Photos by Rebecca Zenefski Slater ’10
On September 30, St. Catherine University welcomed one of the world’s most celebrated athletes — and a powerful example of a woman who leads and influences. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles spoke to a sold-out crowd at The O’Shaughnessy in a conversation moderated by St. Kate’s President Marcheta P. Evans, PhD.
Biles, the 2026–27 Bonnie Jean Kelly and Joan Kelly Distinguished Visiting Scholars Lecturer, discussed her decorated career, the challenges she’s faced along the way, and the importance of staying authentic and leading by example.
In her introduction, President Evans spoke to the impact Biles has had on so many people. “It matters when a little girl turns on a television and sees someone who looks like her doing something the world has never seen before,” she said. “It matters when women of color see excellence that is not diminished, hidden, or apologized for, but celebrated.”
In the candid conversation, Biles shared the highs and lows from her career, which includes 11 Olympic medals, seven of them gold — the most by any U.S. gymnast.
“A lot of my career, other people got to define what success looked like,” Biles said. The narrative surrounding her competitions was often “gold or nothing.” “But that wasn’t really what I defined [as] success. In some of my competitions, I’ve fallen and not done well and still won, which I don’t define as successful…I feel like I had to regroup and redefine what success means to me.” And that didn’t necessarily mean only winning gold, but instead, “To have fun, do better than my other competitions, and heighten what I’ve done.”
In addition to her incredible achievements, Biles is also known for expanding the conversation around mental health among athletes. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she withdrew from several events upon experiencing the “twisties” — a lack of an alignment between mind and body that can be dangerous for gymnasts. She decided to take a step back from competing in order to protect herself and to give Team USA a better chance at winning. In being honest about her need for a mental reset, and acknowledging that mental preparation can be just as important as physical training, she garnered the respect of the world.
“I’m not the first athlete to speak about mental health and what that looks like,” Biles said. “Naomi Osaka has done it, Kevin Love has done it — and I looked up to them as role models. I was like, if they can talk about it, then I can, too. I didn’t realize how many people were silently suffering and going through what I was going through.”
Hers was a message that resonated with many people. Biles said other athletes came up to her in the Olympic Village to tell her how much it meant to see someone speaking candidly about the struggles that we all face at times.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, you don’t have to keep pushing through if you don’t feel right or you feel that something’s off,” she said. “You can advocate for yourself. You can speak up.”
Biles spoke about the privilege of acting as a role model, leading by example, and the importance of surrounding yourself with people you can look up to. This belief is something that lies at the heart of her advocacy work. Biles works with Friends of the Children, an organization with chapters all over the country that pairs kids with paid mentors.
“I was a foster child, so foster care and the community is really, really important to me,” Biles said.
At the end of the program, President Evans and Biles were joined onstage by several young student-athletes from St. Kate’s, Gleason’s Gymnastics, YWCA Eureka! Program, and Girl Scouts River Valleys. They each had the opportunity to ask Biles a question, and she offered her advice to young women in sports.
Biles told her fellow female athletes, “It doesn’t matter who tells you what you can or can’t do. Don’t listen to them. Have your vision and go for it, because we’re doing things we never thought would be possible, and we’re doing it very well.”
About the Kelly Lecture
In 2006, alumna Joan Kelly ’46 created the Bonnie Jean Kelly and Joan Kelly Distinguished Visiting Scholars Lecture in honor of her sister, Bonnie Jean Kelly. A successful businesswoman and Phi Beta Kappa graduate in English, Joan (May 22, 1924–Nov. 2, 2016) attended both high school and college on the St. Catherine campus with her sister, Bonnie Jean, who died while a student at St. Kate's.
The other two programs supported include the Bonnie Jean Kelly and Joan Kelly Faculty Excellence Award and the Bonnie Jean Kelly and Joan Kelly Student Excellence in Writing Award.