The Story of Simone Biles

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode contains mentions of sexual abuse. Simone Biles, 24, showed up on the national stage at 16, when she competed in and won the national championships. She equally impressed at her first Olympics, in 2016 in Rio. Going into the Tokyo Games this year, Ms. Biles — who is considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time — was expected to win the all-around. So she shocked many this week when she pulled out of the competition. What prompted her decision? Guest: Juliet Macur, a sports reporter for The New York Times.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From New York Times, I'm Michael Barrow. This is a daily.
0:10.4	Today, the story of Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time,
0:17.6	and her decision to drop out of the 2020 Olympics.
0:23.0	Sabrina Tavernizi spoke with our colleague in Tokyo,
0:26.5	Juliet McCord.
0:32.5	It's Friday, July 30th.
0:38.5	Juliet, what time is it for you right now?
0:41.5	What time is it here in Tokyo? Have no idea.
0:44.5	What day is it? I think it's Thursday at 11 o'clock, AM.
0:49.5	Kind of lost track.
0:51.5	This is the life of a New York Times reporter covering the Olympics.
0:54.5	Yeah, some people have morning events, but gymnastics is mostly in the evening.
0:59.5	So like tonight, I'll get there at eight o'clock and I'll stay till like one o'clock in the morning,
1:03.5	come back to my hotel and continue writing until, you know, about five.
1:08.5	Yeah, that's late.
1:10.5	So gymnastics, this is a sport you've been covering for a very long time.
1:15.5	And Simone Biles is someone you've been covering for a very long time.
1:20.5	So I'm wondering if you can help us understand how we got to this moment.
1:25.5	Where does Simone's story begin?
1:27.5	Her story began in Columbus, Ohio when she was born to a woman named Shannon,
1:33.5	Shannon Biles, a single mom who had four kids.
1:38.5	Unfortunately, had a lot of addiction problems.
	...

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