Simone Biles inspires the world
‘Simone vs Herself’ shares the fight through adversity for one of the world’s greatest gymnasts.
Like many athletes, Simone Biles has dealt with a fair amount of adversity this past year.
When the coronavirus forced the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, athletes across all sports were devastated. They were just four months away from the competition for which their lives had revolved around for the previous four years.
This postponement meant everyone had to reset their training and reach their peak fitness a whole year later.
Athletes have a lot to share about their experiences training through COVID, including Simone Biles — America’s most decorated gymnast.
Biles is the star of a new docuseries on Facebook Watch titled “Simone vs Herself.” “Simone vs Herself” is a seven-part documentary following Simone Biles’ life this past year. It focuses on her training and mental struggle to push forward through the pandemic while maintaining her fitness for the Olympic games that were delayed a whole year. Biles opened up about the adversity she dealt with this past year and how she overcame her doubts.
Seeing strong women deal with adversity resonates with me as an athlete, and what I respect most about Biles is her openness about her mentality toward her sport and the struggles she faces along the path to success.
Only one episode has been released at this point, but Biles has been posting previews of the series on her Instagram account all week.
The previews have served as inspiration for my video project this week because as an athlete, I, too, have faced much adversity throughout my running career. Biles’ documentary inspired me to focus my video project on my roommate and teammate Martina Sell who had faced more adversity than most this past season. After training alone throughout quarantine and finally getting the chance to compete this spring, she was diagnosed with mononucleosis, which ended her season altogether. This was the season that she had been waiting for for over a year.
“Simone vs Herself” is set up to show videos of Biles training and competing with an interview occurring in the background. There are scenes of her carrying out her daily life and following her around the house.
I hope to use the same storytelling tactic, layering footage of Martina Sell carrying out her daily routine and training, while her interview plays underneath. This setup gives the viewer a visual of a day in her life as they listen to her story.
“Simone vs Herself” has provided a lot of inspiration, not only from the filming perspective, but for the storyline as a whole. Every athlete deserves to share their stories about fighting through adversity.
