On Tuesday July 30, after her historic win at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simone Biles shared an Instagram story of Ronald Biles watching her compete.

“My dad & his binoculars is soooo freaking cute,” Simone writes of her biological grandfather, who along with his wife adopted the athlete – now an eight-time Olympic medallist – after she was left in foster care when she was only three.

Simone, the most decorated American gymnast, opened up about her childhood and how she and her siblings were starving in the care of her biological mother who was “struggling with drug and alcohol abuse.” Keep reading to learn about this inspiring athlete!

Long before 26-year-old Simone Biles was flipping, launching and spinning, she was living in foster care with her siblings, Adria, Tevin and Ashley.

Simone’s birth mother Shanon was dependent on alcohol and drugs, and unable to care for her four children.

“It was hard to give up my kids but I had to do what I had to, I wasn’t able to care for them,” Shanon tells the Daily Mail, adding the kid’s father – also an addict – was absent.

Speaking with CNN, Simone candidly speaks of her experience as a child and the “hardships” she experienced with her addict mom.

“When my siblings and I entered foster care, it was because our biological mom was struggling with drug and alcohol abuse. I was three years old,” she tells CNN.