‘Simone Biles Rising’ Takes Home Two Critics Choice Awards

The limited series has reached the top of the charts—and now earned several accolades, too.

Simone Biles / Robin L Marshall/Getty Images

Where Simone Biles was concerned, fans had high expectations for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The world waited with bated breath to see how the 27-year-old would perform in her return to the international stage. Almost everyone knew the story of the Tokyo Games. Days into the competition, the athlete had to withdraw from the competition with a case of the “twisties.” In the years after, she took a break from competitive gymnastics. But 2024 marked her return to the mat—and an impressive return it was.

Her impressive success in competition ahead of the Olympic trials was only one piece of the hype surrounding Biles’s name. As the Olympic competition approached, expectations for her comeback only intensified with the release of part one of her Netflix documentary, Simone Biles Rising.

The first two episodes of the limited series came out in mid-July, just weeks after Biles had cemented her spot on the 2024 Olympic roster. And the release really couldn’t have come at a better time. In the first part, the gymnast reflected on her experience in Tokyo, the pressure she faced then (and continued to face in the lead-up to Paris) and how her past experiences were shaping her approach to the future.

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In other words, it was the perfect set-up for what ended up being a perfectly executed comeback. Biles (and the producers) couldn’t have known as much when the documentary was released. But her outstanding performance in Paris (which resulted in three gold medals and one silver) really drove home the message in part one of the documentary—a message of setbacks, perseverance and, ultimately, comebacks.

Part two, which was released only a few weeks ago, doubled down on that message. It took a closer look at Biles’s preparation for the Paris Games, in particular, and her ambitions for her return to the international stage.

In the weeks since the release, Simone Biles Rising has quickly become a crowd favorite—for all of the reasons mentioned above and more. But we’re not simply referring to its ability to reach second place in Netflix’s Top 10 rankings. We’re likewise referring to its latest feat: taking home not one, but two awards at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards on Nov. 10.

At the ninth annual ceremony, the documentary earned the awards for both Best Sports Documentary and Best Limited Documentary Series, cementing it as one of the foremost documentaries of the moment. More than anything, though, the achievement only reinforced the fact that Biles is an inspiration.