Not bothered by it. Simone Biles and the rest of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team took home the gold at the team all-around finals on Tuesday, August 9, and in the excitement of their history-making accomplishment, Biles wasn’t too concerned about one NBC commentator’s flippant remark about her parents.
On Sunday, August 7, gymnastics announcer Al Trautwig found himself in the middle of a social media controversy after he said on-air that Biles, 19, “was raised by her grandfather and his wife and she calls them mom and dad.” Biles’ parents, Ron and Nellie Biles, adopted her and her little sister 15 years ago.
“I personally don’t have a comment,” the gymnast told Us Weekly exclusively on Tuesday. “My parents are my parents and that’s it.”
Trautwig made the situation worse when he defended his word choice after a viewer corrected him on Twitter. “They may be mom and dad but they are NOT her parents,” he tweeted later that same day. The message has since been deleted.
Instead of getting entangled in the social media fallout that ensued — Trautwig was made to apologize for his blunder by NBC on Monday — Biles has been celebrating the Final Five’s phenomenal victory.
“We are all too happy to cry because it hasn’t even hit us,” she told Us, commending the team’s coach, Martha Karolyi, for her hard work with Team USA. “Martha has given us all the confidence in the world we need by doing pressure sets in practice. … She prepares us for everything so there’s nothing that we don’t expect when we go out there. We expect everything.”
“It was everything I wanted and more,” the excited gymnast continued. “I imagined I was going to be crying but I think we’re all just happy. I haven’t found the word yet, I need a dictionary!”
Biles is the first gymnast to receive five gold medals at a single Olympic Games.
