Simone Biles Talks Mental Health in New Docuseries Trailer: 'I Wanted to Quit Like 500,000 Times'

Netflix released its trailer Simone Biles Rising, a four-part documentary chronicling the athlete's return to the Olympics, on Wednesday. The preview falls a month before the Paris Olympics, in which Biles plans to compete.

Biles pulled out of several events, including the team and finals, at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after suffering from “the twists,” a term gymnasts use to describe a disorienting condition that inhibits their ability to twist. In the trailer, Biles wipes away tears as she reflects on her unexpected exit from the 2021 Olympics and the mental stress she experiences as a world-class athlete.

“I've wanted to quit 500,000 times,” Biles said in the trailer, “and I would have if it weren't for my people.”

Biles spent two years out of competition after winning four gold medals at the 2016 Olympics. Biles also spoke about the lingering cloud hanging over USA Gymnastics following the Larry Nasser sexual abuse scandal. (Nassar abused an estimated 300 young athletes under the guise of medical treatment and was sentenced in 2018 to 100 years in prison.) In a 2021 Today In an interview on the show, Biles said she was “still scared to work out” after experiencing the disorienting state of “the twists.”

“To do something that I've done forever and just not be able to do it because of everything I've been through is really crazy because I love this sport so much,” Biles said. “It's hard. I'm sorry. And I don't think people understand the magnitude of what I'm going through, but for all these years to go through everything I've been through with a front, I'm proud of myself.”

The documentary, directed by Katie Walsh, also features interviews with Biles' husband and Chicago Bears player Jonathan Owens, mother Nellie Biles and Olympian and gymnast Aly Raisman. The documentary premieres on July 17.