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Simone Arianne Biles (; born March 14, 1997) is an American
artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...
. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most decorated gymnast in history, and is considered by many sources to be the greatest gymnast of all time. In 2022, Biles was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
by Joe Biden. At the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, Biles won individual gold medals in the all-around, vault, and
floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...
; bronze on balance beam; and gold as part of the United States team, dubbed the " Final Five". At the
2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
, where Biles was favored to win at least four of the six available gold medals, she withdrew from most of the competition due to struggles with " the twisties", a temporary loss of air balance awareness. She ultimately won a silver medal with the US team and a bronze medal on the balance beam. Her partial withdrawal, focus on safety, mental health, and perseverance were praised. She is also a five-time
World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
all-around champion (2013–2015, 2018–2019), five-time World floor exercise champion (2013–2015, 2018–2019), three-time World balance beam champion (2014–2015, 2019), two-time World vault champion (2018–2019), a seven-time United States national all-around champion (2013–2016, 2018–2019, 2021), and a member of the gold medal-winning American teams at the
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...
,
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
,
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, and
2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Stuttgart, Germany from October 4–13, 2019. The championships took place at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, and was the third time the city of Stuttgart hosted the event following th ...
. She is also a three-time World silver medalist (2013 and 2014 on vault, 2018 on uneven bars) and a three-time World bronze medalist (2015 on vault, 2013 and 2018 on balance beam). Biles is the gymnast with the most World medals (25) and most World gold medals (19), having surpassed
Vitaly Scherbo Vitaly Venediktovich Scherbo (or Shcherbo; russian: Виталий Венедиктович Щербо, or Shcherba; be, Віталь Венядзіктавіч Шчэрба, ''Vital' Venjadziktavich Shcherba'', born 13 January 1972) is a Bel ...
's record 23 World medals by winning her 24th and 25th, both gold, at the 2019 competition in Stuttgart. She is the female gymnast with the most World all-around titles (5). She is the sixth woman to win an individual all-around title at both the World Championships and the Olympics, and the first gymnast since
Lilia Podkopayeva Lilia Oleksandrivna Podkopayeva ( uk, Лілія Олександрівна Подкопаєва; born August 15, 1978) is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast. She is the 1995 world all-around champion, and the 1996 Olympic all-around and floor ...
in 1996 to hold both titles simultaneously. She is the tenth female gymnast and first American female gymnast to win a World medal on every event, and the first female gymnast since
Daniela Silivaș Daniela Viorica Silivaș-Harper (; born 9 May 1972), is a Romanian former artistic gymnast best known for medaling in every single event at one Olympics, winning six medals (three gold, two silver, and one bronze) at the 1988 Summer Games in ...
in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships, having accomplished this feat at the 2018 World Championships in Doha.


Early life and education

Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in
Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...
, the third of four siblings. Her birth mother, Shanon Biles, was unable to care for Simone or her other childrenAdria, Ashley, and Tevin. All four went in and out of
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family ...
. In 2000, Biles' maternal grandfather, Ron Biles, and his second wife, Nellie Cayetano Biles, began temporarily caring for Shanon's children in the north
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
suburb of Spring, Texas, after learning that his grandchildren had been in foster care. In 2003, the couple officially adopted Simone and her younger sister Adria. Ron's sister, Shanon's aunt Harriet, adopted the two oldest children. Biles holds
Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...
an citizenship through her adoptive mother and refers to Belize as her second home. Biles and her family are
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. Biles attended Benfer Elementary School in Harris County. In 2012, Biles made the choice to switch from public school to home school, allowing her to increase her training from approximately 20 to 32 hours per week. She gained all of her secondary education as a
homeschooler Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...
, graduating in mid-2015. Biles verbally committed to
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
on August 4, 2014. She planned to defer enrollment until after the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
in Rio de Janeiro; in November 2014, she signed her
National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland ...
with UCLA. On July 29, 2015, she announced that she would turn professional and forfeit her
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
eligibility to compete for UCLA.


Gymnastics career


Pre-elite

Biles first tried gymnastics at age 6 during a day-care field trip. The instructors suggested she continue with gymnastics. Biles soon enrolled in an optional training program at Bannon's Gymnastics. She began training with coach Aimee Boorman at age eight.


Junior


2011

Biles began her elite career at age 14 on July 1, 2011, at the 2011 American Classic in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
. She placed third all-around, first on vault and balance beam, fourth on floor exercise, and eighth on uneven bars. Later that month, Biles competed at the 2011 U.S. Classic in Chicago, Illinois, where she placed 20th all-around, fifth on balance beam and floor exercise.


2012

Biles' first meet of 2012 was the American Classic hosted in
Huntsville, Texas Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home ...
. She placed first all-around and on vault, tied for second on floor exercise, placed third on balance beam, and fourth on uneven bars. Biles' placement in the American Classic secured her a spot to compete at the 2012 USA Gymnastics National Championships. She later competed at the 2012 U.S. Classic in Chicago. She finished first all-around and on vault, second on floor exercise, and sixth on balance beam. In June, she made her second appearance at the U.S. National Championships in St. Louis,
Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
. She finished third all-around, first on vault, and sixth on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. After this performance, Biles was named to the U.S. Junior National Team by a committee headed by
Márta Károlyi Márta Károlyi (; ; born August 29, 1942) is a Hungarian-American gymnastics coach and the former national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics. She and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania, Romania, who trained athletes i ...
, the National Team Coordinator (2001–2016).


Senior


2013

Biles' senior international debut was in March at the 2013
American Cup The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...
, a
FIG The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
World Cup event. She and
Katelyn Ohashi Katelyn Michelle Ohashi (born April 12, 1997) is an American former artistic gymnast who competed for the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a six-time All-American and was a four-time member of USA Gymnastics' Junior National Team, t ...
were named as replacements for Elizabeth Price and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross, both of whom withdrew from the competition because of injuries. Biles led for two rotations but finished second behind her teammate, Ohashi, after a fall off the beam. Biles traveled to Jesolo, Italy to compete at the 2013
City of Jesolo Trophy The City of Jesolo Trophy is an annual women's gymnastics competition held in Jesolo, Italy. There are competitions for the senior division and junior division. The United States won the senior team competition every year from 2010 to 2017.
. She took the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise titles in addition to contributing to the U.S. team's gold medal. She and the U.S. delegation next competed at an international tri-meet in
Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany ...
, Germany, against teams from Germany and Romania. The U.S. won the team gold medal. In addition, Biles won the vault, balance beam, and floor titles, and tied for second in the all-around, behind Kyla Ross, after a fall on the uneven bars. In July, Biles competed at the 2013 U.S. Classic. She performed poorly, falling several times, and did not compete vault after twisting her ankle on the floor exercise. In the aftermath of this poor performance, Biles consulted a sports psychologist whom she credits with helping her anxiety and confidence issues and allowing her to begin her streak of dominance in the sport. Biles competed at the 2013 USA Gymnastics National Championships in August, where she was crowned the national all-around champion. Biles also won silver on all four individual events. After the USA Gymnastics National Championships, Biles was named to the Senior National Team and was invited to the qualifying camp for the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Texas. She was selected for the World Championships team. In October, Biles competed at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in
Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
. She qualified first in the all-around, second to the vault final, sixth to the uneven bars final, fifth to the balance beam final, and first to the floor final, making her the first American gymnast to qualify to the all-around and all four event finals since Shannon Miller in 1991. Biles competed cleanly during the women's individual all-around and won the competition with a score of 60.216, almost a point ahead of silver medalist Ross, and almost a point and a half better than the bronze medalist, 2010 world all-around champion
Aliya Mustafina Aliya Farkhatovna Mustafina (russian: Алия Фархатовна Мустафина) is a Russian former artistic gymnast. With a combined total of 45 Olympic, World and European Championship medals, she is considered one of the most successf ...
. At the age of 16, Biles became the seventh American woman and the first African American to win the world all-around title. In event finals, she won silver on the vault, behind defending world champion and Olympic silver medalist McKayla Maroney and ahead of 2008 Olympic gold medalist Hong Un Jong of North Korea; bronze on balance beam, behind Mustafina and Ross; and gold on the floor exercise, ahead of Italy's Vanessa Ferrari and Romania's Larisa Iordache. She finished fourth in the uneven bars final, behind China's
Huang Huidan Huang Huidan () is a Chinese artistic gymnast. She is the 2013 world uneven bars champion and 2014 world uneven bars silver medalist. She represents Zhejiang in domestic competitions. Junior career Huang joined the Chinese national team in 2009 ...
, Ross, and Mustafina.


2014

Biles missed the start of the season due to injury, sitting out the 2014 AT&T American Cup and the 2014 Pacific Rim Championships. Her debut that year was at the U.S. Classic in Chicago. She won the all-around by a wide margin and also took first place on vault, beam (tied with Ross), and floor. At the 2014 USA Gymnastics National Championships, Biles repeated as national all-around champion after two days of competition, finishing more than four points ahead of silver medalist Ross, despite a fall from the balance beam during her final routine of the meet. She won the gold on vault and floor, tied for the silver on balance beam with Alyssa Baumann, and finished fourth on the uneven bars. She was once again selected for the Senior National Team. On September 17, Biles was selected to compete at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in
Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South o ...
, China. She dominated the preliminary round despite a major error on the uneven bars, qualifying in first place to the all-around, vault, beam, and floor finals, in addition to contributing to the U.S. team's first-place qualification into the team final. During the team final, Biles led the United States to its second consecutive world team championship, which they won over the second-place Chinese team by nearly seven points. In the all-around, Biles performed cleanly on all four events, bettering her bars score from qualifications by more than a point, and won her second consecutive world all-around title ahead of Ross and Romanian Larisa Iordache. Biles became the second American woman to repeat as world all-around champion, following Miller (1993 and 1994), and the first woman of any nationality to do so since Russia's Svetlana Khorkina (2001 and 2003). Biles finished behind North Korea's Hong Un Jong in the vault competition, taking her second consecutive silver medal in that event. She won the gold in the balance-beam final ahead of China's Bai Yawen and the gold in the floor exercise final, again, ahead of Iordache. This brought her total of World Championship gold medals to six, the most ever by an American gymnast, surpassing Miller's five.


2015

Biles competed at the 2015 AT&T American Cup at
AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the ho ...
in
Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region ...
, on March 7. She placed first with a score of 62.299, 4.467 points ahead of second-place finisher U.S. teammate MyKayla Skinner. Later that month, Biles was nominated for the
James E. Sullivan Award The AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), is awarded annually in April to "the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Representatives from the AAU created the AAU Sullivan Award with the int ...
. She ended the month at the
2015 City of Jesolo Trophy The 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy ( it, Trofeo Citta Jesolo 2015) was the eighth edition of the City of Jesolo Trophy competition and was held March 25–29, 2015 at the SGA Gymnasium Treviso in Jesolo, Italy Teams from Italy, the United States, Cana ...
, winning the all-around title with 62.100. On July 25, she competed at the U.S. Classic and finished first in the all-around, ahead of 2012 Olympic all-around champion
Gabby Douglas Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 20 ...
and Maggie Nichols, with a score of 62.400. On the beam, she scored a 15.250 and took first at the event, ahead of Douglas and 2012 Olympic beam bronze medalist Aly Raisman. She scored a 16.050 on the floor and claimed first on the event, 1.050 points ahead of Douglas and also ahead of Nichols and Bailie Key. She had a small hop on her Amanar vault and scored a 16.000. She then scored 15.150 on her second vault, to score an average of 15.575 and place first in the event, ahead of 2014 Worlds vault bronze medalist and teammate MyKayla Skinner, who averaged 14.950. Biles ended on bars and scored a 15.100 to claim the all-around title. She placed fourth in the event behind 2014 Worlds teammate Madison Kocian, Douglas, and Key. At the 2015 U.S. National Championships, Biles secured her third all-around national title, becoming only the second woman ever to do so, 23 years after Kim Zmeskal (1990, 1991, 1992). Biles, along with Douglas, Dowell, Kocian, Nichols, Raisman, and Skinner, was selected to represent the United States at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Biles once again qualified in first place in the all-around, vault, beam, and floor finals. Her uneven bars score would have qualified her in eighth place in that final as well, but she was excluded, as per the rules, after teammates Kocian and Douglas qualified ahead of her. In team finals, she helped the United States team win their third consecutive gold medal at a World Championships event. During the all-around final, Biles performed below her usual standard, taking a large hop on the vault, landing out of bounds on floor (which she stated was a first), and grasping the beam to prevent a fall. However, her final score of 60.399 was more than enough to secure the title with her largest margin of victory yet (over a point ahead of silver medalist Gabby Douglas and bronze medalist Larisa Iordache). With that victory, Biles became the first woman to win three consecutive all-around titles in
World Gymnastics Championships Gymnastics World Championships refers to a number of different world championships for each of the disciplines in competitive gymnastics. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) organizes World Championships for six disciplines: acrobatic ...
history. During day one of event finals, Biles competed on vault, taking bronze behind Maria Paseka (RUS) and Hong Un Jong (PRK). On day two, she competed on balance beam and floor exercise, retaining her world title on both events by large margins. This brought Biles's total World Championships medal count to 14, the most for any American, and total gold medal count to ten, the most for any woman in World Championships history.


2016

In April, Biles began her season at the Pacific Rim Championships, where she won the all-around title and had the highest score on vault (where she debuted a more difficult second vault), floor exercise (where she debuted a new floor routine), and balance beam. Additionally, the U.S. won the team title by a wide margin. Biles did not compete in the event finals. On June 4, Biles competed at the Secret U.S. Classic on two events only, the uneven bars and beam. She placed first on balance beam with a 15.650 and placed fifth on uneven bars with a 15.1.FILE:EUA levam ouro na ginástica artística feminina; Brasil fica em 8º lugar (28264942923).jpg, left, Biles competing at the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
In the following weeks at the 2016 U.S. National Championships, Biles won the all-around title by a wide margin of 3.9 points over Aly Raisman. She won the gold medal on vault and floor exercise, receiving scores of at least 16 all four times. She also won the gold medal on balance beam and placed fourth on uneven bars. On July 10, Biles was named to the team for the
2016 Rio Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...
, alongside
Gabby Douglas Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 20 ...
, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman. In September 2016, Biles' medical information was released and she was accused of doping to enhance performance following the Russian cyber espionage group
Fancy Bear Fancy Bear (also known as APT28 (by Mandiant), Pawn Storm, Sofacy Group (by Kaspersky), Sednit, Tsar Team (by FireEye) and STRONTIUM (by Microsoft)) is a Russian cyber espionage group. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has said with a medium l ...
's hack into the World Anti Doping Agency. Biles then disclosed on Twitter that she has
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...
and was permitted to take medication for it, having applied for and received a Therapeutic Use Exemption.


=2016 Summer Olympics

= Biles appeared with gymnasts Dominique Dawes and Nadia Comăneci in a commercial for
Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...
called "The Evolution of Power" prior to the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
. On August 7, Biles competed in the Women's Qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Along with helping the US team qualify in first place to the team final with a score of 185.238 (9.959 points ahead of the second-place team, China) she individually qualified as the top gymnast into four of the five individual finals: the all-around with a score of 62.416, vault with an average score of 16.050, balance beam with a score of 15.633, and floor exercise with a score of 15.733. On August 9, Biles won her first Olympic gold medal in the gymnastics team event. The only gymnast for Team USA to compete on all four events in the final, she contributed an all-around score of 61.833 (15.933 on vault, 14.800 on bars, 15.300 on beam, and 15.800 on floor) as the Americans won the gold with a score of 184.897, over 8 points ahead of the silver medal Russian team. Biles won the gold medal in the individual all-around on August 11, ahead of teammate Aly Raisman and Russia's
Aliya Mustafina Aliya Farkhatovna Mustafina (russian: Алия Фархатовна Мустафина) is a Russian former artistic gymnast. With a combined total of 45 Olympic, World and European Championship medals, she is considered one of the most successf ...
. Biles earned a total score of 62.198 with 15.866 on the vault, 14.966 on the uneven bars, 15.433 on the balance beam, and 15.933 on the floor. Biles had the highest scores on vault, balance beam, and floor; she had the only score over 15 on balance beam in the finals. She and Raisman became the second pair of American gymnasts to win gold and silver in the individual all-around, after Nastia Liukin and
Shawn Johnson Shawn Johnson East (born Shawn Machel Johnson; January 19, 1992) is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Johnson is also the 2007 al ...
in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. In the vault final, she scored 15.900 for her Amânar and 16.033 for her Cheng to win her second individual gold medal with an average score of 15.966, more than 0.7 points ahead of second-place finisher Maria Paseka of Russia and third-place finisher Giulia Steingruber of
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. In the balance beam final, she grabbed the beam with her hands (a mandatory 0.5 point deduction) after underrotating her front tuck and scored a 14.733. Despite her mistake, she won the bronze medal behind teammate Laurie Hernandez (who won silver with a score of 15.333), and Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands (who won the gold medal scoring 15.466). In the floor exercise final, she won gold with a score of 15.966. Teammate Aly Raisman won silver with a score of 15.500 and
Amy Tinkler Amy Tinkler (born 27 October 1999) is a retired British artistic gymnast. She is the 2016 Olympic floor exercise bronze medallist and the 2015 British all-around champion. Junior career 2013 In late March, Tinkler competed at the 2013 Britis ...
of Great Britain won bronze scoring 14.933. With Biles' five total medals along with Madison Kocian's silver medal on the uneven bars, the USA claimed a medal in every women's artistic gymnastics event for the first time since 1984. With four Olympic gold medals, Biles set an American record for most gold medals in women's gymnastics at a single Games, and equaled a number of other records with her medals won in Rio. Biles winning four gold medals was the first instance of a quadruple gold medallist in women's gymnastics at a single Games since
Ecaterina Szabo Ecaterina Szabo ( hu, Szabó Katalin, ; born 22 January 1967) is a former Romanian artistic gymnast who won 20 Olympic, world and continental medals. Szabo won gold medals in the 1984 Olympics in three individual events (vault, balance beam ( ...
(Romania) in 1984, and fifth overall, after
Larisa Latynina Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (russian: link=yes, Лариса Семёновна Латынина, née Diriy, Дирий; born 27 December 1934) is a former Soviet artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and ...
(USSR, 1956), Agnes Keleti (HUN, 1956),
Věra Čáslavská en, the love of Tokyo ja, 「オリンピックの名花」 en, darling of the Olympic Games , country = Czechoslovakia , formercountry = , birth_date = , birth_place = Prague, Czechoslovakia ( occupied by Germany 1939– ...
(CZE, 1968) and Szabo. Biles became the sixth female gymnast to have won an individual all-around title at both the World Championships and the Olympics—the others being
Larisa Latynina Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (russian: link=yes, Лариса Семёновна Латынина, née Diriy, Дирий; born 27 December 1934) is a former Soviet artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and ...
,
Věra Čáslavská en, the love of Tokyo ja, 「オリンピックの名花」 en, darling of the Olympic Games , country = Czechoslovakia , formercountry = , birth_date = , birth_place = Prague, Czechoslovakia ( occupied by Germany 1939– ...
, Ludmilla Tourischeva, Elena Shushunova, and
Lilia Podkopayeva Lilia Oleksandrivna Podkopayeva ( uk, Лілія Олександрівна Подкопаєва; born August 15, 1978) is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast. She is the 1995 world all-around champion, and the 1996 Olympic all-around and floor ...
. Biles is the first female gymnast since
Lilia Podkopayeva Lilia Oleksandrivna Podkopayeva ( uk, Лілія Олександрівна Подкопаєва; born August 15, 1978) is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast. She is the 1995 world all-around champion, and the 1996 Olympic all-around and floor ...
(UKR) in 1996 to win gold in the all-around as well as an event final, and the first female gymnast since Podkopayeva to win the Olympic all-around title while holding the World and European/American individual all-around titles. Biles joins Latynina (1956–1960), Čáslavská (1964–1968) and Tourischeva (1968–1972), as the fourth female gymnast to win every major all-around title in an Olympic cycle. Biles joined Mary Lou Retton in 1984, Shannon Miller in 1992, and Nastia Liukin in 2008 in winning five women's gymnastics medals at a single Olympiad, along with Szabo (ROU, 1984),
Nadia Comaneci Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope" in many Slavic languages: Uk ...
(ROU, 1976), and Karin Janz (East Germany, 1972).
Olga Mostepanova Olga Vasilyevna Mostepanova (russian: Ольга Васильевна Мостепанова, born 3 January 1970) is a retired former Soviet gymnast. She won three gold medals at the World Championships. Personal life Mostepanova's birth year ...
(USSR) also won five gold medals at the Alternate Olympics in 1984. The overall record for most women's Olympic gymnastics medals at a single games (majority gold), remains six medals (Latynina, 1956, 1960, and 1964, Keleti, 1956, Caslavska, 1968, Daniela Silivas, 1988). Biles and her teammate,
Gabby Douglas Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 20 ...
, are the only American female gymnasts to win both the individual all-around gold and team gold at the same Olympiad. Douglas won both in the 2012 London Games. Biles was chosen by Team USA to be the flag bearer in the closing ceremonies, becoming the first American female gymnast to receive this honor.


Hiatus

Biles did not compete in 2017. After the 2016 Rio Games, she co-wrote an autobiography with journalist Michelle Burford, ''Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance''. Biles said, "I want people to reach for their dreams and there are so many people who have inspired me with their love and encouragement along the way-and I want to pass on that inspiration to readers." The book hit number one on ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' best sellers Young Adult list the week of January 8, 2017, and was turned into a Lifetime biopic. Biles competed on season 24 of ''
Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...
'', attempting to replicate her Rio teammate Laurie Hernandez's win in season 23. Paired with professional dancer Sasha Farber, she was favored to win, but was eliminated on May 15, 2017, one week before the finals, finishing in fourth place. In August, during the 2017 P&G National Championships, Biles said that she had returned to the gym to start conditioning. Her longtime coach, Aimee Boorman, had moved to Florida with her family; in October Biles hired coach Laurent Landi, who had coached her Olympic teammate Madison Kocian.


Return to competition


2018

Biles was added back to the National Team on March 1 after the Athlete Selection Committee viewed recent videos of her performances. Her first competition of the year was the U.S. Classic in July, where she won the all-around title ahead of
Riley McCusker Riley Shannon McCusker (born July 9, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast and a six-time member of the United States women's national gymnastics team (2016–2021). She is the 2019 Pan American Games and 2017 United States national uneven bar ...
by 1.200 points. She also won the gold medal on floor and balance beam and recorded the highest single vault score. Her all-around score of 58.700 became the highest score recorded under the 2017–2020 Code of Points despite a fall on the uneven bars and an out-of-bounds penalty on floor exercise. She showed numerous upgrades to her routines from 2016, including a Fabrichnova (double-twisting double back dismount) and a Van Leeuwen on uneven bars, and a
Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinc ...
(double-twisting double layout) on floor exercise. In August, Biles competed at the 2018 National Championships. She placed first in every event over the two days of competition, the first woman to do so since Dominique Dawes in 1994. Biles won the all-around title 6.55 points ahead of second-place finisher and reigning world champion Morgan Hurd and set a record for the most national all-around titles with five. This placement also marked her fourth national vault title, third national balance beam and floor exercise titles, and first national uneven bars title. Her 60.100 all-around score from the first day of competition was the first score recorded above 60 since her own all-around victory at the 2016 Olympics. She was named to her seventh national team and was invited to the October selection camp for the 2018 World Championships. At the
2018 Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held ...
, the mixed multi-discipline teams were named for gymnastics legends, including Biles, Nadia Comăneci, and
Kōhei Uchimura is a retired Japanese artistic gymnast. He is a seven-time Olympic medalist (all-around, team and floor exercise), winning three golds and four silvers, and a twenty-one-time World medalist (all-around, team, floor exercise, horizontal bar, and ...
. The team named for Biles won gold. In October, Biles participated in the World Team Selection Camp. She placed first in the all-around as well as first on vault and floor exercise. She placed second on the uneven bars behind McCusker, and fourth on balance beam (due to hands touching the mat on dismount) behind Kara Eaker, McCusker, and
Ragan Smith Ragan Elizabeth Smith (born August 8, 2000) is an American collegiate gymnast. She is a five-time member of the US National Team (2014–2019). She is the 2017 United States national all-around champion and was an alternate for the 2016 Olymp ...
. Biles debuted a new vault: a
Yurchenko Yurchenko is a Ukrainian patronymic surname that comes from the name Yuriy. It may refer to: * David Yurchenko (born 1986), Russian-Armenian footballer * Denys Yurchenko (born 1978), Ukrainian pole vaulter * Ihor Yurchenko (born 1960), Soviet a ...
with a half turn onto the table with a stretched salto forward off with two full twists ( Cheng with an extra half twist). The following day she was named to the team to compete at the 2018 World Championships alongside McCusker, Hurd, Grace McCallum, Eaker, and alternate
Ragan Smith Ragan Elizabeth Smith (born August 8, 2000) is an American collegiate gymnast. She is a five-time member of the US National Team (2014–2019). She is the 2017 United States national all-around champion and was an alternate for the 2016 Olymp ...
.


= 2018 World Championships

= In late October, at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Biles went to an
emergency room An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...
the night before the qualification round because of stomach pains that turned out to be a
kidney stone Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) develops in the urinary tract. Kidney stones typically form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine s ...
. After confirming that it was not
appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a r ...
, she checked herself out of the hospital. The following day, she qualified to the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise finals in first place, and to the uneven bars final in second place behind Nina Derwael of Belgium. After successfully performing the vault she premiered at the selection camp, it was named the Biles in the Code of Points and given a difficulty value of 6.4 (for the 2017–2020 code of points), which was tied with the Produnova for the most difficult women's vault ever competed. The US also qualified to the team final in first place. During the team final, Biles competed on all four events, recording the highest score of any competitor on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise. The U.S. team won the gold medal with a score of 171.629, 8.766 points ahead of second place Russia, beating previous margin of victory records set in the open-ended code of points era at the 2014 World Championships (6.693) and the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
(8.209). In the all-around final, Biles won the gold medal by a margin of 1.7 points despite falling on both the vault and the balance beam. The overwhelming difficulty gap between her and her competitors allowed her to claim the title with a score of 57.491 over silver medalist
Mai Murakami is a retired Japanese artistic gymnast and Olympic medalist. She is the 2017 World Champion and 2021 World Champion on floor exercise, the 2018 World all-around silver medalist and floor exercise bronze medalist, and a four-time Japanese nat ...
of Japan and bronze medalist Morgan Hurd. Earning her fourth world all-around title, Biles set a new record for most women's World All-Around titles, surpassing the previous record of three held by Svetlana Khorkina. She also became the first defending Olympic women's all-around champion to earn a world all-around title since 1972 Olympic champion Lyudmilla Turischeva did so in 1974. In the event finals, Biles won the gold medal on vault, her first ever world vault title. The two vaults she competed were a Cheng and an Amanar. This marked her thirteenth World gold medal, meaning Biles had won the most
Gymnastics World Championships Gymnastics World Championships refers to a number of different world championships for each of the disciplines in competitive gymnastics. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) organizes World Championships for six disciplines: acrobatic ...
titles of any gender, breaking Soviet
Vitaly Scherbo Vitaly Venediktovich Scherbo (or Shcherbo; russian: Виталий Венедиктович Щербо, or Shcherba; be, Віталь Венядзіктавіч Шчэрба, ''Vital' Venjadziktavich Shcherba'', born 13 January 1972) is a Bel ...
's previous record of twelve gold medals. She then won the silver medal on uneven bars behind Nina Derwael of Belgium. By winning a medal on uneven bars, Biles became the first American and the tenth female gymnast from any country to have won a World Championship medal on every event. The following day, she won the bronze medal on balance beam behind Liu Tingting of China and
Ana Padurariu Anne-Marie "Ana" Padurariu ( ro, Ana Pădurariu; born August 1, 2002) is a Canadian artistic gymnast and the 2018 World Championships silver medalist on balance beam. Early life Ana Padurariu is of Romanian descent. Born in Bracebridge, Ont ...
of Canada after a large balance check on her Barani. She then won the gold medal on floor exercise with a strong routine. In doing so, she became the first U.S. gymnast and first non- Soviet gymnast to win a medal on every event at a single World Championships, as well as the first gymnast from any country to do so since Elena Shushunova in 1987. Her 6 medals at this World Championships brought her total number of world medals to 20, which tied her with Khorkina for most world medals won.


2019

In early March, Biles competed at the Stuttgart World Cup, her first World Cup appearance not on American soil. She finished in first place, 3.668 points ahead of second-place
Ana Padurariu Anne-Marie "Ana" Padurariu ( ro, Ana Pădurariu; born August 1, 2002) is a Canadian artistic gymnast and the 2018 World Championships silver medalist on balance beam. Early life Ana Padurariu is of Romanian descent. Born in Bracebridge, Ont ...
of Canada. In July, Biles competed at the 2019 GK US Classic. During podium training, she performed a triple-twisting double-tucked salto backwards (upgraded from a Silivas), but did not perform it during the competition. Biles won the all-around, 2.1 points ahead of second-place finisher
Riley McCusker Riley Shannon McCusker (born July 9, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast and a six-time member of the United States women's national gymnastics team (2016–2021). She is the 2019 Pan American Games and 2017 United States national uneven bar ...
. Individually, she placed fifth on bars behind Morgan Hurd, Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum and McCusker, third on beam behind Kara Eaker and McCusker, and first on floor exercise. She also had the highest single vault score, ahead of
Jade Carey Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Best known for her abilities on vault and floor exercise, she is the 2020 Olympic champion on floor exe ...
and MyKayla Skinner. In August, Biles competed at the 2019 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. She placed first in the all-around, with a two-day combined score of 118.500. In the competition, she became the first woman to complete a triple twisting double somersault on floor exercise and the first gymnast to complete a double twisting double somersault dismount off of the balance beam. She placed first on vault, ahead of
Jade Carey Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Best known for her abilities on vault and floor exercise, she is the 2020 Olympic champion on floor exe ...
and MyKayla Skinner, first on balance beam ahead of Kara Eaker and Leanne Wong, first on floor exercise ahead of Carey and Sunisa Lee, and third on uneven bars behind Lee and Morgan Hurd. In September, Biles competed at the US World Championships trials where she placed first in the all-around, despite falling on her dismount off the uneven bars, and earned a place on the team that would compete at the 2019 World Championships in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...
. The following day her teammates Sunisa Lee, Kara Eaker, MyKayla Skinner,
Jade Carey Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Best known for her abilities on vault and floor exercise, she is the 2020 Olympic champion on floor exe ...
, and Grace McCallum were also named to the team.


= 2019 World Championships

= During qualifications at the World Championships, Biles helped the USA qualify to the team final in first place, over five points ahead of second-place China. Individually, she qualified to the all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise finals in first place, the vault final in second place by a margin of one one-thousandth below teammate
Jade Carey Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Best known for her abilities on vault and floor exercise, she is the 2020 Olympic champion on floor exe ...
, and the uneven bars final in seventh place. She debuted two new eponymous skills: the ''Biles II'' on floor exercise, a triple-twisting double-tucked somersault, and the ''Biles'' on balance beam, a double-twisting double-tucked somersault dismount. Both elements were given the highest difficulty rating of J (1.0) for all elements on their respective apparatus, and the Biles II is the only element in artistic gymnastics to receive the J rating across all disciplines for both men and women. In the team final, Biles led Team USA to its fifth consecutive team title, contributing scores of 15.400, 14.600, 14.433, and 15.333 on vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise, respectively. In doing so, Biles surpassed Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina as the most-decorated female gymnast in World Championship history. Her scores on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise were the highest of the day. During the all-around final Biles won gold with a score of 58.999, a record-setting 2.1 points ahead of second-place finisher Tang Xijing of China. Once again, she recorded the highest scores of the day on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise. During the first day of event finals, Biles won the gold medal on vault, ahead of teammate Carey and Ellie Downie of Great Britain. After earning a medal on vault, her 23rd World Championships medal, Biles tied the record for most medals won at the
World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
with Soviet/Belarusian gymnast
Vitaly Scherbo Vitaly Venediktovich Scherbo (or Shcherbo; russian: Виталий Венедиктович Щербо, or Shcherba; be, Віталь Венядзіктавіч Шчэрба, ''Vital' Venjadziktavich Shcherba'', born 13 January 1972) is a Bel ...
. During the uneven bars final Biles earned a score of 14.700, finishing in fifth place, one tenth behind bronze medalist and teammate Sunisa Lee. On the second day of event finals Biles scored 15.066 on the balance beam, earning the gold medal over reigning World balance beam Champion Liu Tingting and
Li Shijia Li Shijia (; born October 7, 2003) is a Chinese artistic gymnast. She is the 2019 World bronze medalist on balance beam and the 2019 Zhaoqing World Cup champion on uneven bars and balance beam. Career Junior 2018 Li competed at the 2018 WOG ...
, both of China, by over 0.6 points. This marked Biles's 24th World Championships medal, surpassing Scherbo's record and making Biles the sole record holder for most World Championship medals won by a gymnast, whether male or female. Before the final, Biles credited her improved confidence on beam in the past year to her coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, who helped rework her routine following shaky performances in the event finals at the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
and the 2018 World Championships. Biles and Landi removed inconsistent skills including the Barani, front pike, and front tuck saltos, replacing them with skills such as an aerial cartwheel (which Biles had not performed since 2014) and introducing the upgraded Biles dismount. On floor exercise Biles won gold with a score of 15.133, one point more than silver medalist
Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...
. By winning five gold medals in Stuttgart, Biles tied the record of most gold medals won at a single World Championships with
Larisa Latynina Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (russian: link=yes, Лариса Семёновна Латынина, née Diriy, Дирий; born 27 December 1934) is a former Soviet artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and ...
and
Boris Shakhlin Boris Anfiyanovich Shakhlin (russian: Борис Анфиянович Шахлин; 27 January 1932 – 30 May 2008) was a Soviet gymnast who was the 1960 Olympic all-around champion and the 1958 all-around World Champion. He won a total of 13 ...
, who both accomplished this at the 1958 World Championships. Furthermore, by winning her fifth gold medal on floor exercise, Biles tied the record for most world titles on one apparatus with Italian Jury Chechi (who won five gold medals on still rings) and Russian Svetlana Khorkina (who won five gold medals on uneven bars).


2020

In February it was announced that Biles was chosen to represent the United States at the Tokyo World Cup taking place on April 4. However, in March
USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and train ...
announced that Biles would not attend due to concern about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic both domestically and worldwide (including
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
). The following day the Japanese Gymnastics Association announced that they had canceled the event.


2021

In May, Biles competed at the U.S. Classic. She debuted a
Yurchenko Yurchenko is a Ukrainian patronymic surname that comes from the name Yuriy. It may refer to: * David Yurchenko (born 1986), Russian-Armenian footballer * Denys Yurchenko (born 1978), Ukrainian pole vaulter * Ihor Yurchenko (born 1960), Soviet a ...
double pike vault, which no woman had ever completed before, on her way to another U.S. Classic all-around title. The new vault was given a preliminary value of 6.6, making it the highest valued vault in women's gymnastics. In June, Biles competed at the U.S. National Championships and won her 7th national all-around title and qualified for the
Olympic Trials Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
. In addition to winning the all-around title by 4.7 points, Biles also placed first in the vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, as well as third in the uneven bars. At the Olympic Trials, Biles placed first and earned an automatic spot onto the
Olympic team A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...
. She finished 2.266 points ahead of second-place finisher Sunisa Lee; however Lee's day two score of the competition (58.166) was higher than Biles's (57.533), which was the first time anyone has posted a higher single-day all-around score than Biles since Kyla Ross in 2013. Also named to the Olympic team were Lee, Biles's club teammate
Jordan Chiles Jordan Lucella Elizabeth Chiles (born April 15, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the team event. She was a member of the team that won gold at the 2 ...
, and Grace McCallum.


= 2020 Summer Olympics

= At the
2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
, Biles performed the all-around during the qualifications and helped the United States qualify for the team final, in second place behind the ROC team. She suffered several mishaps during qualifications: she bounced entirely off the floor landing on one of her tumbling passes and stepped one foot off the landing mat during her Cheng vault, and took several large stumbles back on her balance beam dismount. Despite these mistakes, Biles still qualified for the all-around final in first place. She also qualified in first place for the vault final, advanced to the floor exercise final in second place behind Vanessa Ferrari, and qualified for the balance beam and uneven bars finals. She was the only athlete to qualify for all the individual finals. Following her qualifications performance, Biles stated on Instagram that she was " eelingthe weight of the world on ershoulders" and that she felt affected by the pressure of the Olympics. During warm-ups for the first rotation of the team final, Biles balked on her Amanar vault mid-air, performing 1.5 twists instead of the expected 2.5. She repeated this in the competition, balking and performing the 1.5 twist with a large lunge and near-fall on the landing, and scored just 13.766 with a difficulty score of 5.0 (rather than the Amanar's 5.8). She subsequently left the competition floor (although she returned to the floor a few minutes later) and withdrew from the rest of the team competition, citing mental health issues. Biles later explained that she was inspired by fellow female Olympian
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champ ...
, who had withdrawn from the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...
and
Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...
earlier in the year for similar reasons. The U.S. team went on to win the silver medal behind the ROC athletes. On July 28, 2021, Biles withdrew from the finals of the individual all-around competition, again citing mental health concerns. Following further medical evaluation on July 30, she also withdrew from the vault and uneven bars finals, both scheduled for the first day of the individual event finals. Due to a continued mental block, on July 31, Biles also withdrew from the
floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...
final, scheduled for the second day of individual event finals, while still leaving the possibility of competing in the balance beam final on the last day of the event finals. She later confirmed on August 2 that she would compete in the beam final. Although Biles performed a relatively scaled down routine with an easier double pike dismount in the beam final, she won the bronze medal behind China's
Guan Chenchen Guan Chenchen ( zh, c=管晨辰, p=Guǎn Chén Chén; born September 25, 2004) is a Chinese former artistic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic champion and the 2020 Chinese champion on the balance beam. On the junior level, she was a member of ...
and Tang Xijing. With the bronze, she tied Shannon Miller for most Olympic medals by an American female gymnast with seven total. Biles also tied
Larisa Latynina Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (russian: link=yes, Лариса Семёновна Латынина, née Diriy, Дирий; born 27 December 1934) is a former Soviet artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and ...
of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
for most medals won by a female gymnast of all time with 32 combined World and Olympic medals. She called her bronze beam medal her most meaningful one, as she felt it symbolized her focus on mental health and her perseverance. Biles later revealed that her aunt had passed unexpectedly two days before the beam event final. Biles explained that she withdrew primarily due to experiencing " the twisties", a psychological phenomenon causing a gymnast to lose air awareness while performing twisting elements, throughout the Olympics. She noted that while it was not the first time she had had the twisties on vault or floor, it was the first time she experienced them on uneven bars and balance beam. Biles made the decision to withdraw after the first rotation of the team final because she felt that she had "simply got so lost ersafety was at risk as well as a team medal." During the week,
Juntendo University is a private university in Japan. Its headquarters are on its campus in Bunkyo, Tokyo, for the School of Medicine and in Inzai, Chiba, for the School of Health and Sports Science. The university was established in 1838 for medical and in 1946 f ...
allowed Biles to practice at their gym, located an hour outside of Tokyo, where she could practice quietly away from the public eye. Some commentators criticized Biles, accusing her of being a "quitter" or selfishly depriving another athlete of the chance to compete. She was also slandered with racist, sexist, and transphobic comments in the Russian state-owned media, as well as openly accused of being a drug cheat due to her Therapeutic Use Exemption for ADHD medication. Multiple gymnasts, however, defended Biles' decision and relayed their own stories of struggling with the twisties. Biles' decision to prioritize her mental health was generally widely praised and credited with starting a wider conversation about the role of mental health in sports. Alongside Biles, other Olympians in Tokyo also showed greater willingness to discuss and publicly acknowledge mental health issues, indicative of a wider approach to sport where athletes are prioritizing their health over performance.


Awards

Biles was named Team USA Female Olympic Athlete of the Year in December 2015, making her the fourth gymnast to win the honor. In December 2016, Biles was chosen as one of the sponsors of the US Navy aircraft carrier USS ''Enterprise'' alongside swimmer
Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky (born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer. She has won seven Olympics, Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. Ledecky's six individual gold ...
. They are the first Olympians to be given this honor. In 2016, Simone Biles won the Glamour Award for the Record Breaker. In 2016, she was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Women, and after the world championships, she was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25 and chosen as Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation. She was also one of the finalists for ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
s 2016
Person of the Year __NOTOC__ Person of the Year or Man of the Year is an award given to an individual by any type of organization. Most often, it is given by a newspaper or other news outlet to annually recognize a public person. Such awards have typically been awa ...
. Biles was also nominated for a 2016 ESPY award for Best Female Athlete along with
Elena Delle Donne Elena Delle Donne (born September 5, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Delle Donne played college basketball for the Delaware Blue Hens from 200 ...
,
Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky (born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer. She has won seven Olympics, Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. Ledecky's six individual gold ...
, and
Breanna Stewart Breanna Mackenzie Stewart (born Baldwin; born August 27, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In high school, Stewart was the National Gatorade Player o ...
; Stewart won the award. In July 2017, Biles won the ESPY Award for Best Female Athlete. She is the second gymnast to win this award after Nastia Liukin won it in 2009. In 2017, Simone won the
Shorty Awards The Shorty Awards (also known as “The Shortys”) honors the most innovative work globally in digital and social media by brands, agencies, nonprofits and creators. The Shortys’ mission is to celebrate, inspire and push the boundaries of exce ...
for the best in sports. At the 2017
Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United ...
, Simone won favorite female athlete, and won Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year in 2017. In 2017, Biles was awarded the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...
. In May 2018, it was announced that Biles and the other survivors would be awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. In December, it was announced that Biles was named
ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year ...
's most dominant athlete of 2018. In February 2019, it was announced that Biles was named Laureus' Sportswoman of the Year for the second time, beating out tennis players Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber, snowboarder Ester Ledecká, triathlete
Daniela Ryf Daniela Ryf (born 29 May 1987) is a Swiss triathlete. She is the titles holder of the Ironman World Championship of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021; and of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship of the 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Ryf compe ...
, and skier Mikaela Shiffrin. Biles was nominated for the 2019 ESPY Award for Best Female Athlete but lost to soccer player Alex Morgan. In November 2019, Biles won the People's Choice Award for ''The Game Changer of 2019''. In February 2020 Biles was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year for the second consecutive year and third time overall, beating out nominees
Allyson Felix Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 mete ...
,
Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger and captains OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), as well as the United States ...
, Mikaela Shiffrin,
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champ ...
, and
Shelly-Ann Fraser Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce OD, OJ (née Fraser; born December 27, 1986) is a Jamaican track and field sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time. ...
. In February 2021, Biles criticized ESPN's SportsCenter for excluding women athletes in their "Greatest of All Time" picture. In September 2021, she appeared on the ''Time'' 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, for "championing mental health". On July 7, 2022, Biles was presented with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
, the nation's highest honor given to civilians, by
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Joe Biden in a ceremony at the White House; she was among a group of 17 honorees that included
Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger and captains OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), as well as the United States ...
. She is the youngest person to receive this award.


Sponsors and endorsements

Biles signed with the
Octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, w ...
sports agency in July 2015, which also markets fellow American gymnast Aly Raisman and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. In November 2015, she announced on Twitter her sponsorship by Nike. On November 23, 2015, she signed a deal to allow GK Elite Sportswear to sell a line of leotards bearing her name. Later in 2015, Biles signed a deal with Core Power to become a spokesperson on its Everyday Awesome team of athletes. In August 2016,
Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toa ...
put the Final Five's picture on the Gold Medal Edition of Special berries; the back of the box showed Biles with one of her Rio gold medals. After the 2016 Rio games, Biles signed deals to endorse
Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...
,
The Hershey Company The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milksh ...
, and
United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.
. In September 2016, Biles became a spokesperson for Mattress Firm's program of supporting foster homes. In 2016, Biles signed a deal with Spieth America to create a line of gymnastics equipment, and another to become a spokesperson for Beats By Dr Dre. In 2018, she worked with Caboodles to create and market products for women with active lifestyles. In April 2021, Biles announced that she was leaving Nike for a new apparel sponsorship with the Gap's Athleta brand.


Personal life

Biles was in a relationship with fellow gymnast Stacey Ervin Jr from August 2017 to March 2020. She has been in a relationship with professional
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
player Jonathan Owens since August 2020. Biles announced her engagement to Owens on February 15, 2022.


Career-related injuries and health

In October 2013, Biles had surgery for bone spurs in her right tibia bone resulting in a three-week sidelining. In 2014, Biles had a shoulder injury resulting in withdrawal from the March 2014 American Cup. In September 2017, Biles opened up about having
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...
(ADHD) after her medical records were leaked online, revealing that she had been taking
Ritalin Methylphenidate, sold under the brand names Ritalin and Concerta among others, is the most widely prescribed central nervous system (CNS) stimulant medication used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and, to a lesser extent ...
(methylphenidate), used to treat the condition, during the Olympics. Having been diagnosed as a child, she had previously disclosed her condition to the World Anti-Doping Agency and obtained a medical exemption, allowing her to take the medication during competitions. In Biles's statement, she said that ADHD is "nothing to be ashamed of and nothing that I'm afraid to let people know." In 2018, Biles suffered a broken toe. She also suffered from a
kidney stone Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) develops in the urinary tract. Kidney stones typically form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine s ...
.


Larry Nassar assault

On January 18, 2018, Biles released a statement on Twitter confirming that former
USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and train ...
physician Larry Nassar,
D.O. Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become licens ...
had
sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, whic ...
her. She also alleged that
USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and train ...
had a role in allowing the abuse to occur and subsequently covering it up. She did not attend court hearings held from January 16 to 24, 2018, citing that she "wasn't emotionally ready to face Larry Nassar again". In May 2018, it was announced that Biles and the other survivors would be awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. At the 2018 U.S. National Championships, Biles designed and wore a teal leotard that she stated was meant to honor the survivors of Nassar's abuse, as a statement of unification. On September 15, 2021, Biles testified to the
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...
that she blamed "the entire system" for enabling and perpetuating Nassar's crimes, saying that
USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and train ...
and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee "failed to do their jobs". Three of her national team teammates, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman, testified with her.


Skills


Selected competitive skills

Biles is well known for performing difficult skills at a high level of execution. Her 2018 routine on vault and her 2019 routine on floor exercise are the most difficult ever performed in women's artistic gymnastics. As of 2019, she is the sole gymnast to have competed four skills valued at H or higher in the 2017–2021 Code of Points on floor exercise. Among the skills she has performed in her senior career (E-rated and higher):


Eponymous skills

Biles's named elements on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise introduced during the 2017–2021 quad are the most difficult elements on each apparatus (the ''Biles'' on beam, ''Biles'' on vault, and ''Biles II'' on floor). As of 2019, she is the sole gymnast to have performed any of these skills in an FIG international competition. In May 2021, she became the first woman to complete a Yurchenko double piked on the vault during competition.


Competitive history


See also

* List of top female medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships * Final Five – the gold medal-winning team at the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
*
MeToo movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media ...
* List of Olympic female artistic gymnasts for the United States * History of Central Americans in Houston


References


External links

* * * *
Biles (floor exercise)
at g-flash.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:Biles, Simone 1997 births Living people African-American Catholics African-American female gymnasts African American adoptees American adoptees American female artistic gymnasts American footballers' wives and girlfriends BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year winners Catholics from Ohio Catholics from Texas Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Gymnasts from Ohio Gymnasts from Texas Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in gymnastics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in gymnastics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in gymnastics Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients People from Spring, Texas Sportspeople from Columbus, Ohio Sportspeople from Harris County, Texas U.S. women's national team gymnasts World champion gymnasts BBC 100 Women Naturalized citizens of Belize Shorty Award winners Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women