Overview

• Aimee Boorman, Simone Biles’s coach from age seven, reveals new details about their mentor-protégé relationship in her memoir, 'The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles.'
• Boorman’s nurturing approach, shaped by her own childhood experiences of neglect under a dismissive coach, helped Biles navigate self-doubt and early setbacks.
• Biles, now the most decorated American gymnast with 11 Olympic and 30 World Championship medals, credits Boorman as a ‘second mother’ who provided stability and guidance throughout her career.
• Key moments in Biles’s early training included crying from frustration, joking about quitting, and overcoming competitive failures, such as scoring zeros in the vault at a state meet.
• Boorman’s strategy of balancing empathy with discipline allowed Biles to thrive, fostering resilience that became central to her historic athletic achievements.