Featured Image Credit: Jari Pestelacci/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images/Netflix
Topics: Netflix, Olympics, Simone Biles, Social Media, Sport, Beauty, Hair
Ella Scott
Topics: Netflix, Olympics, Simone Biles, Social Media, Sport, Beauty, Hair
Simone Biles has admitted you just ‘can’t win’ with some sports fans as she opened up about facing criticism across social media.
It’s fair to say gymnastics’ leading lady Biles, 27, has definitely had a bountiful 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
She officially concluded her time competing in the City of Love yesterday (August 5) by adding a silver medal to her trove, alongside the three golds she picked up earlier in the event.
With 11 titles to her name, the Team USA gymnast is now tied with the late Věra Čáslavská as the second-most decorated female Olympic gymnast in history.
But despite her recent sporting achievements, the Ohio-born star claims she often receives hate comments from trolls regarding her looks.
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In her new Netflix documentary, Simone Biles: Rising, the Olympian admitted she finds it difficult to live up to ‘beauty standards’.
“People, they love to watch the come up,” she began. “They want to see you win.
“As soon as you win ‘God I hate her! I can’t wait until she fails’. It’s just like, what is wrong with people?”
Biles continued to say she’d received hate comments regarding her hair, especially on gymnastics meet days.
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“People hate my hair for meet days,” she explained “’Her hair is all over the place look at it, it’s crazy’. But then again, we do it by ourselves. We’re not professionals.”
“You just can’t win,” she lamented.
Biles went on to say cruel taunts mainly began to ‘affect’ her after 2016 and proceeded to read out a particularly vicious comment she’d received.
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The message read: “Simone Biles’ hair looks so crunchy.”
Defending her locks, the athlete said: “It’s actually very healthy and not crunchy. Oh that is hilarious.
“People are way too comfortable commenting things. So I try to silence the noise.”
She added that the ‘beauty standard’ she has to hold herself to in her field is sometimes ‘too much’ to handle.
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“I know what it’s like being the only Black girl on the team and not having a role model,” she added.
Biles recently took to Instagram to ask fans to stop commenting on the way her hair looks.
Prompted by a public comment that read: “Simone Biles = flawless. Her hair, not so much,” the seven-time gold medalist proclaimed: “Gonna hold your hand when I say this.
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“Next time you wanna comment on a Black girl’s hair. JUST DON’T.”
Earlier this year, Biles opened up to Elle Magazine about how she believes social media is helping black women to style their hair.
“We’ve [Black women] been able to take care of our hair better and take care of our beauty routines better, because it’s self-taught,” she explained. “It’s really special that we have access to those platforms.”
“I used to worry about [my hair being considered] not professional,” Biles added. “But I’m not embarrassed about it anymore.”
The first two episodes of Simone Biles: Rising are available to stream on Netflix now.