Death of Parent & Illnesses: 6 Olympic Gymnasts You’d Never Think Have Tragic Real-Life Stories
Gymnasts like Simone Biles and Suni Lee have experienced a range of traumas in their lives.
While another athlete suffered abuse at the hands of a person she trusted, the other was placed in foster care.
While some of these gymnasts have retired, others have gone on to achieve success in spite of their hardships.
Gymnasts in particular are viewed as bright stars with extraordinary talent among athletes. However, they go through misfortunes in life just like everyone else. They’ve experienced everything, from losing loved ones to growing up in foster care. Here is a summary of six female athletes who have overcome significant obstacles in their life.
At the age of sixteen, Simone Biles rose to fame in 2013 after taking home two gold medals from the Antwerp Championship and the gymnastics all-around title. She made her debut in the world with a half-twist double layout move.
She would have become well-known sooner in 2012 had she not been too young to compete in the Olympics in London. Simone took home four gold medals from the World Championships in 2014, and she repeated the feat the following year.
2016 saw her compete in her first Olympics in Rio. She took home gold in the vault, team, all-around, and floor exercises. In addition, she won a bronze medal on the balance beam and took it home. She is competing for Team US in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
The celebrity, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, hasn’t always had an easy life, despite the impression that it is. The athlete, who began gymnastics at age six, talked candidly about her challenging past in an interview in 2021.
Being raised in foster care
Simone, who was born on March 14, 1997, disclosed that her parents always wanted her and her siblings to be independent adults. They desired that they assume responsibility and command for their actions. The celebrity believed that her success in her career and that of her siblings derived from the lessons taught by their parents.
They discovered that you should never stop pushing boundaries, even when you are at the top. The artistic gymnast expressed her wish that one day she and her siblings will experience her parents’ love and care.
She was told she was biologically his granddaughter by the guy she names her father, Ron Sr. The daughter of Ron Sr. is Simone’s biological mother. Although the celebrity claimed she didn’t recall much about being in foster care, she was aware that her mother had taken them away.
She believed at the moment that they would be coming home, but that was untrue. Adria, Tevin, Ashley, and her siblings were fortunate to be placed in foster care with her. Adria remembered how they had seemed so close, so afraid, so confused when they had been put there.
The four of them clung to one another, and Simone would dash to Tevin’s room to spend the night together, fearing that he would vanish before dawn. Due of Adria’s age, the star felt compelled to take care of and watch over her.
Nellie, Simone’s grandma, remembered Adria as being taken care of and treated like a mother by the athlete. They shared a tight relationship that endures to this day. Although Adria always felt her sister was controlling, she now realizes that Simone was only attempting to keep her safe.
Because she overindulged in alcohol and used illegal substances, the gymnast’s mother was unstable for them. Food was scarce, so the diva and her siblings spent their childhoods focusing on it. The gymnast remembered being “so hungry,” but she also recalled seeing a street cat that frequented the area in order to be fed.
She might not even like cats now because of that memory, which would make her wonder where her food was. Her mother made sure the cat was fed, but her kids were not. After neighbors voiced concerns, a social worker eventually became involved in Simone and her siblings’ lives.
After being adopted by their grandparents, who took on the roles of mother and father, Adria and Simone moved to Texas. Tevin and Ashley, their two elder siblings, were taken in by Aunt Harriet, their father’s sister, and remained in Ohio.
The athlete and her sister made Nellie’s family of five members at once when they were brought into the house. Ron Jr., Nellie’s son, pointed out that his parents had raised him and his brother for eighteen years before having to start again with Simone and her sister.
The gymnast acknowledged that at one point she separated a part of herself to keep herself safe and kept a cage around her heart. As for Nellie, she acknowledged that because the two kids weren’t biologically hers, she had difficulties when they first arrived.
The devoted parent prayed to build a link with the two adopted children and eventually realized she would do anything for them, even though she was doing everything she could to mother and nurture them. However, “emotionally you still have to be there 100%, and I was not.”
Tragedy struck once more during Simone’s professional gymnastics career. Following her bronze medal win on the balancing beam at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the celebrity disclosed in August 2021 that her aunt had passed away “unexpectedly.”
The gymnast acknowledged that she didn’t anticipate dying while competing in the Olympics, and the death happened while she was in Japan.
The next athlete we’ll look at found out she had a rare disease. In light of the loss, she asked people to be a “little bit more mindful” of what they say online, “because you have no idea what these athletes are going through as well as (in) their sports.”
Shannon Miller
Shannon Miller led the United States squad that took home the gold in Atlanta in 1996. The “Magnificent Seven,” a group of seven female gymnasts who broke records, took home the first-ever gold medal won by a US women’s team.
The celebrity was the first American to win a gold medal in the history of the balance beam. She won 49 national, 59 international, and seven Olympic medals. She won the World All-Around Championship in 1993 and 1994. In 1995, she took home the gold in the Pan Am Games All-Around.
The star won five gold medals and a silver medal in the 1993–94 Worlds. Despite not winning the gold in the 1992 Olympics, she was the most successful American athlete with five medals from the Barcelona games. Upon her comeback in 1996, she won a gold medal on the balance beam and another in a team event.
After attending the University of Oklahoma, Shannon completed her education at the University of Houston in 2003 and graduated from Boston College with a law degree.
Instead of becoming a lawyer, she decided to work in television and provide gymnastics clinics. In addition, the athlete started Shannon Miller Lifestyle in 2010 to encourage healthy living in general and women in particular.
In addition, Shannon works as a motivational speaker and leads the Shannon Miller Foundation, an organization dedicated to battling childhood obesity. She has overcome several obstacles in life, the most significant of which has been her battle with cancer, despite her incredible accomplishments.
Fighting an Uncommon Illness
Shannon previously discussed why she became public with her ovarian cancer diagnosis. As an advocate, she claimed, it made it possible for her to discuss her diagnosis in a way that put less emphasis on herself and more on “what we could do with stories like mine.”
The athlete remembered being sent back to the hospital during her first week of treatment, where she lay because food and water were falling out of her mouth. After trying perhaps nine or ten different anti-nausea drugs, none of them worked for her.
One of the hardest things she dealt with was her chemotherapy-induced nausea, which made it difficult for her to eat throughout the first week of her treatment. Her sickness was under control, and yoga made her feel “more human again.”
She frequently felt so weak that it was unbelievable. The celebrity swung across uneven bars for over a decade, but during her battle with cancer, she “couldn’t open a bottle of water.”
For Shannon, the most trying period was prior to her diagnosis. She underwent every test that was available at the time after a routine exam revealed a baseball-sized cyst in her left ovary. Her doctor advised her not to do anything that would cause the cyst to burst or twist.
As a result, the talented gymnast was terrified to move and wandered around like a zombie. Others tried to reassure her, saying things like “It’s probably nothing” or “It would be okay,” but her anxiety was centered on realizing what she was facing.
Her kid had just turned one year old at the time, and she kept telling herself she had to “get ahead of this” since the boy needed his mother. Her gynecologist conferred with a gynecologic oncologist quickly upon the diagnosis of the cyst.
After two ultrasonography scans, he concluded that the cyst would not go away on its own. Shannon was given a surgery date very away, and she didn’t learn she had an uncommon type of ovarian cancer until she awoke in the hospital.
Though her emotions were mixed, she managed to shift from a victim mindset to the competitive mindset she was accustomed to from gymnastics, and she was prepared to fight for her life. She saw the severe chemotherapy regimen they had planned for her as a weapon to fight back.
She used the skills she had acquired in gymnastics on a daily basis to cope with her diagnosis. To get by, she employed a variety of strategies including goal-setting, perseverance, optimism, the value of cooperation, visualization, and more.
Her battles with nausea, doubt and anxiety, neuropathy, and exhaustion became a daily pattern. Finding “my old self when my reflection said otherwise with no hair, no lashes or eyebrows, and skin as pale as could be” was another struggle she faced.
She did, however, discover via her sport that adversity frequently brings out the best in people. Then 42-year-old Shannon continued, “We find out that we are much stronger than we ever imagined we could be.” Shannon had overcome her condition in March 2020.
In addition, she was a mother of two and worked to make women aware of their health. The celebrity revealed that she had a quiet upbringing and rarely spoke while doing gymnastics. However, she came to the realization that if she wanted to inspire someone to get checked out, she had to talk about her ovaries all day.
She encountered difficulties and sustained injuries while performing as a gymnast. Goal-setting and the other things helped her tremendously, especially during chemotherapy, but they weren’t as helpful as “the mental and emotional lessons she learned from the sport.”
It was via setting little goals that she overcame her diagnosis. A successful day for her during chemotherapy was defined as “getting up, getting dressed, and walking twice around the dining room table.” However, she didn’t always accomplish these goals.
She valued having an excellent medical team during her cancer treatment. However, she also had neighbors, relatives, and friends who were ready to assist her with both small and large tasks. Shannon walked for even five minutes to do her exercise.
She were moments during her battle when she thought she had lost her identity and individuality, but being able to move her body allowed her to feel like herself again. She wanted to maintain her strength, not get fit. The athlete stated, “It was more life-sustaining than thinking about fitness as being in shape.”
Sunisa Lee
On March 9, 2003, Sunisa “Suni” Lee was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Yeev Thoj, her mother. Her mother first saw John Lee, a recently divorced man with two kids, Jonah and Shyenne, when she was two years old.
The couple welcomed Noah, Lucky, and Evionn together. Suni used to tumble around the backyard and house until her parents’ friends started asking if she was in gymnastics. A family acquaintance set up a meeting between her and a coach from the Midwest Gymnastics Center, believing she might have a gift.
Yeev once mentioned that her daughter had tests done before the center made the decision to keep her. At six years old, she began her training. The governor of her home state proclaimed July 30, 2023, as “Suni Lee Day” in recognition of her commitment to the sport.
The same proclamation was made by the mayor of Saint Paul, where a bronze bust of Suni that was revealed at a ceremony now stands in a park. She was awarded the title of Sports Illustrated Female Athlete of the Year in 2021, and the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Individual Sportswoman of the Year the following year.
She became the first Asian-American female gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal when she competed in the 2020 Tokyo Games, winning the all-around competition. In addition, she is the first American Hmong competitor to compete in the Olympics.
In the uneven bars, Suni took home a bronze medal and a silver one thanks to her teamwork. Throughout her gymnastics career, she has not only dealt with personal health challenges but also family trials.
Resolving Problems with Kidney Health
John witnessed Suni, who finished second behind Simone in the Olympic Trials, book her spot in the Tokyo Olympics in June 2021. As it was one of the few occasions he has been able to witness her compete live since his 2019 injury, the parent was overcome with emotion.
Her father experienced an accident that year, two days prior to the athlete’s participation in the August 2019 US National Gymnastics Championships. While helping a neighbor trim a tree, he slipped and fell off a ladder. John lost his ability to move his chest.
The gymnast was diagnosed with two kidney disorders in her childhood and subsequently found out that these conditions are inherited. Yeev disclosed that her mother died of kidney failure at the age of sixty-nine, and her brother died at the age of forty-five.
At first, Suni’s physician believed that she was experiencing an allergic reaction. However, subsequent testing revealed that her kidneys were not functioning properly. The celebrity admitted to them at the time that she had “barely urinated for about two weeks.”
Two kidney problems that she declined to disclose were identified. Doctors at Mayo Clinic tried a variety of medication combinations to see if they could manage her symptoms. Unfortunately, she gained weight and became exhausted due to modifications in her treatment.
The gymnast disclosed that she couldn’t get better by taking a prescription for her problems. She has to take medication every day, therefore she will live with the ailments for the rest of her life. She was bedridden for weeks at first and took a five-month leave of absence.
She put on forty-five pounds during that time before starting to work out again. She began dressing in extra-large or giant sizes, and sometimes her hands grew so huge that they were too big to fit through the grips on uneven bars.
Suni’s “puffy and weak” hands even caused her to fly off the bars. Her body retained a lot of water, which threw off her center of gravity and made it difficult for her to flip, twist, and balance. The drugs she took caused her ligaments and tendons to deteriorate. After experiencing swelling throughout her body, she was informed by physicians that she would never be able to resume gymnastics.
Jess Graba, one of her coaches, had to make sure she wasn’t overdoing it. The hardest thing, according to Suni’s coach, was convincing her mind that she could continue performing regularly even when her body wasn’t ready.
She had once halted her Olympic preparation in Paris and even canceled her commercial engagements. However, she was anxious about not working because she had to support her siblings and herself. The celebrity started saving for her siblings’ college educations and learned to be economical with the money she had left.
She made a comeback to the sport in 2023 and medaled in two national meets. Her coach purchased air fryers in every city they visited because she was following a strict low-sodium diet at the time and wanted her chicken to be cooked to perfection.
She turned down the offer to the world championship selection camp when it opened because she needed more time. She had declared she would return for the Olympics at the time, but she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to make it.
However, the athlete understood that doing it for other people was the incorrect motivation when she changed the way she thought. Her illnesses have since abated. Less than six months after she resumed training, in June 2024, she qualified for the US Olympic trials by placing second in the all-around competitions.
Suni’s parents came to witness her victory. “A year ago, I didn’t even think this was possible,” the athlete admitted during the trials, and then she started crying. Regretfully, the 21-year-old experienced loneliness and melancholy as a result of her notoriety.
She missed living a typical life and frequently sobbed herself to sleep. Additionally, Suni battled with the belief that she wasn’t deserving of an Olympic gold medal—a belief that was reinforced by internet detractors on a regular basis.
The gymnast had to mature quickly after her Tokyo participation in order to handle her problems. However, on July 11, 2024, she unveiled a new project as she took charge of her life.
The celebrity announced on Instagram that she had teamed up with the American Kidney Fund for the #KnowYourKidneys campaign. The athlete acknowledged that her experience had been difficult, but she persisted in order to represent the United States in Paris.
She attested to the fact that kidney illness can strike anyone at any age, often with no apparent cause. Suni urged her followers to keep up with kidney health information and to speak up in favor of treatment options that let them “live their best life.”
She committed to provide additional information about her experiences and the resources the fund offers to help anyone seeking diagnosis. The next former athlete to experience disaster is Jessica Hogg.
Jessica Hogg
Great Britain is represented by artistic gymnast Jessica Hogg. Her birthday is October 12, 1995. She competed in the British, Welsh, and Northern Europe Championships in 2013. She competed in both the Commonwealth Games and the Welsh Championships the following year. Since then, she has retired.
Jessica’s story is similar to Simone’s in that she had another catastrophe as a teenager, just as she was beginning to find some stability as a child.
Having a Lot of Losses
Jessica’s mother, Karen, died at the age of 29 from a brain tumor when Jessica was eighteen months old. The former athlete was raised by Pamela and Sid Downing, her mother’s parents, as her father had not been present since her birth.
She and her older sister, Charlotte, were placed under the guardianship of her grandparents. The transformation happened when Charlotte was six years old. Jessica’s grandmother was her pillar of support until her untimely death in December 2010.
The only people left to look after her were her aging grandfather and twenty-year-old Charlotte. Jessica occupied herself in order to cope with the disaster. Coach Tracey Skirton-Davies gave her permission to skip as many practices as she pleased following the death of her grandma.
After two days, the athlete unexpectedly made a comeback. Jessica loved gymnastics differently than most, according to her coach.
This next athlete also lost a parent, just like Jessica. However, she was able to compete in the World Championships and win gold thanks to her tenacity and fortitude.
Jones Shilese
Since 2017, artistic gymnast Shilese Jones has been a member of the US National Gymnastics squad. The Auburn, Washington, star gained notoriety in 2014 when, at the age of twelve, she attained junior elite gymnast status.
Her talent was first observed by her parents, Sylvester Jones Jr. and mother Latrice Bryant, when she was “just flipping around the house,” at the age of four. She performed horribly at the required levels when they finally decided to enroll her in a gym. She claimed that she “lost everything, wasn’t really paying attention.”
However, she soon grasped the concept and excelled in gymnastics. She competed in the Pan American Championships in Lima, Peru in 2018. Since then, she has taken part in the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.
She took up a silver in the uneven bars and all-around competitions in 2022, and another bronze the following year. Her catastrophe happened a few years back.
Bereavement of a Loved One
Shilese shared tragic news on Instagram on December 21, 2021. The actress wrote she was “heartbroken beyond words” to have lost her father the day before, next to a photo of her lying on his chest while he laid in bed.
He was her “everything,” her source of inspiration, a conversation partner, and a shoulder to cry on, according to her. There was an unbreakable link between them. When she realized that she was unable to heal him from his renal ailment, she was in excruciating pain every day.
Sylvester gave it his best in a valiant effort to make sure she succeeded. Shilese thought back to how he’d imparted morality and other important life skills to her. Sadly, she didn’t know what she would do without him and thought he should live to be a healthy old man.
The athlete vowed to keep making him proud and declared that he would always have her heart. She called him the “best father” and expressed gratitude and honor that he got to see her play at the “highest stage of my life.”
The celebrity thanked him in closing for always providing her with the support and affection she required. Shilese, who was 21 at the time, stated that taking home the gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris “wouldn’t just be for me and my team, but also for my dad.”
Shilese disclosed that her medal would be dedicated to her father, who had been a regular gymgoer. The athlete placed ninth overall in the 2021 US Olympic Team Trials before losing her father. After she lost him, she returned home to Seattle.
Her coach, Sarah Korngold, who began working with her in 2022, observed how the loss affected her. According to the instructor, Shilese’s defeat made her realize that she is practicing gymnastics for herself.
She now understands why she did it. The athlete has subsequently excelled and, having missed out on the 2020 Tokyo team, she has positioned herself as a genuine competitor in the gymnastics scene, which Sarah believed shows that she has “what it takes to do it because she’s done it before.”
McKayla Maroney
At the moment, McKayla Maroney resides in Laguna Niguel. She was homeschooled as a child and became involved in gymnastics due to her high activity levels. At the Pan American Championships in 2010, she took home gold in the vault, floor exercise, and team events.
She competed in the Visa Championships the following year. She placed fifth in floor exercises, eighth in balance beam, and won gold in vault and silver in all-around. She won gold medals for both the vault and the team at the World Championships in the same year.
She placed fifth in floor exercise, seventh in vault, and gold in vault at the 2012 US Olympic Trials. Unfortunately, the person who was meant to look out for her health instead caused her trauma.
An Erroneous Exam
In 2018, McKayla talked candidly about being sexually assaulted by a doctor with Savannah Guthrie of “Today.” When she was thirteen years old, she first encountered the violation. Larry Nassar, the former doctor for the US Gymnastics team, informed the adolescent that he would be doing a check-up at that time.
But that was the first time the abuse occurred, not taking care of her health. No one would comprehend what happened or the sacrifice she made to get to the Olympics, the doctor said, “so you can’t tell people this.”
The athlete said that she didn’t think anyone would understand, but since he didn’t say it in an offensive way, she thought, “That makes sense. I don’t want to tell anybody about this.” She competed for the United States gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Sadly, during the ensuing years, the occurrence occurred “hundreds” of times and “every time I saw him”. Fortunately, the doctor was eventually sent behind bars and justice was done.
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