John Legend’s Four-Word Message For Simone Biles Captures American Sentiment. Full Details Below 👇

John Legend’s Four-Word Message For Simone Biles Captures American Sentiment. Full Details Below 👇

Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles is a legend in her sport. While she was born with an incomparable natural talent for gymnastics, she aways says her parents, Ronald and Nellie Biles, were behind her success. They are technically her biological grandparents, but they adopted Simone at age six after she and her siblings were placed in foster care.

“Being separated from my biological mom, being placed in foster care before I officially got adopted by my grandparents, it just set me up for a better route at life,” Simone said of that time on her Facebook Watch series, Simone Vs. Herself. “I feel like I wouldn’t be where I am unless that turning point happened. I would still be Simone Biles, probably not Simone Biles that everybody else knows, the world knows. But I also believe everything happens for a reason, and I’m forever grateful for that because I definitely got a second shot at life.”
Here’s everything to know about Simone Biles’ biggest fans, Ronald and Nellie.

Who are Ronald and Nellie Biles?
The couple was married in January 1977. At the time, Ronald was serving in the Air Force. He met Nellie while stationed in San Antonio, Texas, according to The Undefeated. She was in nursing school. Ronald was already a single father to his daughter, Shannon, who is Simone’s biological mother. The couple went on to have two more children together, sons named Ronald Jr. and Adam.

Shannon had four children, including Simone, but she struggled with addiction. The siblings were placed in foster care when the gymnast was about three years old. She and her sister Adria were eventually adopted by their grandparents, and she has said she considers them to simply be her parents. She and Adria were raised in Houston, Texas. Her two other siblings, Tevin and Ashley, were adopted by their great aunt and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ronald and Nellie now own training venue World Champions Centre in Spring, Texas, which they opened in 2014. Simone trained there with coach Aimee Boorman. Before they opened the center, she would have to travel from gym to gym according to Boorman’s employment. This made training much easier for the champion.