Simone Biles
The Most Decorated Gymnast in U.S. History
Simone Biles at the Gymnastics World Championship held in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Stuttgart on October 10, 2019. She enjoys a laugh during the women’s all-around final. Photo courtesy of Tom Weller/Getty Images.
Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history, has been shattering records since her entrance into the world of professional gymnastics. Her debut came in 2013, and with it, Biles has won every all-around competition she entered, be it team or individual. She is also the first woman to win three consecutive all-around titles in the history of World Gymnastics. Biles has won the most world medals in U.S. history and is the owner of more World Championship gold medals than any other gymnast. She is so dominant, U Sports reported:
“The other U.S. gymnasts joke that Biles is in her own class, therefore second place is still the winner.”
Simone Biles in rare form after returning to professional gymnastics following a year-long hiatus. Photo courtesy of Tim Bradbury/Getty Images.
Simone Arianne Biles was born in Columbus, Ohio on March 14, 1997. Biles is the third child of four. She has an older sister and brother—Ashley and Tevin—and a younger sister named Adria. Biles grew up in Spring, Texas, which is part of the Houston metropolitan area. She and her younger sister Adria were adopted from foster care by their grandparents, Ronald and Nellie Biles, who Biles considers to be her father and mother. When Biles was six, she went on a field trip to Bannon’s Gymnastix in Houston, Texas, and showed a keen interest in the sport.
Biles had dabbled with gymnastics moves and had conquered the family trampoline, so by the time she arrived at Bannon’s she was starry-eyed after seeing all the equipment that was just her size, everything from low beams and low bars to floor vaults. Biles started imitating a gymnast she saw do a back handspring, then she went from one apparatus to another copying other gymnasts. She was being watched the whole time, and a coach at the gym eventually came over to Biles and introduced herself. In her autobiography, Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance, Biles writes:
“That’s how I arrived home from our field trip with a letter inviting me to enroll in gymnastics or tumbling classes at Bannon’s.”
Portrait of Simone Biles. Illustrated by Daniel J. Middleton.
Biles remained with Bannon’s Gymnastix for 11 years and was coached by Aimee Boorman. In 2010, Biles won gold and bronze medals for the floor exercise and vault at the Women’s Junior Olympic National Championships. She entered the elite level of competition the next year. By 2013, she would dominate professional gymnastics.
Biles is distinguished for her lively energy as well as the complexity she incorporates into her routines, be it uneven bars, vault, balance beam, or floor exercise. She not only thrives when it comes to individual routines, but she also led the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team, otherwise known as “The Final Five,” to victory during the 2016 Summer Games. Biles made history by winning her 25th World Championship medal. She also has the most World Championship gold medals of any athlete, either male or female. Simone Biles usually wins by comparatively large margins when it comes to gymnastics scoring, but she continues to add layers of difficulty to the sport in the form of new skills and routines that raises the technical limits of professional gymnastics.
Update:
On Thursday, June 7, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden awarded Simone Biles with the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor in the country—for advocating for sexual abuse victims and bringing awareness to mental health. Biles, who is 25, became the youngest recipient of the award.
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Derek Jeter is a former Major League Baseball baseball player who was a shortstop for the New York Yankees and has since become a Hall of Famer.