Simone Biles is already taking Paris by storm.
After she and her teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera took home the gold in the women’s gymnastics team final event July 30 at the 2024 Olympics, Biles earned her eighth medal, making her officially the most decorated American gymnast in the history of the Games.
The win comes three years after the 27-year-old withdrew from several events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental health. And now, she’s back for what she’s calling her “redemption tour.”
“I feel like we all have more to give,” she told reporters in late June right after learning she’d be participating alongside her team in the 2024 Paris Olympics, “We weren’t under the best circumstances, but I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we’re better athletes. We’re more mature, we’re smarter, we’re more consistent.”
It’s that same determination that’s guided Simone ever since she officially hit the balance beam competitively in 2011 and struck gold, both literally and with fans everywhere.
And though she’s continuously managed to raise the bar with her accomplishments (which include seven Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals), Simone is always striving to outdo herself.
Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images“I know we’re stronger than what we showed in Tokyo,” she continued. “So, I think it has to be for us because it can’t be for anybody else, ‘cause that’s not why we do it. We do it for ourselves and the love for the sport and the love for representing the U.S. So, we’re going to go out there and we’re going to do our best.”
But before you flip over seeing Simone in action competing in the individual finals, take a look at every moment she proved to be one of the best athletes of all time.
Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesSimone Biles first stunned the world during her participation in the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Belgium.
There, she qualified first in the all-around, second to the vault final, sixth to the uneven bars final, fifth to the balance beam final and first to the floor final, which made her the first American gymnast to qualify to the all-around and all four event finals since 1991. At just 16 years old, Biles became the first Black and seventh American woman to win the world all-around title.
LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty ImagesBelieve or not, the young athlete has four (!) gymnastic moves named after her.
Among them is the double layout with a half twist, which the sports star debuted in her floor routine during the podium training for the 2013 U.S. Classic. Eight years after London Phillipscompleted it domestically in 2005, Biles was able to successfully nail the skill at the 2013 World Championships, earning the tribute.
Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesBiles once again proved she was a force to be reckoned with during the 2015 U.S. National Championships by securing her third all-around national title, becoming only the second woman ever to do so, 23 years after athlete Kim Zmeska.