Simone Biles.
Simone Arianne Biles Owens (née Biles, Born March 14, 1997, Is an American Belizean artistic gymnast representing the United States. With 7 Olympic & 30 World Championship medals, she is one of the most decorated gymnasts in history & is widely considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. With seven Olympic medals, she is the ninth most decorated female Olympic gymnast, And is tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals earned by a U.S. gymnast. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Biles won individual gold medals in the all around, vault, & floor, bronze on balance beam, & gold as part of the United States team, Dubbed The Final Five. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where she was favored to win at least four of the six available gold medals, she withdrew from most of the competition due to, The Twisties, a temporary loss of air awareness while performing twisting elements. She won a silver medal with her team & a bronze medal on the balance beam.
Biles is a six-time World all around champion 2013 to 2015, 2018, 2019, & 2023, Six-time World floor exercise champion 2013 to 2015, 2018, 2019, & 2023, four-time World balance beam champion 2014, 2015, 2019, & 2023, Two time World vault champion 2018 & 2019,
Nine-time United States national all around champion 2013 to 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 to 2023 & 2024, And was a member of the gold medal winning American teams at the 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, & 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She is also a four time World silver medalist (2013, 2014 & 2023 on vault, & 2018 on uneven bars, & a three time World bronze medalist, 2015 on vault, 2013 & 2018 on balance beam. In 2019, Biles broke the record for most World Championship medals in gymnastics, She won her 24th & 25th medals at the event, surpassing Vitaly Scherbo’s 23 World medals. Biles has since secured an additional five World medals, for a total of 30. She holds the record for World all around titles, And is the sixth woman to win an individual all around title at both the World Championships & the Olympics, the first since Lilia Podkopayeva in 1996 to hold both titles simultaneously. Biles is the tenth female gymnast & first American female gymnast to win a World medal on every event, & the first female gymnast since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships.
In 2022, Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2023, She won her eighth U.S. Gymnastics title, Breaking the 90-year-old U.S. Gymnastics title record previously held by Alfred Jochim. Biles has won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year thrice 2017, 2019, 2020, & Comeback of the Year once, 2024.
Early life & education.
Simone Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, The third of four siblings. Her birth mother, Shanon Biles, was unable to care for Simone or her other children. All four went in & out of foster care. In 2000, Biles’ maternal grandfather, Ron Biles, & his second wife, Nellie Cayetano Biles, Began caring temporarily for Shanon’s children in the north Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, after learning his grandchildren were in foster care.
In 2003, The couple formally adopted Simone & her younger sister Adria. Ron’s sister, Shanon’s aunt Harriet, Adopted the two oldest children. She holds Belizean citizenship through her adoptive mother & considers Belize to be her second home. Biles & her family are Catholic. Biles attended Benfer Elementary School in Harris County, Texas. In 2012, Biles switched from public school to home schooling, allowing her to increase her training from about 20 to 32 hours a week. She would complete her high school degree in mid 2015.
Biles verbally committed to UCLA on August 4, 2014, And signed a National Letter of Intent in November 2014, Planning to defer enrollment until after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Instead, on July 29, 2015, she announced that she would turn professional & forfeit her NCAA eligibility to compete for UCLA.
