Making a documentary with Simone Biles

In conversation with the Netflix docuseries director Katie Walsh

The final two episodes of Simone Biles Rising were released today on Netflix, and I’ve got a special interview with the filmmaker behind it all.

It is the latest in the ever-increasing slew of athlete autobiographical documentaries that have been put out in the world over the last few years.

This trend gained pace on account of the success of The Last Dance, which looked back on Michael Jordan’s remarkable career and impact on the NBA. The fact it was released during the pandemic and that it captured a truly monumental figure in sport added to its huge appeal. I remember each episode’s release felt like a communal television experience, like the days before streaming. It quite literally felt like everyone watched it.

Few other sports documentaries have captured the same size audience or had similar impact. Some, simply because their athlete subject is not actually interesting enough to carry a six-part documentary series. Others because they felt too much like PR exercises than a true depiction of the facts.

That is always the trade-off when you have an athlete involved in producing their own documentary: sometimes the juicy details get left out or filtered. David Beckham’s eponymous Netflix show was a huge hit, but left out some key facts — including the criticism he received during the World Cup in 2022, for accepting a £10 million ambassadorship from Qatar, a country that criminalises homosexuality. Serena Williams’s recent eight-part ESPN+ documentary, In The Arena, was fascinating in parts, but some commentators thought it skimmed over specific controversial on-court moments and the impact certain rivals had on her.

The point is, those details get left up to the athletes and filmmakers to decide on.

The upside to this format, when done right, is that it gives us revealing access to some of the greatest athletes of our times. That is true of Simone Biles Rising, which captures Biles navigating the latest Olympic cycle, with her heart set on reclaiming her crown.