Netflix teaser for Simone Biles’ documentary featuring Viola Davis’ voice will give you goosebumps

What better way to highlight the voice of one of the greatest athletes of our time than with the powerful voice of one of the most respected actors of our time?

Netflix is ​​doing just that in a new teaser for an upcoming documentary series about Simone Biles, the most successful gymnast in history, by hiring Viola Davis as narrator. As if that wasn’t epic enough, Davis’s narration includes lines from an influential voice in the literary world: the late Maya Angelou.

In “Simone Biles Rising,” which premieres on the streaming platform on July 17, Biles reflects on the difficulties she experienced during the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics while looking ahead to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In the poignant teaser, Davis reads an excerpt from Angelou’s “Still I Rise,” which is also one of Biles’ favorite poems.

“Did you want to see me broken?” Davis’ voice begins over a clip of Biles in white gym clothes staring directly into the camera.

“Head bowed and eyes downcast/ Shoulders dropped like tears, weakened by my soulful cries,” she continues, as a clip of Biles at the Tokyo Olympics shows her landing after an apparent bout of “twisting” before more footage of the gymnast at work is shown, eventually shedding tears.

Biles withdrew from individual and team gymnastics competitions in Tokyo after experiencing the twisties, a phenomenon that occurs when gymnasts lose sense of where they are and how they will land in the air. Afterward, she spoke honestly about her mental health struggles, which she will also address in the docuseries.

“Just like moons and like suns/ With the certainty of the tides,” Davis says of footage of Biles outdoors.

“Just like hopes soaring high/ Still I rise,” she concludes, as a video of Biles in happier times plays, like on her wedding day to husband Jonathan Owens and at the top of the podium.

The teaser ends with footage of Biles executing perfect routines in the gym – something gymnastics fans saw her do just a few weeks ago when she made the Olympic team.

Davis had previously expressed her support for Biles by sending the gymnast a message on her Instagram page during the Tokyo Olympics.

“Always a champion. Always a game changer, a rule breaker. Always a consummate teammate… a bastion of support… You changed the sport and reminded us what it means to be HUMAN… and for all of those reasons… you will be remembered,” the actor wrote in July 2021, among other things.

For Biles, the last words in the trailer are particularly meaningful.

She has a tattoo on her collarbone with the words “and still I rise”.

In another clip from the documentary series, Biles explains what the tattoo means to her. She says it is “perfect” because it is the “epitome” of her career and life story, as she always rises to the occasion.

Biles also has several other tattoos, including the Olympic rings, which she got after the 2016 Rio Olympics.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com.