Simone Biles experienced the “twisties” ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, five years before she withdrew from the team competition at the COVID-delayed 2020 Tokyo Games with the same mental block, according to a new book from Biles’ longtime coach Aimee Boorman.
The seven-time Olympic gold medalist became disoriented mid-air while performing twisting skills less than six months before the Rio Games, Boorman writes in “The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles.”
“Yep, before Simone introduced the world to the twisties in 2021, she had experienced this proprioception phenomenon in January of 2016,” Boorman writes. “When this happens to a gymnast who is flipping ten-plus feet in the air and they lose body awareness in space and time — not knowing if they’re going to land on their back, feet or head — it’s much more dangerous [than the “yips” in baseball or golf].”
In the book, Boorman, who coached Biles from age 7 through the Rio Olympics, chronicles how she first noticed Biles was feeling pressure in October 2015 at her third world championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Three months later, “Simone couldn’t twist — on basically anything!” Boorman writes. “You might be asking, ‘How did she get rid of it?’ I wish I had a silver bullet, but I didn’t.”
When Biles realized her mind and body had become disconnected, Boorman writes that she “would physically stop herself from twisting during her routines because she was afraid of getting lost in the air. Simone would never crash; she would just stop herself before ever attempting a twist.”
According to Boorman, she never pushed Biles to attempt twisting before she was ready. “She was already the back-to-back-to-back world champion,” she writes. “Simone knew how to twist.” Instead, she was patient and supportive and spoke with Biles’ parents and therapist about what was happening with her in the gym. After several weeks, Biles became comfortable twisting again — in time for Olympic qualifying.
“Simone needed time, support and reassurance that I believed in her,” Boorman writes.
Biles, whose representative ESPN contacted for comment, writes in the book’s foreword: “Coach Aimee and I have a special bond. She always did what was best for her athletes personally, even if someone told her it might not work. … Coach Aimee understands that every athlete works, processes instruction and learns differently, and she caters to that.”
Biles competed for the first time that 2016 season at the Pacific Rim Championships in Everett, Washington, in April, and won the all-around. “Thankfully the twisties had passed without injury,” Boorman writes, “and in the process, we demonstrated that an elite gymnast can avoid training elements for weeks without losing their skills.”
In Rio, where Boorman was the head coach of the U.S. team, Biles became the first American gymnast to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.
Three years later in early 2019, Biles had another bout with the twisties, which she told Olympics.com in January 2020, more than a year before the Tokyo Games.
In Japan, she experiencing the twisties while training on floor the morning after team qualifying. The next day, she withdrew from the team competition after becoming lost in the air on her first vault. She later withdrew from every event except the balance beam final, where she earned a bronze medal. Her decision to place her personal safety above medals made her a face of the mental health movement in sports and beyond.
“The Balance,” which Boorman co-wrote with journalist Steve Cooper, comes out Tuesday.
