Biles, Simone (1997-…), an American gymnastics star, is the most decorated gymnast in the history of the sport. She has won 11 Olympic medals and 30 world championship medals. Biles has been celebrated internationally for her grace and athletic skill in executing the most difficult moves in women’s gymnastics. A number of gymnastics moves have been named after her.
Biles was a star of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She won a team gold medal as well as individual gold medals in the all-around, vault, and floor exercise events, plus a bronze medal on the balance beam. By winning five medals, Biles tied the record for the most medals won by an American woman gymnast in a single Olympics. Her four gold medals tied the world record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympics by a female gymnast.
In 2019, Biles surpassed a record previously held by Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus by winning her 25th world championship medal. That year, Biles also became the first woman to win five all-around world championships. She had also won in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2018. She won again in 2023. Biles is the first African American to hold the women’s world all-around champion title. She also won the world floor exercise title in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2023; the balance beam title in 2014, 2015, 2019, and 2023; and the vault title in 2018 and 2019. In addition, she won team gold medals in the 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2023 world championships.
Biles won the United States all-around championship in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024. The 2023 championship, her eighth, broke a record she had shared with Alfred Jochim, who won his seventh all-around championship in 1933.
At the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Biles brought attention to the intense pressure Olympic athletes face. (The games were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.) After balking on the vault event in the team final, she withdrew from the rest of the team competition and four individual events—all-around, vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise—citing mental health issues. Biles went on to win a bronze medal on the balance beam. She also won a team silver medal.
In 2024, Biles made a triumphant Olympic comeback at the Summer Games in Paris, France. She first won a team gold medal, making her the American gymnast who had won the most career Olympic medals, with 8. Biles then went on to win individual gold medals in the all-around and vault events and a silver medal in the floor exercise, raising her total number of Olympic medals to 11.
Simone Arianne Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio. She grew up in Texas, raised by her grandparents. Biles was introduced to gymnastics at the age of 6 on a day-care field trip to a gym in Spring, Texas. She began copying the moves of gymnasts practicing in the gym, attracting the attention of a coach. Biles soon enrolled in recreational classes at the gym under instructor Aimee Boorman, who became her coach.
Biles, who stands only 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 meters) tall, entered her first competition in 2011. She won her first gold medals in 2013. Within two years, she became one of the most celebrated and dominant gymnasts in history. Biles was homeschooled during her high school years so she could devote more time to gymnastics. She graduated in 2015. Biles wrote an autobiography, Courage to Soar (2016). In 2022, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded by the president of the United States.
