--- title: Simone Biles Talks Body Shaming in New Book description: Simone Biles opens up about being body shamed by a coach in her new book, Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance. canonical: https://time.com/4574695/simone-biles-body-shamed-new-book/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-17T14:19:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:53.739Z og:title: Simone Biles Says She Was Body Shamed by a Male Coach og:description: 'It just taught me to rise above and to love my body no matter what' og:url: https://time.com/4574695/simone-biles-body-shamed-new-book/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07fc21d3bc6611cb/6988aede8e060174824684c7/simone-biles-bodyshaming-coach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: The Build Series Presents Simone Biles Discussing Her New Book "Courage To Soar" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Simone Biles Says She Was Body Shamed by a Male Coach twitter:description: 'It just taught me to rise above and to love my body no matter what' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07fc21d3bc6611cb/6988aede8e060174824684c7/simone-biles-bodyshaming-coach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Simone Biles Says She Was Body Shamed by a Male Coach > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=b69b3895-1f41-46e7-9fe8-3cfeeb109f13&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [Rose Minutaglio / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Rose Minutaglio / People Contributor Nov 17, 2016 2:19 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 16: U.S. Gymnast Gold Medalist Simone Biles attends the Build Series to discuss her new book 'Courage to Soar' at AOL HQ on November 16, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage) NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 16: U.S. Gymnast Gold Medalist Simone Biles attends the Build Series to discuss her new book 'Courage to Soar' at AOL HQ on November 16, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage) Daniel Zuchnik—WireImage by [Rose Minutaglio / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Rose Minutaglio / People Contributor Nov 17, 2016 2:19 PM UTC U.S. Olympic all-around gold medalist [Simone Biles](http://people.com/sports/simone-biles-dominant-headed-to-summer-olympics-in-rio/) has [overcome many challenges](http://people.com/sports/simone-biles-wins-fourth-straight-us-championship/) on her way to becoming the world’s greatest gymnast — but the elite athlete says the memory of a 2013 incident, in which a[ male coach called her fat](http://people.com/bodies/simone-biles-today-fat/), is particularly painful. “It was really hard, because growing up I never felt overweight or fat, so it shocked me like, ‘Why would he say that?’ ” Biles, 19, tells PEOPLE. “But in a way it actually shaped me for the better, because it just taught me to rise above and to love my body no matter what.” “Nobody could tell me what to do,” she adds. In her new book, [_Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance_](https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Soar-Body-Motion-Balance/dp/0310759668/?mottocom-20), Biles goes into detail about the traumatizing incident. At a meet three years ago, the teen wasn’t performing as well as she had hoped and subsequently overheard the coach (“His name doesn’t matter,” she says) exclaim, “You know why she crashed? Because she’s too fat — that’s why. How does she expect to compete like that?” “It gets a little overwhelming, these memories are brought up and it makes me sad,” says Biles, who spoke about the incident Wednesday morning with [Hoda Kotb](http://people.com/tv/hoda-kotb-is-dating-again/) on_Today_. “But I was born with my body for a reason and I’m using it to compete in the sport that I love.” **_(Gifts:_** [**_The 100 Most Influential Images of All Time)_**](http://shop.time.com/storefront/subscribe-to-time/link/1039114.html?xid=cm-TIMEShopscTIMEArticle) The athlete says these comments, especially from coaches, are nothing new for athletes. Especially gymnasts. “It’s hard growing up in a sport where you compete with very little clothing on your body and everyone is staring at \[your body\] no matter how good you are,” she explains. “No matter how good you are at the sport, people will always say you don’t look good _enough_.” Biles says her Olympic Final Five teammates — [Laurie Hernandez](http://people.com/tv/laurie-hernandez-grandmother-death-secret/), [Aly Raisman](https://people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:AlyRaisman,00.html), [Gabby Douglas](http://people.com/sports/gabby-douglas-despite-backlash-i-had-a-fantastic-time-in-rio/) and [Madison Kocian](http://people.com/sports/madison-kocian-wins-a-silver-medal-in-the-uneven-bars-at-rio-olympics/) — have also been victims of body-shaming. “We’ll talk about it because we’re all going through the exact same thing,” she says. “But we’re all born with unique types of bodies, and we’ve proved that you can have any type of body and be good.” In a recent Instagram post, Raisman, the 2016 Olympic all-around silver medalist, shut down haters with a photo showing off her impressive biceps. “Shoutout to all the boys from 5th-9th grade who made fun of me for being ‘too strong’. Thanks for forcing me to learn to love myself and my body. My muscular arms that were considered weird and gross when I was younger have made me one of the best gymnasts on the planet. Don’t ever let anyone tell you how you should or shouldn’t look. There is no such thing as a perfect body type. I love being a part of the[#PerfectNever](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/perfectnever/) campaign. [#GirlPower](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/girlpower/)[#Supporteachother](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/supporteachother/),” she captioned the pic. Currently on the New York leg of her book tour, Biles hopes young women reading her book remember that “confidence is key.” “No matter how old you are, it’s never too late to start something you love,” she says. “And do something good with it! Pursue your dreams and passions!” And to any of her young fans who might have also experienced body-shaming? “Don’t even listen, love your body!” says Biles. “You were born with it, God has blessed you. Don’t pay attention to negativity. **_Gifts:_** [**_The 100 Most Influential Images of All Time_**](http://shop.time.com/storefront/subscribe-to-time/link/1039114.html?xid=cm-TIMEShopscTIMEArticle) _This_ [_article_](http://people.com/sports/simone-biles-on-overcoming-body-shaming-from-coach-it-just-taught-me-to-rise-above/) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4574695/simone-biles-body-shamed-new-book/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4574695/simone-biles-body-shamed-new-book/"},"headline":"Simone Biles Says She Was Body Shamed by a Male Coach","datePublished":"2016-11-17T14:19:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:53.739Z","description":"'It just taught me to rise above and to love my body no matter what'","url":"https://time.com/4574695/simone-biles-body-shamed-new-book/","keywords":["motto","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07fc21d3bc6611cb/6988aede8e060174824684c7/simone-biles-bodyshaming-coach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rose Minutaglio / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07fc21d3bc6611cb/6988aede8e060174824684c7/simone-biles-bodyshaming-coach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Build Series Presents Simone Biles Discussing Her New Book \"Courage To Soar\"","caption":"The Build Series Presents Simone Biles Discussing Her New Book \"Courage To Soar\"","creditText":"Daniel Zuchnik—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4574695/simone-biles-body-shamed-new-book/","name":"Simone Biles Says She Was Body Shamed by a Male Coach"}}]}] ```