With the 2016 Olympic games underway, all of the athletes are in the spotlight. Everything about them becomes the highlight of the news reporters and people have a lot to say about them. I have been following Simone Biles during the Olympics and on all social medias and she has been absolutely fantastic so far in the games. However, I was reading a few articles and learned that NBC announcer Al Trautwig tweeted that her adoptive mother and father were not her parents (bigstory.ap.org). He later said on the air that “Simone was raised by her grandfather and his wife and she calls them mom and dad” (bigstory.ap.org). Now myself and many others were very outraged with these comments and this is my response to that.

I found that these comments really made me think about this topic. I was enraged for Simone, yet she handled it with grace saying that her adoptive parents were her mom and dad. I feel that the reporters should respect her decision to call her grandparents mom and dad. From day one, they had raised her while her mom struggled with a drug problem, and this reporter had the guts to say that they were not her parents. A parent is someone who is there from day one to love and support a child. Parents are there to hold them when they are sick. They made sure she had clothes on her back, that she got to practices and that she had the opportunity to fulfill her dreams. That is an act of love, to be with that child when they are so frustrating that they give you grey hairs on your head. Blood does not make you family, and although Simone’s adoptive parents are family I feel that so many more people can relate to this. Watching Simone have to correct people over and over again in interviews is disappointing. Why can’t the media respect the fact that her adoptive parents may biologically be her grandparents, but to her they are mom and dad?

I feel that even though these athletes are under the microscope for the duration of the Olympics, they should not be criticized for their beliefs and family structure. Although the media may see them as her grandparents biologically, she chose to call them mom and dad once she was officially adopted and the media should respect that. We should really be focusing on her accomplishments out of the floor rather than her home life. Simone has been a huge asset to the USA Olympic team and has brought home many medals for this country. It is a huge accomplishment considering this is her first Olympics. I look forward to watching her in the future and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.