She is an amazing ambassador for the sport and a change maker for the sport outside of the field of play. And I think that's what

makes her so excellent. So obviously I want to talk about Simone's journey, but I want to start

with the creation of the series. Your documentary kicks off at the 2020 Olympics, but there are

clues that you've been thinking about and filming this over a period of years. So what was the

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