Simone Biles Teams With Religion of Sports to Expand Entertainment Portfolio: ‘We Want to Give Others Bigger Platforms to Narrate Themselves’ (EXCLUSIVE)

It’s well-documented that Simone Biles doesn’t really like that athletes are bombarded with questions about “what’s next” in the moments after they’ve achieved their lifelong dreams.

But as she pondered her future after winning gold medals at the 2024 Olympics, and further cementing her legacy as the greatest gymnast of all time, a path began to emerge — toward entertainment.

Whether I like it or not, I’ve been around the entertainment space for basically my whole professional career. If you asked me when I was younger, I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to help people. I wanted to be out in the community,” Biles tells Variety about her decision to join the board of Religion of Sports (ROS), the media company founded by NFL legends Tom Brady and Michael Strahan and Emmy-winning documentarian Gotham Chopra.

“I feel like this is such a unique way to still be in the community, to give back, to tell people stories in a positive manner, in a beautiful way,” Biles explains. “I’m always around it, always in it, so why not give other people the platform?”

As for why she decided to align with ROS in particular, Biles already had history with the team. She spent the past five years with them, chronicling her life from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics through the Paris games for the Netflix docuseries “Simone Biles Rising.” Directed by Katie Walsh, the Netflix doc allowed Biles to take back the narrative and tell her story on her terms, delving into the unique pressures she faces as a Black woman performing in an individual sport, plus shining a spotlight on mental wellness.

Then, toward the end of filming, as Biles began to ask herself that pesky question, Chopra and the team offered to help navigate some of the opportunities that were coming her way.