Her name resounds with unmatched excellence.
💥 WAIT FOR IT 💥@Simone_Biles is the first person in history to perform this dismount and 👏 SHE 👏 NAILED 👏 IT. #USGymChamps pic.twitter.com/l7vVInxMJv
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2019
Powerhouse athlete Simone Biles has not just dominated gymnastics; she has redefined what it means to be a gymnast. Take a look at ten awe-inspiring moments in Biles’ career that have solidified her as the most decorated gymnast of our time.
She earned her 25th medal during the world championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
Biles completed a triple-double that included a double backflip with three twists, now dubbed the “Biles II.” She also landed a double-double dismount from the balance beam, which is comprised of a double-twisting double backflip now aptly called the “Biles.”
Biles won all gold and made history at the U.S. Gymnastics championships.
The then-21-year-old became the first woman to win five U.S. Gymnastics all-around titles. Biles also swept all four of the event titles, making her the first woman to do so since Olympic legend Dominique Dawes in 1994.
She earned her sixth consecutive gold medal at the U.S. Classic in Kentucky.
Biles performed a floor exercise, vault, balance beam, and uneven bars to earn an overall score of 60 points, according to NBC Sports. Despite stepping out of bounds during her floor routine, she was still able to recover and dominate the competition.
In 2019, Biles was crowned Female Olympic Athlete of the Year.
Award recipients were chosen by members of the Olympic and Paralympic community, who made up half of the votes, and online fans, whose votes also made up 50%.
She became the first person to perform a difficult beam dismount
During her beam performance at the 2019 USA Gymnastics Championship, Biles nailed a dismount that included two flips and two twists. It was the first time in history it had ever been done in competition.
Biles was named TIME Magazine’s 2021 Athlete of the Year.
This title came shortly after Biles temporarily withdrew from the Olympics. Athletes Colin Kaepernick and Serena Williams praised Biles for using her influence for good and sparking a continued conversation about mental health in sports.
She made history as the first woman to land a Yurchenko double pike in competition.
Simone Biles made her return to competition after more than a year and a half off. During the GK US Classic, the final qualifying event for the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, in Indianapolis, she did not disappoint fans. She wowed fans when she landed the Yurchenko double pike vault move in front of a crowd of onlookers, becoming the first woman to do it.
She captured her seventh U.S. title at the age of 24!
At the time, Biles held 25 World Championship medals, 19 of which were gold, and had won every senior national championship she’d entered since 2013. “It’s really emotional, especially going into my second time doing an Olympic run,” Biles told NBCSN. “It’s really crazy.”
Biles took bronze in the balance beam finals following her temporary withdrawal.
She competed in the Tokyo Olympics balance beam finals and won bronze, continuing her streak as the most accomplished gymnast of our time. Biles now has a total of 32 Olympic and world medals, matching Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union, though Biles has more golds in total.
She won her record-breaking eighth all-around national title!
Biles made history in August 2023 when she won her record-breaking eighth all-around national title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, California. She is now the only female or male gymnast to have won eight US all-around titles.
Cover photo: Simone Biles in Rio / Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil