HER HAIR IS HER CROWNING GLORY

Simone Arianne Biles Owens has earned 37 Olympic and World Championship medals and counting. She is the most decorated gymnast in history, one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. She’s been pictured on cereal boxes; her name is on athletic wear; she has signature gymnastic routines named aft er her. She’s a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, a paid spokes-person for many nation-al brands. Ms. Biles is a recent bride, a college graduate, a victorious survivor of multiple traumas … and people are preoccupied with her hair?! In gymnastics, uniformity in appearance is expected. Most female athletes seem to con form to glossy ponytails, a style that can be onerous for Blacks to create. According to the 2020 – 2021 USA Gymnastics Women’s Program, hair must be “secured away from the face so as to not obscure her vision of the apparatus.” From the instant she was recognized as a legendary star, to her wedding photos, she has been excoriated by many other Black women for her untamed edges, reinforcing the assumption that her kinky hair didn’t conform to European beauty standards. Aft er practicing outside for hours as an honorary cheerleader for the Houston Texans, she was spied...