Image courtesy of SB Nation.
Note: this article was originally published as part of our "Youths of the Decade" roundup. Click here to read the article in full.
Simone Biles, at just 22, is one of the greatest gymnasts in the history of the sport. She has won a total of 30 Olympic and world championship medals, with her first world championship gold at the age of 16 in 2013, and she was the first African-American to win the all-around title ever, a great achievement.
While she took a hiatus in 2017 following years of competing she came back last year stronger than ever, winning the all around title at her first competition back, the US Classic. In the 2018 National Championships, she was first in every single event over two entire days of competition, and in the World Championships that year she won all-around gold even though she had a kidney stone the night before.
At this year’s World Championships she won 5 golds. Aside from pure sporting medals, she has won several awards; she was chosen as one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2016, and that year was also a finalist for Time’s Person of the Year. This November, she took the People’s Choice Award for The Game Changer of 2019. Biles’ talent in the sport of gymnastics is unbounded; it will certainly be interesting to see how long she can maintain her success for.
Comments