As the most successful US Olympic gymnast of all time, the last thing Simone Biles should have to deal with people criticizing her hair – but they did it anyway. Now, on the day of her historic victory at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the 27-year-old gold medalist is sending a clear message to all the trolls out there.
In a video shared to Instagram on Tuesday, July 30, Biles used a battery-powered fan to cool down during a bus ride in sweltering heat.
“Don’t come at me about my hair,” she wrote in the clip’s caption. “IT WAS DONE but the bus has NO air conditioning and it’s like 90,000 degrees. Oh, and a 45 minute ride.”
“I’ll be holding your hand when I say this đź’‹ Next time you want to make a comment about a black girl’s hair, JUST DON’T DO IT,” Biles added.
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Previously, Biles spoke at length about the process she went through to “finally learn to love her hair.”
“I was always worried that my hairstyle would be seen as unprofessional,” she said Elle in an article published on July 17: “But I’m not embarrassed anymore.”
Biles explained that she was not taught how to do her own hair growing up and that she instead “always went to the professionals.”
“I’m finally learning to love my hair, my texture and the styles I can do with it,” Biles said.
Biles also shared that she was happy to have a teammate who could help her with her hair, and named her teammate on the US gymnastics team Jordanian chilis the “weaver in the team”.
“We can all go to her to get our hair done,” Biles said.
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