In June 2021, Simone Biles was preparing for her second Olympic Games—an overwhelming challenge as she set out to defend her all-around title from Rio. Unlike before, she wouldn’t have the Final Five members beside her, guiding her through the intense battles ahead. But she had something more powerful.

It was the unwavering love and support of her parents. No matter the distance, the pressure, or the stakes, Ron and Nellie Biles were always there to lift her. As a token of gratefulness, Simone had shared a touching tribute to them on Instagram: “Appreciation post for my sweet parents. Thanks for making sacrifices since day 1 so I can live out my dream. But most importantly, thanks for always being there for me through all the highs and lows.” Sadly, her teammate from the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, who was the vault champion in the event, was not that lucky.

That gymnast had her father, Mike, as her rock, her biggest supporter—her safe place in a sport that demanded perfection. But in 2019, everything changed. On January 13, she lost her father suddenly because of a heart attack. The grief hit like a tidal wave, crashing into her with unbearable force. She turned to social media, writing, “Love u dad. I can’t believe it’s real. I don’t want to. I’ll miss you forever. Rest in peace. You were the most incredible dad.” But for her, grief didn’t just mean missing him. It became something heavier.

She carried guilt like a weight around her heart, feeling as if she somehow bore responsibility for his death. On March 12, through a YouTube video uploaded on her channel, the gymnast revealed the painful thoughts that consumed her and how her guilt was consuming her. “He passed away, and I felt like that part of it was my fault….What part of that was me? … How could I not be? Like, could I have done something differently for my dad?” said McKayla Maroney, member of ‘Fierce Five’, the gymnastic squad that won team gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

Maroney’s father was an addict, which she realized very late in her life. To continue with his substance use, her father used to lie to her, and she lost all respect she had towards him. But it was only one day while cleaning her sister’s cupboard along with her dad when she saw him using some substance, and now everything made sense to her. She wasn’t judging him, but she lost respect for her dad because he was hiding things from her. She yelled at him, and that is when he decided to get clean. After a week or so, he went to a hotel (for possible rehab), and he later passed away. That put a lot of things on the retired elite gymnast.

“I need to repent for a lot of the things that I did. Just because you made mistakes doesn’t mean that if you didn’t make the mistake, it would have turned the ship around. You’re holding on to it as a way to punish yourself even for myself. It was the last of my dad. I had to hold on to the regret and the guilt. That was the last piece that I had of him.” The sentiment echoed further, and Simone’s senior from her first world gymnastics championship brought another point to blame herself.

“We think that if we had said more, if we had done something different, that it could have changed things,” McKayla Maroney, now 29, confessed, her voice laced with the weight of regret. But what could she have changed? What moment, what decision, could have rewritten the past? For McKayla, the answer was haunting. The abuse she suffered at the hands of Larry Nassar—one of the darkest scandals in sports history—didn’t just leave scars on her, as it rippled outward, touching those closest to her. And for her father, it probably became too much to bear.

In a deeply personal talk on a YouTube video, the former Olympic champion laid bare her heartache: “I felt like what happened to me, the abuse that happened to me, is what killed my dad.” Her father, Mike Maroney, had battled addiction, but McKayla believes it was the unbearable pain of watching his daughter suffer that also pushed him over the edge. “He struggled with addiction, but what really triggered it for him was watching his daughter go through what I went through,” she revealed. The world knew McKayla as the fearless gymnast who soared to Olympic glory. But behind the medals and the famous “not impressed” meme was a fighter in a much deeper war.

Simone Biles’ senior was a key voice in exposing Nassar, standing alongside Simone and Aly Raisman in a battle that shook the gymnastics world. And when she was dragged into “Celebgate” in 2014—when private photos of her and other celebrities were hacked and leaked online—she didn’t cower. She fought again, this time against a different kind of predator. Ultimately, McKayla never backed down. But she carried the weight of it all, convinced that her battles had cost her father his life. For years, she lived with that torment. But now she sees things differently.

“I need to repent for a lot of the things that I did. Just because you made mistakes doesn’t mean that if you didn’t make the mistake, it would have turned the ship around. You’re holding on to it,” she said, her words no longer dripping with guilt but with understanding. She has made peace—with the past, with herself, and with the painful truth that some things are beyond our control. And as for the question of whether she’s still a fighter?

The proof is right there. After stepping back for a while, the former world championship medalist did what she does best—she came back stronger and continued to share just like Simone Biles.

Simone Biles and her former teammate are on the same path again

Last year, Simone Biles once again recalled the Larry Nassar fiasco that once left her and many other gymnasts scarred for life. In the second episode of the Netflix documentary, *Simone Biles: Rising,* the Olympian said, “I felt so naive all those years, thinking it was normal.” In the same episode, Simone continued to add, “I was driving at 99, and I just remember breaking down and calling my mom. She asked me to pull over because I was crying so hard.”

Later, the duo shared each other’s emotions and cried together. The scar is there, in the deepest part where Biles has no control. Unfortunately, McKayla Maroney didn’t have her father to share the grief. But she didn’t stop. She decided to continue to protest against such issues. And the process resumed a few months after her father’s demise.

First, McKayla returned to Instagram two years after ducking it in 2019. Can you guess what her post was after such a return? “Last few years a lot happened w the #MeToo movement, and losing my dad very unexpectedly,” she wrote in her post. “I’ll definitely talk about it more, but for now I’ll just say that even on the worst days, I knew I had so much to be thankful for. I have the most supportive family, and friends, and you guys are part of that. Blessed to have you, and happy to be back 👼.”

With many others, Simone welcomed her in the comment box. That saga is still continuing. Her YouTube channel stands as evidence, a place where she shares her story, her healing, and her unbreakable spirit. She refuses to be silent, refuses to be a victim of circumstance. McKayla Maroney is still here. Still fighting. Still winning.