The Memoir Of Ms. Butterfly

Simone Biles is ready to compete again.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist recently confirmed reports that she’s returning to gymnastics following a two-year hiatus from the sport. The news was first shared in late June, though Biles remained quiet on social media for the following days. “Sorry, I’ve been a little MIA since the announcement,” she tweeted on July 5. “I’m overwhelmed with all your messages, support & love! Excited to get back out on the competition floor. According to AP, Biles will make her highly anticipated comeback during the U.S. Classic in early August, marking her first event since taking home the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021. At the time, Biles removed herself from the gymnastics team finals and other events after experiencing a condition called “the twisties,” which caused her to lose track of where her body was in the air and made it dangerous to compete. 

She reflected on her decision in an inspiring Instagram post a month later. “Definitely not the way I planned the Olympics, but I wouldn’t change anything for the world,” she wrote in September 2021. “I’m proud of myself and the career I’ve had thus far. This Olympics doesn’t erase my past accomplishments nor define who I am as an athlete.

Simone Biles also shared a message for those who use the word quitter to describe her. “I’ve pushed through so much the past couple of years; the word quitter is not in my vocabulary,” she continued. “For some of you, that may be how you define me, but keep talking because I can’t hear you over my 7 Olympic medals, which tied me for the most decorated gymnast EVER and most decorated American gymnast 😊🤭 .”

See you in August, Simone. 

Simone Biles Owens (born Simone Arianne Biles, March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast and is the equal ninth-most overall. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most decorated gymnast in the history of the Gymnastics World Championships. She is considered by many sources to be the greatest gymnast of all time. In 2022, Joe Biden awarded Biles the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Biles won individual gold medals in the all-around, vault, and floor; bronze on the balance beam; and gold as part of the United States team dubbed the “Final Five.” At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 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 U.S. 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 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 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. 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’s record of 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 overall title at the World Championships and the Olympics and the first gymnast since Lilia Podkopayeva in 1996 to hold both titles simultaneously. She is the tenth female gymnast and first American female gymnast to win a World medal in every event, and the first female gymnast since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win an award in every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships, having accomplished this feat at the 2018 World Championships in Doha.

Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, the third of four siblings. Her birth mother, Shanon Biles, could not care for Simone or her other children – Adria, Ashley, and Tevin. All four went in and out of foster care. 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 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 Belizean citizenship through her adoptive mother and refers to Belize as her second home. Biles and her family are Catholic.

Biles attended Benfer Elementary School in Harris County. In 2012, Biles chose 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, graduating in mid-2015. Biles verbally committed to UCLA on August 4, 2014. She planned to defer enrollment until after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; in November 2014, she signed her National Letter of Intent with UCLA. On July 29, 2015, she announced that she would turn professional and forfeit her NCAA eligibility to compete for UCLA.

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. Biles began her elite career at age 14 on July 1, 2011, at the 2011 American Classic in Houston. 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. Biles’ first meet of 2012 was the American Classic hosted in Huntsville, Texas. She placed first overall 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. 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, the National Team Coordinator (2001–2016).

Biles’ senior international debut was in March at the 2013 American Cup, a FIG World Cup event. She and Katelyn Ohashi were named as replacements for Elizabeth Price and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross, who 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. She took the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise titles and contributed to the U.S. team’s gold medal. Next, she and the U.S. delegation competed at an international tri-meet in Chemnitz, 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 in the 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 in 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. She qualified in the all-around, second to the vault final, sixth to the uneven bars last, fifth to the balance beam final, and first to the floor final, making her the first American gymnast to qualify for 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 nearly a point and a half better than the bronze medalist, 2010 world all-around champion Aliya Mustafina. At 16, Biles became the seventh American woman and the first African American to win the world overall title. In the 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 the 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, Ross, and Mustafina.

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 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, China. She dominated the preliminary round despite a significant error on the uneven bars, qualifying in first place in the all-around, vault, beam, and floor finals and contributing to the U.S. team’s first-place qualification into the team final. During the group last, Biles led the United States to its second consecutive world team championship, winning over the second-place Chinese team by nearly seven points. In the all-around, Biles performed cleanly on all four events, bettering her bar score from qualifications by more than a point. She won her second consecutive world overall 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. 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 World Championship gold medals to six, the most ever by an American gymnast, surpassing Miller’s five.

Biles competed at the 2015 AT&T American Cup at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, 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. She ended the month at the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy, 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 overall champion Gabby Douglas and Maggie Nichols, with a score of 62.400. She scored 15.250 on the beam and took first at the event, ahead of Douglas and 2012 Olympic beam bronze medalist Aly Raisman. She scored 16.050 on the floor and claimed first in 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 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 teammates 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, 23 years after Kim Zmeskal (1990, 1991, 1992).

Biles and Douglas, Dowell, Kocian, Nichols, Raisman, and Skinner were selected to represent the United States at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Biles again qualified in first place in the all-around, vault, beam, and floor finals. Her uneven bars score would have allowed 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 giant hop on the vault, landing out of bounds on the floor (which she stated was a first, and grasping the beam to prevent a fall. However, her final score of 60.399 was enough to secure the title with her most significant 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 history. During day one of the event finals, Biles competed on vault, taking bronze behind Maria Paseka (RUS) and Hong Un Jong (PRK). On day two, she competed on the balance beam and floor exercise, retaining her world title in 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 10, the most for any woman in World Championships history.

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 challenging 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 in two events only, the uneven bars and beam. She placed first on balance beam with a 15.650 and fifth on uneven bars with a 15.1.

Biles competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

In the following weeks at the 2016 U.S. National Championships, Biles won the all-around title by a 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 2016 Rio Summer Olympics team alongside Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman.

In September 2016, Biles’ medical information was released, and she was accused of doping to enhance her performance in the Russian media following the Russian cyber espionage group Fancy Bear’s hack into the World Anti-Doping Agency. Biles then disclosed on Twitter that she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and was permitted to take medication for it, having applied for and received a therapeutic use exemption. She was applauded for opening up about ADHD.

On August 7, Biles competed in the Women’s Qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Along with helping the U.S. team qualify in the first place to the team final with a score of 185.238 (9.959 points ahead of the second-place team, China), she individually trained as the top gymnast in 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 in 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 all-around on August 11, ahead of teammate Aly Raisman and Russia’s Aliya Mustafina. 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 bottom; 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 in 2008.

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. In the final balance beam, she grabbed the shaft with her hands (a mandatory 0.5-point deduction) after underrotating her front tuck and scoring 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 of Great Britain won bronze, scoring 14.933. With Biles’ five total medals and 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.

A homecoming parade for Biles in Spring, Texas, on August 24, 2016

With four Olympic gold medals, Biles set an American record for most gold medals in women’s gymnastics at a single Games and equaled several other records with her awards 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 (Romania) in 1984, and fifth overall, after Larisa Latynina (USSR, 1956), Agnes Keleti (HUN, 1956), Věra Čáslavská (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, Věra Čáslavská, Ludmilla Tourischeva, Elena Shushunova, and Lilia Podkopayeva. Biles is the first female gymnast since Lilia Podkopayeva (UKR) in 1996 to win gold in the all-around as well as in an event final, and the first female gymnast since Podkopayeva to win the Olympic overall 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 (ROU, 1976), and Karin Janz (East Germany, 1972). Olga Mostepanova (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 game (majority gold) remains six medals (Latynina, 1956, 1960, and 1964; Keleti, 1956; Čáslavská, 1968; Daniela Silivas, 1988).

Biles and her teammate Gabby Douglas are the only American female gymnasts to win both the individual all-around gold and team gold at the same Olympiad. Douglas won both at 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.

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 so many people have inspired me with their love and encouragement, and I want to pass on that inspiration to readers. The book hit number one on The New York Times 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, 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.

During the August 2017 P&G National Championships, Biles said 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.

Biles was added 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 by 1,200 points. She also won the gold medal on the 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), a Van Leeuwen on uneven bars, and a Moors (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 overall titles with five. This placement also marked her fourth national vault title, third national balance beam and floor exercise title, 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 broad 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.

The mixed multi-discipline teams at the 2018 Youth Olympics were named for gymnastics legends, including Biles, Nadia Comăneci, and Kōhei Uchimura. [The group called for Biles to win gold.

In October, Biles participated in the World Team Selection Camp. She placed first in the all-around and first in vault and floor exercise. She placed second on the uneven bars behind McCusker and fourth on the balance beam (due to hands touching the mat on dismount) behind Kara Eaker, McCusker, and Ragan Smith. Biles debuted a new vault: a Yurchenko 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.

In late October, at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Biles went to an emergency room the night before the qualification round because of stomach pains that turned out to be a kidney stone. After confirming that it was not appendicitis, she checked out of the hospital. The following day, she qualified for the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise finals in first place and for 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 challenging women’s vault ever competed. The U.S. also qualified for the team final in the first place. During the group last, Biles competed in 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 (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 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 became the first defending Olympic women’s all-around champion to earn a world overall title since 1972. Olympic champion Lyudmilla Turischeva did so in 1974. In the event finals, Biles won the gold medal in vault, her first-ever world vault title. The two vaults she competed in were a Cheng and an Amanar. This marked her thirteenth World gold medal, meaning Biles had won the most Gymnastics World Championships titles of any gender, breaking Soviet/Belarusian gymnast Vitaly Scherbo’s previous record of twelve gold medals. She then won the silver medal on uneven bars behind Nina Derwael of Belgium. By winning an award on uneven bars, Biles became the first American and the tenth female gymnast from any country to have won a World Championship medal in every event. The following day, she won the bronze medal on the balance beam behind Liu Tingting of China and Ana Padurariu of Canada after an extensive balance check on her Barani. She then won the gold medal in floor exercise with an intense routine. In doing so, she became the first U.S. gymnast and non-Soviet gymnast to win an award in every event at a single World Championships and the first gymnast from any country 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.

In early March, Biles competed at the Stuttgart World Cup, her first appearance not on American soil. She finished in first place, 3.668 points ahead of second-place Ana Padurariu of Canada.

In July, Biles competed at the 2019 GK US Classic. During podium training, she performed a triple-twisting double-tucked salto backward (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. 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 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 double twisting double somersault on floor exercise and the first gymnast to complete a double twisting double somersault dismount off the balance beam. She placed first on vault, ahead of Jade Carey 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 U.S. 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. The following day, her teammates Sunisa Lee, Kara Eaker, MyKayla Skinner, Jade Carey, and Grace McCallum were also named to the team.

During qualifications at the World Championships, Biles helped the USA qualify for the team final in the first place, over five points ahead of second-place China. Individually, she qualified for 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, 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 details 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 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 World Championship’s most decorated female gymnast. Her scores on vault, balance beam, and floor exercises 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 day’s highest scores on vault, balance beam, and floor exercises.

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 an award on vault, her 23rd World Championships medal, Biles tied the record for most medals won at the World Championships with male Belarusian gymnast Vitaly Scherbo. During the uneven bars final, Biles scored 14.700, finishing in fifth place, one-tenth behind bronze medalist and teammate Sunisa Lee.

On the second day of the 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, 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, whether male or female, won by a gymnast. 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 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. By winning five gold medals in Stuttgart, Biles tied the record of most gold medals at a single World Championships with Larisa Latynina and Boris Shakhlin, who both accomplished this at the 1958 World.

Championships. Furthermore, by winning her fifth gold medal in 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 on April 4. However, in March, USA Gymnastics announced that Biles would not attend due to concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic domestically and worldwide (including Japan). The following day, the Japanese Gymnastics Association announced they had canceled the event.

2021

In May, Biles competed at the U.S. Classic. On her way to another U.S. Classic all-around title, she debuted a Yurchenko double pike vault, which no woman had ever completed. 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. In addition to winning the overall title by 4.7 points, Biles also placed first in the vault, balance beam, and floor exercise and third in the uneven bars. At the Olympic Trials, Biles placed first and earned an automatic spot on the Olympic team. 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, and Grace McCallum.

2020 Summer Olympics

At the 2020 Olympic Games, Biles performed the all-around during the qualifications and helped the United States qualify for the team final, in second place behind the Russian team.

 She suffered several mishaps during qualifications: she bounced entirely off the floor, landed on one of her tumbling passes, stepped one foot off the landing mat during her Cheng vault, and took several significant stumbles back on her balance beam dismount. Despite these mistakes, Biles still qualified for the all-around final in the first place.

 She also qualified in first place for the vault final, advanced to the floor exercise last in second place behind Vanessa Ferrari. She qualified for the balance beam and uneven bars finals. She was the only athlete to prepare for all the individual finals.

Following her qualifications performance, Biles stated on Instagram that she was “[feeling] the weight of the world on [her] shoulders” and that she felt affected by the pressure of the Olympics.

“I say put mental health first. Because if you don’t, you’re not going to enjoy your sport, and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want. So it’s OK sometimes to sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and person you are — rather than just battle through it.”

– Simone Biles after withdrawing from the team final.

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 twists 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, who had withdrawn from the French Open and Wimbledon Championships earlier in the year for similar reasons.

 The U.S. team went on to win the silver medal behind the Russian 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 retired from the vault and uneven bars finals, both scheduled for the first day of the individual event finals.

Simone Biles is ready to compete again.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist recently confirmed reports that she’s returning to gymnastics following a two-year hiatus from the sport. The news was first shared in late June, though Biles remained quiet on social media for the following days. “Sorry, I’ve been a little MIA since the announcement,” she tweeted on July 5. “I’m overwhelmed with all your messages, support & love! Excited to get back out on the competition floor. According to AP, Biles will make her highly anticipated comeback during the U.S. Classic in early August, marking her first event since taking home the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021. At the time, Biles removed herself from the gymnastics team finals and other events after experiencing a condition called “the twisties,” which caused her to lose track of where her body was in the air and made it dangerous to compete.

She reflected on her decision in an inspiring Instagram post a month later. “Definitely not the way I planned the Olympics, but I wouldn’t change anything for the world,” she wrote in September 2021. “I’m proud of myself and the career I’ve had thus far. This Olympics doesn’t erase my past accomplishments nor define who I am as an athlete.

Simone Biles also shared a message for those who use the word quitter to describe her. “I’ve pushed through so much the past couple of years; the word quitter is not in my vocabulary,” she continued. “For some of you, that may be how you define me, but keep talking because I can’t hear you over my 7 Olympic medals, which tied me for the most decorated gymnast EVER and most decorated American gymnast 😊🤭 .”
See you in August, Simone.

Simone Biles Owens (born Simone Arianne Biles, March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast and is the equal ninth-most overall. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most decorated gymnast in the history of the Gymnastics World Championships. She is considered by many sources to be the greatest gymnast of all time. In 2022, Joe Biden awarded Biles the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Biles won individual gold medals in the all-around, vault, and floor; bronze on the balance beam; and gold as part of the United States team dubbed the “Final Five.” At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 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 U.S. 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 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 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. 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’s record of 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 overall title at the World Championships and the Olympics and the first gymnast since Lilia Podkopayeva in 1996 to hold both titles simultaneously. She is the tenth female gymnast and first American female gymnast to win a World medal in every event, and the first female gymnast since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win an award in every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships, having accomplished this feat at the 2018 World Championships in Doha.

Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, the third of four siblings. Her birth mother, Shanon Biles, could not care for Simone or her other children – Adria, Ashley, and Tevin. All four went in and out of foster care. 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 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 Belizean citizenship through her adoptive mother and refers to Belize as her second home. Biles and her family are Catholic.

Biles attended Benfer Elementary School in Harris County. In 2012, Biles chose 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, graduating in mid-2015. Biles verbally committed to UCLA on August 4, 2014. She planned to defer enrollment until after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; in November 2014, she signed her National Letter of Intent with UCLA. On July 29, 2015, she announced that she would turn professional and forfeit her NCAA eligibility to compete for UCLA.

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. Biles began her elite career at age 14 on July 1, 2011, at the 2011 American Classic in Houston. 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. Biles’ first meet of 2012 was the American Classic hosted in Huntsville, Texas. She placed first overall 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. 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, the National Team Coordinator (2001–2016).

Biles’ senior international debut was in March at the 2013 American Cup, a FIG World Cup event. She and Katelyn Ohashi were named as replacements for Elizabeth Price and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross, who 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. She took the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise titles and contributed to the U.S. team’s gold medal. Next, she and the U.S. delegation competed at an international tri-meet in Chemnitz, 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 in the 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 in 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. She qualified in the all-around, second to the vault final, sixth to the uneven bars last, fifth to the balance beam final, and first to the floor final, making her the first American gymnast to qualify for 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 nearly a point and a half better than the bronze medalist, 2010 world all-around champion Aliya Mustafina. At 16, Biles became the seventh American woman and the first African American to win the world overall title. In the 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 the 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, Ross, and Mustafina.

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 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, China. She dominated the preliminary round despite a significant error on the uneven bars, qualifying in first place in the all-around, vault, beam, and floor finals and contributing to the U.S. team’s first-place qualification into the team final. During the group last, Biles led the United States to its second consecutive world team championship, winning over the second-place Chinese team by nearly seven points. In the all-around, Biles performed cleanly on all four events, bettering her bar score from qualifications by more than a point. She won her second consecutive world overall 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. 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 World Championship gold medals to six, the most ever by an American gymnast, surpassing Miller’s five.

Biles competed at the 2015 AT&T American Cup at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, 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. She ended the month at the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy, 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 overall champion Gabby Douglas and Maggie Nichols, with a score of 62.400. She scored 15.250 on the beam and took first at the event, ahead of Douglas and 2012 Olympic beam bronze medalist Aly Raisman. She scored 16.050 on the floor and claimed first in 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 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 teammates 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, 23 years after Kim Zmeskal (1990, 1991, 1992).

Biles and Douglas, Dowell, Kocian, Nichols, Raisman, and Skinner were selected to represent the United States at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Biles again qualified in first place in the all-around, vault, beam, and floor finals. Her uneven bars score would have allowed 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 giant hop on the vault, landing out of bounds on the floor (which she stated was a first, and grasping the beam to prevent a fall. However, her final score of 60.399 was enough to secure the title with her most significant 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 history. During day one of the event finals, Biles competed on vault, taking bronze behind Maria Paseka (RUS) and Hong Un Jong (PRK). On day two, she competed on the balance beam and floor exercise, retaining her world title in 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 10, the most for any woman in World Championships history.

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 challenging 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 in two events only, the uneven bars and beam. She placed first on balance beam with a 15.650 and fifth on uneven bars with a 15.1.
Biles competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
In the following weeks at the 2016 U.S. National Championships, Biles won the all-around title by a 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 2016 Rio Summer Olympics team alongside Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman.
In September 2016, Biles’ medical information was released, and she was accused of doping to enhance her performance in the Russian media following the Russian cyber espionage group Fancy Bear’s hack into the World Anti-Doping Agency. Biles then disclosed on Twitter that she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and was permitted to take medication for it, having applied for and received a therapeutic use exemption. She was applauded for opening up about ADHD.

On August 7, Biles competed in the Women’s Qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Along with helping the U.S. team qualify in the first place to the team final with a score of 185.238 (9.959 points ahead of the second-place team, China), she individually trained as the top gymnast in 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 in 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 all-around on August 11, ahead of teammate Aly Raisman and Russia’s Aliya Mustafina. 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 bottom; 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 in 2008.

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. In the final balance beam, she grabbed the shaft with her hands (a mandatory 0.5-point deduction) after underrotating her front tuck and scoring 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 of Great Britain won bronze, scoring 14.933. With Biles’ five total medals and 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.
A homecoming parade for Biles in Spring, Texas, on August 24, 2016
With four Olympic gold medals, Biles set an American record for most gold medals in women’s gymnastics at a single Games and equaled several other records with her awards 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 (Romania) in 1984, and fifth overall, after Larisa Latynina (USSR, 1956), Agnes Keleti (HUN, 1956), Věra Čáslavská (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, Věra Čáslavská, Ludmilla Tourischeva, Elena Shushunova, and Lilia Podkopayeva. Biles is the first female gymnast since Lilia Podkopayeva (UKR) in 1996 to win gold in the all-around as well as in an event final, and the first female gymnast since Podkopayeva to win the Olympic overall 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 (ROU, 1976), and Karin Janz (East Germany, 1972). Olga Mostepanova (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 game (majority gold) remains six medals (Latynina, 1956, 1960, and 1964; Keleti, 1956; Čáslavská, 1968; Daniela Silivas, 1988).
Biles and her teammate Gabby Douglas are the only American female gymnasts to win both the individual all-around gold and team gold at the same Olympiad. Douglas won both at 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.

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 so many people have inspired me with their love and encouragement, and I want to pass on that inspiration to readers. The book hit number one on The New York Times 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, 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.
During the August 2017 P&G National Championships, Biles said 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.

Biles was added 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 by 1,200 points. She also won the gold medal on the 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), a Van Leeuwen on uneven bars, and a Moors (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 overall titles with five. This placement also marked her fourth national vault title, third national balance beam and floor exercise title, 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 broad 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.
The mixed multi-discipline teams at the 2018 Youth Olympics were named for gymnastics legends, including Biles, Nadia Comăneci, and Kōhei Uchimura. [The group called for Biles to win gold.
In October, Biles participated in the World Team Selection Camp. She placed first in the all-around and first in vault and floor exercise. She placed second on the uneven bars behind McCusker and fourth on the balance beam (due to hands touching the mat on dismount) behind Kara Eaker, McCusker, and Ragan Smith. Biles debuted a new vault: a Yurchenko 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.

In late October, at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Biles went to an emergency room the night before the qualification round because of stomach pains that turned out to be a kidney stone. After confirming that it was not appendicitis, she checked out of the hospital. The following day, she qualified for the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise finals in first place and for 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 challenging women’s vault ever competed. The U.S. also qualified for the team final in the first place. During the group last, Biles competed in 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 (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 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 became the first defending Olympic women’s all-around champion to earn a world overall title since 1972. Olympic champion Lyudmilla Turischeva did so in 1974. In the event finals, Biles won the gold medal in vault, her first-ever world vault title. The two vaults she competed in were a Cheng and an Amanar. This marked her thirteenth World gold medal, meaning Biles had won the most Gymnastics World Championships titles of any gender, breaking Soviet/Belarusian gymnast Vitaly Scherbo’s previous record of twelve gold medals. She then won the silver medal on uneven bars behind Nina Derwael of Belgium. By winning an award on uneven bars, Biles became the first American and the tenth female gymnast from any country to have won a World Championship medal in every event. The following day, she won the bronze medal on the balance beam behind Liu Tingting of China and Ana Padurariu of Canada after an extensive balance check on her Barani. She then won the gold medal in floor exercise with an intense routine. In doing so, she became the first U.S. gymnast and non-Soviet gymnast to win an award in every event at a single World Championships and the first gymnast from any country 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.

In early March, Biles competed at the Stuttgart World Cup, her first appearance not on American soil. She finished in first place, 3.668 points ahead of second-place Ana Padurariu of Canada.
In July, Biles competed at the 2019 GK US Classic. During podium training, she performed a triple-twisting double-tucked salto backward (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. 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 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 double twisting double somersault on floor exercise and the first gymnast to complete a double twisting double somersault dismount off the balance beam. She placed first on vault, ahead of Jade Carey 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 U.S. 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. The following day, her teammates Sunisa Lee, Kara Eaker, MyKayla Skinner, Jade Carey, and Grace McCallum were also named to the team.

During qualifications at the World Championships, Biles helped the USA qualify for the team final in the first place, over five points ahead of second-place China. Individually, she qualified for 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, 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 details 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 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 World Championship’s most decorated female gymnast. Her scores on vault, balance beam, and floor exercises 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 day’s highest scores on vault, balance beam, and floor exercises.
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 an award on vault, her 23rd World Championships medal, Biles tied the record for most medals won at the World Championships with male Belarusian gymnast Vitaly Scherbo. During the uneven bars final, Biles scored 14.700, finishing in fifth place, one-tenth behind bronze medalist and teammate Sunisa Lee.

On the second day of the 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, 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, whether male or female, won by a gymnast. 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 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. By winning five gold medals in Stuttgart, Biles tied the record of most gold medals at a single World Championships with Larisa Latynina and Boris Shakhlin, who both accomplished this at the 1958 World.
Championships. Furthermore, by winning her fifth gold medal in 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 on April 4. However, in March, USA Gymnastics announced that Biles would not attend due to concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic domestically and worldwide (including Japan). The following day, the Japanese Gymnastics Association announced they had canceled the event.

2021
In May, Biles competed at the U.S. Classic. On her way to another U.S. Classic all-around title, she debuted a Yurchenko double pike vault, which no woman had ever completed. 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. In addition to winning the overall title by 4.7 points, Biles also placed first in the vault, balance beam, and floor exercise and third in the uneven bars. At the Olympic Trials, Biles placed first and earned an automatic spot on the Olympic team. 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, and Grace McCallum.

2020 Summer Olympics
At the 2020 Olympic Games, Biles performed the all-around during the qualifications and helped the United States qualify for the team final, in second place behind the Russian team.

She suffered several mishaps during qualifications: she bounced entirely off the floor, landed on one of her tumbling passes, stepped one foot off the landing mat during her Cheng vault, and took several significant stumbles back on her balance beam dismount. Despite these mistakes, Biles still qualified for the all-around final in the first place.

She also qualified in first place for the vault final, advanced to the floor exercise last in second place behind Vanessa Ferrari. She qualified for the balance beam and uneven bars finals. She was the only athlete to prepare for all the individual finals.

Following her qualifications performance, Biles stated on Instagram that she was “[feeling] the weight of the world on [her] shoulders” and that she felt affected by the pressure of the Olympics.

“I say put mental health first. Because if you don’t, you’re not going to enjoy your sport, and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want. So it’s OK sometimes to sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and person you are — rather than just battle through it.”
– Simone Biles after withdrawing from the team final.

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 twists 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, who had withdrawn from the French Open and Wimbledon Championships earlier in the year for similar reasons.

The U.S. team went on to win the silver medal behind the Russian 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 retired 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 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 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 Soviet/Russian female gymnast Larisa Latynina for most awards won by a woman 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 gymnasts 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 decided to withdraw after the first rotation of the team final because she felt that she had “simply got so lost [her] safety was at risk as well as a team medal.” [ During the week, Juntendo University allowed Biles to practice at their gym, located an hour outside Tokyo, where they 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 and 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 broader 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 broader approach to sport where athletes prioritize their health over performance.

Biles was named Team USA Female Olympic Athlete of the Year in December 2015, making her the fourth gymnast to be honored. In December 2016, Biles was chosen as one of the sponsors of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, alongside Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Katie Ledecky. They are the first Olympians to be given this honor. In 2016, Simone Biles won the Glamour Award for the Record Breaker. That same year, 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’s 2016 Person of the Year. Biles was also nominated for a 2016 ESPY award for Best Female Athlete along with Elena Delle Donne, Katie Ledecky, and Breanna Stewart; Stewart won the award. In 2016, Biles became the third gymnast after Olga Korbut and Nadia Comăneci to be named the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.

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. 2017 Simone won the Shorty Award for the best in sports. At the 2017 Teen Choice Awards, Simone won the Best Female Athlete and Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year in 2017. In 2017, Biles was awarded the Golden Plate Award by the American Academy of Achievement. In 2018, Biles was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. 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’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, 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, Megan Rapinoe, Mikaela Shiffrin, Naomi Osaka, and Shelly-Ann Fraser.

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 globally, for “championing mental health.”
President Joe Biden awarded Biles the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July 2022. On July 7, 2022, Biles was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest honor given to civilians, by President Joe Biden in a ceremony at the White House; she was among a group of 17 honorees that included Megan Rapinoe. She is the youngest person to receive this award.

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens have said “I do” — again!
The Olympic gymnast and NFL player tied the knot for the second time over the weekend – the first time was at their intimate courthouse wedding in Houston in April.
Mr. and Mrs. Owens threw a stunning white wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, saying “I do” in front of 144 family and friends. “The perfect day,” Biles wrote on her Instagram story on Saturday. The gorgeous ceremony occurred outdoors at the Umi Terrace of the Nobu Los Cabos, decorated with white and gold decor. Planning was thanks to Amy Abbott Events, and Stanlo Photography was there to capture all the special moments. Let’s take a look! Have we mentioned how much we love custom sneakers for the wedding day? Simone wore these custom Nike’s for her reception. We are just a TAD obsessed with them! We love Simone’s white feather-trimmed pajamas. Her pajamas are from Nadine Merabi. We found a few similar pairs (here and here) if you want a similar look for your wedding morning.

Let’s talk about her dress – or rather, her FOUR stunning Galia Lahav dresses!
“When I started dress shopping, I was like, ‘If I get married, it has to be a Galia Lahav,’” Simone Biles shared.
She started the weekend by wearing the Jill mini for their welcome dinner. She walked down the aisle on Saturday in a custom version of Galia Lahav’s Gimaya gown. Below is the sketch they created for her custom wedding. Later, for her reception, Biles wore a custom MAYA dress from Galia Lahav and then changed once more for the late-night party, wearing a custom version of their G-502 gown.
Galia Lahav shared with us, “Working with Simone on her magical day has been absolutely incredible & we are so grateful for the trust she has put into Galia Lahav to make her wedding day as special as it was. She is such a beautiful human being inside – out & it has been so incredible to get to know her & be part of her wedding journey. We love you, Simone & wish you a lifetime of happiness & endless love.”

“I was nervous about having a ball gown because I’m so petite— but it works perfectly,” she explained. “The leg slit was very crucial. It was to add, in my head, more length to my body. I think this is exactly how brides are supposed to feel: luxurious, beautiful, kind of on top of the world.”

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens have said “I do” — again!
The Olympic gymnast and NFL player tied the knot for the second time over the weekend – the first time was at their intimate courthouse wedding in Houston in April.
Mr. and Mrs. Owens threw a stunning white wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, saying “I do” in front of 144 family and friends. “The perfect day,” Biles wrote on her Instagram story on Saturday. The gorgeous ceremony occurred outdoors at the Umi Terrace of the Nobu Los Cabos, decorated with white and gold decor. Planning was thanks to Amy Abbott Events, and Stanlo Photography was there to capture all the special moments. Let’s take a look!

Have we mentioned how much we love custom sneakers for the wedding day? Simone wore these custom Nike’s for her reception. We are just a TAD obsessed with them! We love Simone’s white feather-trimmed pajamas. Her pajamas are from Nadine Merabi. We found a few similar pairs, and if you want a similar look for your wedding morning.
Such a sweet nod to her new last name! We found a similar necklace here.
Let’s talk about her dress – or rather, her FOUR stunning Galia Lahav dresses! “When I started dress shopping, I was like, ‘If I get married, it has to be a Galia Lahav,’” Simone Biles shared.
She started the weekend by wearing the Jill mini for their welcome dinner. She walked down the aisle on Saturday in a custom version of Galia Lahav’s Gimaya gown. Below is the sketch they created for her custom wedding dress! Later, for her reception, Biles wore a custom MAYA dress from Galia Lahav and then changed once more for the late-night party, wearing a custom version of their G-502 gown.
Galia Lahav shared with us, “Working with Simone on her magical day has been absolutely incredible & we are so grateful for the trust she has put into Galia Lahav to make her wedding day as special as it was. She is such a beautiful human being inside – out & it has been so incredible to get to know her & be part of her wedding journey. We love you, Simone & wish you a lifetime of happiness & endless love.”
“I was nervous about having a ball gown because I’m so petite— but it works perfectly,” she explained. “The leg slit was very crucial. It was to add, in my head, more length to my body. I think this is exactly how brides are supposed to feel: luxurious, beautiful, kind of on top of the world.”

The couple exchanged hand-written vows. Need help writing your vows? How to write your own wedding vows with this free template!
Biles shared with Vogue that the “most magical” moment came when whales jumped out of the water during the ceremony.
“Whales were jumping out of the water as our ceremony started,” she explained. “Whale season is over, by the way. It sprinkled for two minutes after we got married—which is good luck!—and we had a full moon. It was truly the most magical!” What a special moment!

Ms. Butterfly Genesis

 Due to a continued mental block, on July 31, Biles also withdrew from the floor 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 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 Soviet/Russian female gymnast Larisa Latynina for most awards won by a woman 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 gymnasts 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 decided to withdraw after the first rotation of the team final because she felt that she had “simply got so lost [her] safety was at risk as well as a team medal.

 During the week, Juntendo University allowed Biles to practice at their gym, located an hour outside Tokyo, where they 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 and 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 broader 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 broader approach to sport where athletes prioritize their health over performance.

Biles was named Team USA Female Olympic Athlete of the Year in December 2015, making her the fourth gymnast to be honored. In December 2016, Biles was chosen as one of the sponsors of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, alongside Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Katie Ledecky.

They are the first Olympians to be given this honor. In 2016, Simone Biles won the Glamour Award for the Record Breaker. That same year, 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’s 2016 Person of the Year. Biles was also nominated for a 2016 ESPY award for Best Female Athlete along with Elena Delle Donne, Katie Ledecky, and Breanna Stewart; Stewart won the award. In 2016, Biles became the third gymnast after Olga Korbut and Nadia Comăneci to be named the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.

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. 2017 Simone won the Shorty Award for the best in sports. At the 2017 Teen Choice Awards, Simone won the Best Female Athlete and Laureus World

Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year in 2017. In 2017, Biles was awarded the Golden Plate Award by the American Academy of Achievement. In 2018, Biles was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame.

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’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, 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, Megan Rapinoe, Mikaela Shiffrin, Naomi Osaka, and Shelly-Ann Fraser.

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 globally, for “championing mental health.”

President Joe Biden awarded Biles the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July 2022. On July 7, 2022, Biles was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest honor given to civilians, by President Joe Biden in a ceremony at the White House; she was among a group of 17 honorees that included Megan Rapinoe. She is the youngest person to receive this award.

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens have said “I do” — again!

The Olympic gymnast and NFL player tied the knot for the second time over the weekend – the first time was at their intimate courthouse wedding in Houston in April. 

Mr. and Mrs. Owens threw a stunning white wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, saying “I do” in front of 144 family and friends. “The perfect day,” Biles wrote on her Instagram story on Saturday.

The gorgeous ceremony occurred outdoors at the Umi Terrace of the Nobu Los Cabos, decorated with white and gold decor. Planning was thanks to Amy Abbott Events, and Stanlo Photography was there to capture all the special moments.

Let’s take a look! Have we mentioned how much we love custom sneakers for the wedding day? Simone wore these custom Nike’s for her reception. We are just a TAD obsessed with them! We love Simone’s white feather-trimmed pajamas. Her pajamas are from Nadine Merabi. We found a few similar pairs (here and here) if you want a similar look for your wedding morning.

Let’s talk about her dress – or rather, her FOUR stunning Galia Lahav dresses!

“When I started dress shopping, I was like, ‘If I get married, it has to be a Galia Lahav,’” Simone Biles shared.

She started the weekend by wearing the Jill mini for their welcome dinner. She walked down the aisle on Saturday in a custom version of Galia Lahav’s Gimaya gown.

Below is the sketch they created for her custom wedding. Later, for her reception, Biles wore a custom MAYA dress from Galia Lahav and then changed once more for the late-night party, wearing a custom version of their G-502 gown.

Galia Lahav shared with us, “Working with Simone on her magical day has been absolutely incredible & we are so grateful for the trust she has put into Galia Lahav to make her wedding day as special as it was. She is such a beautiful human being inside – out & it has been so incredible to get to know her & be part of her wedding journey. We love you, Simone & wish you a lifetime of happiness & endless love.”

“I was nervous about having a ball gown because I’m so petite— but it works perfectly,” she explained.

“The leg slit was very crucial. It was to add, in my head, more length to my body. I think this is exactly how brides are supposed to feel: luxurious, beautiful, kind of on top of the world.” 

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens have said “I do” — again!

The Olympic gymnast and NFL player tied the knot for the second time over the weekend – the first time was at their intimate courthouse wedding in Houston in April. 

Mr. and Mrs. Owens threw a stunning white wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, saying “I do” in front of 144 family and friends. “The perfect day,” Biles wrote on her Instagram story on Saturday. The gorgeous ceremony occurred outdoors at the Umi Terrace of the Nobu Los Cabos, decorated with white and gold decor. Planning was thanks to Amy Abbott Events, and Stanlo Photography was there to capture all the special moments. Let’s take a look!

Have we mentioned how much we love custom sneakers for the wedding day? Simone wore these custom Nike’s for her reception. We are just a TAD obsessed with them! We love Simone’s white feather-trimmed pajamas. Her pajamas are from Nadine Merabi. We found a few similar pairs, and if you want a similar look for your wedding morning.

Such a sweet nod to her new last name! We found a similar necklace here.

Let’s talk about her dress – or rather, her FOUR stunning Galia Lahav dresses! “When I started dress shopping, I was like, ‘If I get married, it has to be a Galia Lahav,’” Simone Biles shared.

She started the weekend by wearing the Jill mini for their welcome dinner. She walked down the aisle on Saturday in a custom version of Galia Lahav’s Gimaya gown. Below is the sketch they created for her custom wedding dress! Later, for her reception, Biles wore a custom MAYA dress from Galia Lahav and then changed once more for the late-night party, wearing a custom version of their G-502 gown.

Galia Lahav shared with us, “Working with Simone on her magical day has been absolutely incredible & we are so grateful for the trust she has put into Galia Lahav to make her wedding day as special as it was. She is such a beautiful human being inside – out & it has been so incredible to get to know her & be part of her wedding journey. We love you, Simone & wish you a lifetime of happiness & endless love.”

“I was nervous about having a ball gown because I’m so petite— but it works perfectly,” she explained. “The leg slit was very crucial. It was to add, in my head, more length to my body. I think this is exactly how brides are supposed to feel: luxurious, beautiful, kind of on top of the world.”

The couple exchanged hand-written vows. Need help writing your vows? How to write your own wedding vows with this free template!

Biles shared with Vogue that the “most magical” moment came when whales jumped out of the water during the ceremony.

“Whales were jumping out of the water as our ceremony started,” she explained. “Whale season is over, by the way. It sprinkled for two minutes after we got married—which is good luck!—and we had a full moon. It was truly the most magical!” What a special moment!

Ms. Butterfly Genesis