Simone Biles Sister, Adria Biles Confronts Biological Mother’s Sudden Reappearance: ‘Why Now, After All…see more

Simone Biles has revealed that she learned her aunt had ‘unexpectedly’ died just two days before she returned to competition in Tokyo – while hitting back at critic who accused her of ‘abandoning’ her team when she pulled out of five Olympic finals to ‘focus on her mental health’.

The 24-year-old, who competed for the first time since balking on her vault and withdrawing from the team final last week, clinched a bronze medal on the balance beam on Tuesday, 48 hours after learning about the news of her aunt’s passing.

News of Biles’ family tragedy came shortly after she cast serious doubt on her Olympic future while hitting back at critics, insisting ‘you guys have no idea what we are going through’ after she was accused of ‘abandoning’ her team by pulling out of five finals to ‘focus on her mental health’. Speaking about her bronze medal win, the 24-year-old revealed that she was only ‘cleared’ to compete in the final on Monday night, after undergoing an assessment by two sports psychologists who were responsible for determining whether she was fit to take part following her struggle with the ‘twisties’, a mental block that causes gymnasts to feel ‘lost in the air’.

Biles did not share any further details about her aunt’s death, however her coach, Cecile Landi, told People that the news had taken a serious toll on the athlete’s mental health, revealing that it turned an already-rough week into ‘hell’.

‘I was like, “Oh my God. This week needs to be over,”‘ Landi said, adding: ‘[Biles] said, “There’s nothing I can do from over here. So I’m just going to finish my week and when I get home we’ll deal with it.”‘

She concluded: ‘It’s been one hell of a week. Some very high, some very low.’

Although Biles has not revealed the name of her late aunt, or the cause of her death, it is understood that she is the sister of the gymnast’s father, Ronald Biles.

Ron, 71, and his wife Nellie, 66, are actually Biles’ grandparents, however they adopted the athlete and her sister Adria after they were taken away from their birth mother, Shanon, who suffered from drug and alcohol addiction and spent time in jail, leading to her children being placed in foster care when Biles was just three years old.

She was adopted by Nellie and Ron three years later and refers to them both as her ‘parents’.