Simone Biles is the most decorated American gymnast and undoubtedly the greatest athlete that the sport has ever seen.
Yet, despite her stellar performance during the Paris 2024 Olympics, her untouchable athleticism is not the topic of conversation among her critics—instead, it is her appearance.
The 27-year-old has long been criticized for the texture of her tresses that are natural and tightly coiled and, expectedly so, not always in place during competition. For some, Biles focusing on excelling in her sport and not fussing over flyaways and unlaid baby hairs while on the mat is an invitation to nitpick at her looks.
Simone Biles tells critics not to comment on Black girls’ hair amid criticism for her appearance during the 2024 Paris Olympic competitions. (Photos: Simonebiles/Instagram.)
But the eight-time Gold medal winner has a word for her haters: Don’t come for her unless she sends for you. In her July 30 Instagram Story, Biles addressed the scrutiny head on. “Don’t come for me or my hair. IT WAS DONE but bus had NO AC & it’s like 9,000 degrees of & a 45 min ride,” she wrote about the journey to Bercy Arena.
She gave fans and her hecklers a good look at her while dolled up with a perfectly styled ponytail. All the while, she tried keeping cool with a handheld fan.
In a second post, she warned, “Gonna hold your hand when I say this. Next time you want to comment on a black girls hair. JUST DON’T.”
Simone Biles tells critics not to comment on Black girls’ hair amid criticism for her appearance during the 2024 Paris Olympic competitions. (Photos: Simonebiles/Instagram.)
Her supporters were quick to come to her defense, railing against anyone attempting to antagonize her over out-of-place hair after pulling off her floor routines and gravity-defying flips. Her 14.600 for her floor competition and 15.300 in the vault were the highest in the team competition in Paris.
One person wrote, “Cause at this point enough is enough. The girl has been breaking records for years and ppl still talking about her hair..giving very anti-black.” Days ahead of the opening ceremony, Elle published a new interview with Biles where the newlywed shared that she was no longer concerned with appeasing others’ expectations of her hair.
“I don’t really care if my edges aren’t smooth,” she told the publication. “I used to worry about [my hair being considered] not professional. But I’m not embarrassed about it anymore.” She also tackled the topic with her grandmother, Nellie, in the documentary “Simone Biles Rising.”
Similarly, she hit back at naysayers who were critical of her edges swelling from their straightened state when photos of her marrying husband Jonathan Owens during the humid Texas spring of April 2023.
Another defender pointed out that the cruel behavior had been seen before with one of Biles’ former teammates, Gabby Douglas. They wrote, “Yall did the same s–t to Gabbie Doug, leave simone alone.”
During the 2012 London Olympics, Douglas was disparaged over her slicked-back bun. In an interview with Oprah, she said she did not want to “focus on the negative” and that she was initially baffled as to why she was trending on social media.
Years later, in 2020, she would reveal that she suffered extensive damage to her hair and tried tirelessly to hide bald spots. Douglas would compete once more in the Games in 2016 and hopes to qualify for a spot this year, but an ankle injury thwarted her comeback.
Other commenters pointed out that so much attention had been allocated to Biles being denigrated that people ignored the latest competition updates coming out of Paris. “They literally just won gold at the Olympics and y’all post this story…” another user wrote , calling out Hollywood Unlocked for posting the criticism and Biles’ clapback instead of praise for and her U.S. teammates victory.
On the fourth day of the competition, the USA’s women’s gymnastics team won gold. The feat made Biles the oldest American woman gymnast to secure a gold medal at the Olympics.
