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1. Naomi Osaka

2. She plays tennis

3. She is a 4 time grand slam champion, has defeated Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty, as the first Asian player to hold the top spot in singles(2019)

4. She speaks up for mental health in sports, was an advocate during the BLM movement, and she sets a lot of milestones as a Japanese women. She has won many impressive games and competed in two Olympic Games.

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1.Trinity Rodman

2. She signed a record three year contract on Thursday with the Washington spirit to remain with the club through 2028.

3. She earned her first international cap with U.S. national women’s team in 2022.

4. Trinity is a rising star in American soccer and in sport as a whole, turning professional in 2021, Rodman, 22 made an immediate impact with Washington spirit. Playing a role in winning the NSWL championship.

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1. Sunisa Lee

2. Sunisa Lee is a gymnast and she started doing gymnastics at age 6

3. winning the 2020 Tokyo Olympic all-around gold medal

4. 4. Suni Lee is a change maker through her resilience, overcoming serious kidney disease to return to elite gymnastics, and her advocacy for self-advocacy in health. As the first Hmong-American Olympian, she inspires minority communities, champions mental health awareness

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Dianne Walker

She is a professional tap dancer, she used to dance with Collins & Company, and has opened her own company, Leon Collins Dance Studio in Massachusetts.

She was been awarded with many things including the Tapestry Award, she was the youngest and first woman to receive the Living Treasure in American Dance Award, Savion Glover Award for Keeping the Beat Alive, Flo-Bert award, Hoofers Award, The Humanitarian Award, along with many other awards recognizing her accomplishments.

She is impactful because she was the first woman to become big in the tap world, and was a big contributor in the resurgence of tap. She is one of the big names in the tap community and continues to inspire people with performances at festivals.

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1. Tonya Harding

2. Figure Skating - former ice skater who represented the United States in international competitions, including the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics

3. First American women to land a triple axel in an international competition (1991), and a two-time Olympian

4. Seen as a disruptive figure who challenged the aesthetic, class, and behavioral norms of women’s sports in the 1990’s. Focusing more on raw power than traditional elegance, she reevaluated what it mean to be a female athlete

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Karlyn Pickens

-She plays softball for Tennessee since 2023.

-She has beat the world record for the fastest softball pitches 2 times in a row. Her new record she holds is 79.4 mph. She also as of right now has 306 strike outs in her 2 years of playing with Tennessee.

-Karlyn and her pitches style is now influencing a bunch of pitching instructors and young girls today. She also made the softball league realize that girls pitching is getting faster and faster, making them rethink the distance of pitching distance.

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1. Aitana Bonmatí

2. She plays soccer

3. She has won 3 consecutive Ballon d'Or Féminin, won the 2023 World Cup, and has won multiple Champions League titles

4. She was the first to win the Ballon d'Or Féminin 3 years consecutively and helped Spain win the World Cup, but also boosted popularity in the sport.

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1. Hezly Rivera

2. She was on the gold medal winning gymnastics team during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

3. During the olympics she was 16 years old.

4. She is also a 2025 all around champion.

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Sha’Carri Richardson

She is a premier, elite Black female track runner recognized as one of the fastest women in the world

having won gold in the 100m and 4×100m

relay at the 2023 World Championships with a 100m personal best of 10.65 seconds.

She is a dominant American sprinter renowned for her rapid acceleration and 100m/200m prowess.

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1. American multi-athlete who played golf, basketball, baseball, and track and field.

2. She won two gold medals and one silver medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics for track and field.

3. She won 10 LPGA major golf championships.

4. Although she was mostly an athlete, she also won the sewing championship at the State Fair of Texas in 1931, and she was known for sewing her own golf clothes.

5. She won many events and awards, including: 41 wins at LPGA tours, 4 wins at Western Open, 3 wins at the Titleholders Championship, and 3 wins at the US Women’s Open.

6. She earned Female Athlete of the Year in 1950 and 1954.

7. She earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2021.

8. She was also a three-time AAU All American in basketball from 1930-1932

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1. Alysa Liu

2. Alysa Liu figure skates and began in 2010, at the age of 5.

3. She became the youngest U.S. women’s national champion at the age on 13. She also was the 2026 Winter Olympic champion in women’s singles and the team event. She was the first American woman to land a quadruple jump in international competition.

4. She is an inspiration to many young women around the world and shows how your hobbies and enjoyments can also be your job.

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1. Billie Jean King

2. Played tennis playing played at grand slams, Wimbledon, French open, Australian open, and US open. She also founded the Women’s Tennis Association and the Women’s Sports Foundation.

3. Won 39 Grand Slams, 20 Wimbledon titles, was world no. 1 6 times and won the battle of the sexes in 1973. She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

4. She paved the way for other female athletes by proving how good she was even against a man. She helped make it possible for other women to be successful in sports and have associations backing them.

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1. Simone biles

2. Was an American gymnast

3. She has 41 Olympic medals combined and has 5 gymnastic skills named after her.

4. She is advocating for athletes mental health and is addressing sexual abuse in her sport.

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Everyone around you can tell you, 'Oh, you can do this,' but then whenever you really start to believe in yourself, that's when it comes to life. But you also have to be a little bit fearless.

Simone Biles was born in Columbus, Ohio. Both of her parents struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction. Her birth father abandoned the family, and her mother, Shannon, was unable to care for Simone and her three siblings. After spending time in foster care, three-year-old Simone and her younger sister, Adria, were adopted by Shannon's father, Ron Biles, and his second wife, Nellie. Simone's older brother and sister were adopted by Ron Biles's sister. Ron Biles is an Air Force veteran and former air traffic controller. Nellie is a trained nurse who owned and operated a string of nursing homes in the Houston area. They gave Simone and Adria a secure upbringing in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, and the girls have always regarded Ron and Nellie as their mother and father. From the beginning, Simone was an active child, running and jumping wherever she could. Her natural strength and high energy combined with an unusual degree of physical daring. "Just a very brave child," is how she describes herself at that age. On a daycare field trip at age six, she was taken to a gym and saw older girls practicing gymnastics. When the coaches saw the six-year-old Simone successfully imitating the feats of girls in their teens, they wrote a note to the family suggesting that the child take regular gymnastic classes. She began a training program at Bannon's Gymnastix in Houston with Coach Aimee Boorman. The energetic child took to the training quickly and set out on the long road to becoming a champion.

The exuberance and boundless energy that made Biles a star pupil at Bannon's Gymnastix posed a different challenge to her teachers and classmates in public school. At an early age, she received a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Like most young people with this diagnosis, she was prescribed the stimulant Ritalin. With its use, she was able to focus for longer periods on the task before her, whether academic or gymnastic. Nellie Biles was a great help to Simone as well, sitting down with her at the beginning of each year to write a list of goals for the next 12 months and to record her progress throughout the year.

Simon Biles made her first appearance in junior national competition at the 2011 American Classic in Houston, placing third in the all-around competition and first in the vault. Simone was now at a crossroads. Making the commitment to competitive gymnastics would require sacrifice. At age 14, Biles left her public school to be homeschooled. From then on, she would forgo the usual round of teenage social activities to train for six to eight hours a day.

At the 2012 American Classic, she placed third on the balance beam, tied for second in floor exercise, and took first place in both the vault and all-around competition. At the 2012 U.S. Classic, she placed second in floor exercise and again finished first in vault and all-around. She finished first on vault again at the USA Gymnastics National Championships and was named to the United States Junior National Team.

At age 15, she was a few months too young to compete for a place on the 2012 Olympic team, a circumstance which may have been more fortunate than it appeared at the time. When she made her senior international debut at the 2013 American Cup, her strength, particularly on the vault, was apparent to all. Competing for the United States at Jesolo, Italy, she took gold medals in all-around, vault, balance beam and floor exercise. In competition with teams from Germany and Romania at Chemnitz, Germany, she again won vault, balance beam and floor exercise, but trouble lay ahead.

At the 2013 U.S. Classic, she lost control on the balance beam and fell during her floor exercise. Her coach, Aimee Boorman, was forced to pull her from the meet. Observers of the gymnastics circuit wondered openly whether her undeniable strength and agility were enough to overcome some inner deficiency. Biles consulted a sports psychologist and attended a private training camp with legendary coach Márta Károlyi. Biles does not discuss the substance of these sessions in detail, but something clicked. She learned to put the expectations of others out of her mind and enjoy her performance in the moment. Only three weeks after her disastrous showing at the Classic, she won the USA Gymnastics National Championship and was named to the Senior National Team. Two months after that, she won World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium - her first international title - scoring first on floor exercise, second on the vault and first in all-around. She has not lost a meet since.

Biles was setting a new standard of performance in her sport. The height of her jumps, the speed of her turns, and the security of her landings set her apart from all competitors. Under the historic ten-point system of the International Federation of Gymnastics, a gymnast's performance in each event was rated on a fixed scale of one to ten. This system encouraged competitors to perfect traditional skills, and above all, to avoid making mistakes, rather than experimenting with new moves. Under a new open-ended scale, instituted by the federation in 2006, higher levels of difficulty could be recognized, and Biles was prepared to push the envelope. On the vault and balance beam, she added extra twists and flips to her dismounts. While she recovered from a knee injury, her coach suggested that she conclude a double layout (flipping end over end with straight legs and body) by executing a half-twist and landing on one foot, sparing the tender knee. Biles introduced the new skill at the 2013 World Championships; it has now entered the repertoire and is known as the Biles.

In 2014, Biles and her coach, Aimee Boorman, ended their relationship with Bannon's Gymnastix. Ron and Nellie Biles have opened a new facility, the Word Champions Centre, in Spring, Texas, where Boorman and Biles trained for the subsequent seasons. A shoulder injury kept Biles out of competition at the beginning of the 2014 season, but she returned in the 2014 U.S. Classic in Chicago, tying for first on the balance beam, taking first place in vault and floor exercise, and winning the all-around by a wide margin. She now routinely finished ahead of her nearest competitors by margins of whole points rather than factions, as is more customary. At the 2014 USA Gymnastics National Championships, Biles tied for the silver on balance beam, despite a fall during her final routine of the two-day meet. She won the gold in the vault and floor exercise to emerge as national all-around champion after two days of competition, finishing more than four points ahead of her nearest competitor. Later that year, at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Nanning, China, Biles took a silver medal in the vault, gold in the balance beam and floor exercise, and won her second consecutive world all-around title.

Biles began 2015 with victories in the AT&T American Cup in Arlington, Texas and the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy. At that year's U.S. Classic, she finished first in the all-around competition, with first place finishes in balance beam, vault and floor exercise. Although she had won early acceptance to UCLA, she made the decision to become a professional, thereby forfeiting the opportunity to compete for UCLA.

Her winning streak continued with a third consecutive all-around championship at the 2015 U.S. National. She won a third international title at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. In Glasgow, she took gold medals in balance beam and floor exercise again, bringing her total medal and gold medal count to the highest ever won by any female in world gymnastics competition. She was named Team USA Athlete of the Year.

She embarked upon a new year of competition, one that would see her participate in the Olympics for the first time. She began the year winning an all-around victory at the Pacific Rim Championships with the highest scores on vault, floor and balance beam. At the 2016 USA Gymnastics National Championships, she again won the titles in vault and floor exercise, winning the all-around title.

As expected, Biles was selected for the 2016 Olympics team, and Coach Boorman was chosen to head the USA Gymnastics Women's Team. The 2016 Olympic Games were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On August 9, 2016, Biles led the American gymnasts to victory in the team event, with a score more than eight points ahead of the second-place Russian team. Two days later, Biles took the gold medal in the all-around event, with the highest scores on vault, floor and balance beam. She won a second individual gold medal in the vault. Despite her first-place finish on the balance beam in the all-around competition a few days earlier, an unexpected error marred an otherwise impressive performance on the balance beam final. She still received a bronze medal for that event. She ended by winning a fourth gold medal in the floor exercise final. Besides tying a number of other world records, she set a new American record for most gold medals in gymnastics at a single Olympics Games. Between her performances at the Olympics and in World Championship competition, she has won 19 medals, making her the most decorated American gymnast of all time. As Team USA's outstanding star of the Games, Biles was chosen by her teammates to carry her country's flag in the closing ceremonies.

In the wake of the Games, Russian computer hackers gained access to the medical records of Biles and other Team USA athletes. They disclosed that Biles had tested positive for Ritalin and tried to use this information to discredit her performance. Biles freely admitted that she has long taken Ritalin for ADHD and the Olympics Committee confirmed that she had received a therapeutic exemption to continue her medication while competing. Her forthright discussion of her experience with ADHD gave encouragement to many young people in similar situations.

After 13 years of incessant practice and competition, Biles decided to take a year off before resuming training for the 2020 Olympics. In 2017, she was given the ESPY Award for Best Female Athlete of the Year. After her lifelong coach Aimee Boorman moved from Texas to Florida, Biles resumed training with Coach Laurent Landi.

The world of female competitive gymnastics was rocked in early 2018, as more than 150 former patients of Team USA doctor Larry Nassar had accused him of sexually abusing them while they were under his care. On January 18, Simone Biles added her name to the list. Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison on federal child pornography charges, and in two different trials, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years for multiple counts of sexual assault. He will spend the rest of his life in prison. Simone Biles praised the judges' decisions in the case and called on the U.S. Olympic Committee to reach out to abuse survivors such as herself.

After a 711-day layoff, Simone Biles made a triumphant return to public competition at the U.S. Classic in July 2018. She posted the highest scores on vault, floor exercise, balance beam, and all-around performance. At the USA Gymnastics National Championships the following month, Biles won gold medals in all four events - her first medal for the uneven bars, previously regarded as her weakest event - and took the all-around title. She is only the second woman in history to win all five gold medals at the National. Biles wore a teal-colored leotard for her historic performance, a gesture of solidarity with all victims of sexual assault.

At the 2018 World Gymnastics Championship, Biles won a medal in every event: bronze in the balance beam, silver in the uneven bars, and gold medals in the floor exercise, vault and team final, and for all-around individual performance. The first American competitor to win a medal in every event at the World Championship, she achieved this remarkable performance while suffering from a painful kidney stone. Delaying treatment until after the competition, she declined pain medication that would have prevented her from qualifying under anti-doping regulations.

At the World Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany in October 2019, she led Team USA to its fifth consecutive victory and won five more gold medals - in balance beam, floor exercise, vault, all-around, and as a member of the winning team. This raised her total number of medals in world competition to 25, an all-time record. She is now the most decorated gymnast in history.

The gymnastics world was looking forward to seeing Simone Biles dominate her sport at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, but the competition was postponed for a year due to the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Other public events were suspended as well, and Simone Biles did not perform in public competition for over a year. In May 2021, when she returned to competition at the U.S. Classic in Indianapolis, she stunned audiences with an unprecedented feat in her vaulting routine: a Yurchenko double pike, requiring her to push off from the vaulting table with her hands and flip twice before landing. She is the first woman ever to perform this feat in competition. Ms. Biles placed first in all-around competition at this event, as she did again two weeks later at the U.S. Gymnastics Championship. This was a record-setting seventh all-around win in national competition; she has captured all-around honors in every event she has entered since 2013.

At the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, held between July 23 and August 8, 2021, Biles left an indelible mark, changing the narrative from winning medals to championing athlete mental health and well-being. In the very first event, the team competition, Biles withdrew after completing only one vault, citing an inability to perform due to mental stress and a lack of "air awareness." Then, on the last day of gymnastics contests, Biles made a dramatic return, capturing a bronze medal in the balance beam - her seventh career Olympic medal - tying her with Shannon Miller for the most ever for an American gymnast.

In June 2022, Simone Biles and more than 90 women and girls filed $1 billion in claims against the FBI for its mishandling of sexual assault allegations raised against then national gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar, in 2015. The claimants include McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman, the elite gymnasts who were first identified in the summer of 2015 as having been sexually abused by the then-doctor to the national women's gymnastics team under the guise of medical treatment.

President Joe Biden, on July 7, 2022, presented the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including gymnast Simone Biles, the late John McCain, the Arizona Republican whom Biden served with in the Senate, and gun-control advocate Gabby Giffords. "Today, she adds to her medal count," Biden said as he introduced Biles. Biles, 25, became the youngest person to ever receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In June 2023, Simone Biles announced plans to return to elite gymnastics competition, two years after her unexpected withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics due to a disorienting condition. This revelation subtly surfaced when her name appeared on the entry list for the U.S. Classic, a qualifying event for the national championships. Despite the absence of detailed intentions, this move suggests a potential bid for the 2024 Paris Olympics, marking her first step toward that goal. Biles, previously undefeated in all-around competitions since 2013, withdrew from defending her titles in Tokyo only to return and clinch a bronze medal in the balance beam final. She has not competed since then.

Radiating resilience and skill, Simone Biles made a triumphant return to elite competition in August 2023, besting the field by five points with a 59.100 all-around total more than two years after her last elite meet at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Demonstrating both her unparalleled legacy and adaptability, Biles confidently landed the highly challenging Yurchenko double pike - a feat she had been preparing for prior to the Tokyo Games but had not performed since the official Olympic warm-up. With a performance that effortlessly qualified her for the upcoming U.S. championships, Biles showcased a strategic approach, integrating simpler yet soaring routines that align with the contemporary gymnastics rulebook.

In a continuation of her awe-inspiring journey, Simone Biles clinched her eighth U.S. all-around title just weeks after her stellar performance at the U.S. Classic. At 26, she not only became the oldest gymnast to achieve this distinction but also shattered a 90-year record by becoming the first American gymnast to secure eight national all-around titles. Demonstrating her unmatched prowess and consistency, Biles executed a near-flawless Yurchenko double pike vault, reminiscent of her recent elite competition. While her scores and accolades speak volumes, Biles remains grounded, emphasizing her passion for gymnastics and maintaining an air of mystery regarding her future endeavors.

In October 2023, Simone Biles clinched her 21st world championship gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. At 26, she won her sixth all-around title. With this achievement, Biles surpassed Vitaly Scherbo's record, becoming the most decorated gymnast, male or female, in the combined history of the Olympics and world championships.

Inducted in 2017

The gravity-defying performances of gymnast Simone Biles have placed her in a class by herself, demolishing previous standards of difficulty and inspiring the awe of coaches, competitors and former champions.

Her life might have turned out very differently. At the age of two, she and her siblings were taken from their drug-addicted mother and placed in foster care. Adopted by her grandfather and his wife, she was introduced to gymnastics during a day-care field trip at age six. Her talent was evident from the beginning, but in her first adult competitions, she suffered her share of mishaps. Only three weeks after a particularly disastrous showing, she won her first U.S. Championship, and two months later, a world title. Since then, she has not lost a meet, winning four national and three world championships.

At the 2016 Olympics, she won four gold medals, one as a member of the women's championship team, and three more in the all-around, vault and floor exercise categories. At the 2019 World Championship she won five more gold medals - placing first in balance beam, vault, floor exercise, all-around, and as a member of the wining team. These victories boosted her total number of medals in World Championship competition to a record-breaking 25, in addition to her Olympic gold. She is now the most decorated competitive gymnast in history.

How did you first become involved in gymnastics?

Simone Biles: So I was six years old, whenever I went on this daycare field trip, and all I can really remember is, the gym that I went to, it was split into two sections. So the front of the gym was like the rec, and then the back gym where all the team girls were working out - and I remember being on a trampoline, kind of like peeking through because there was a wall that divided it, but it was really just the bathrooms. So I remember peeking back, and I would see these girls on the tramps and on the beams, and all that tumbling and flipping, and I was like, "I think I can do that." So then I started copying them, and then a coach came over and was like, "Have you ever done it?" And then they just sent a letter home. It's kind of a blur because I didn't think in that moment my life would have changed and I would be who I am today. So it's like, you don't really remember it too much.

I started setting goals in gymnastics, thinking what did I want to do with the sport. As I progressed and got older, I started setting more goals. And whenever - I was around 14 years old - I made a lot of sacrifices. I decided to give up public school, go to homeschool. I gave up all the school dances. I've never been to a prom. Never done a lot of those things that maybe most of your kids are doing or want to do. But I fell in love with the sport. So I guess that's what I got out of it. I got to go to World Championships; I got to go to the Olympics. I got to live out a lot of dreams that most kids dream of since they were little kids in Mommy and Me classes. So I'm very grateful for that. But it also made me set goals at a very young age, which I can't be more proud of.

Speaking of setting goals, we understand you have an annual routine with your mom where you write this all down.

We all have to deal with setbacks and disappointment in our lives, but as a competitive gymnast you succeed or fail in a very public way. You can literally fall on your face.

You've had to recover from some major setbacks yourself. You had a particularly difficult time at a competition in 2013, didn't you?

You introduced a whole new move in gymnastic competition. How did that come about?
If you watch any of my floor routines, it's usually my second skill. It's called the Biles. You guys won't clearly understand this because it's gymnastics terms. But what I'll go on to do, I'll do a double layout - which is I'll do two flips with a straight body - and at the very end of it I do a half turn. So if you watch my floor routine, that's the second skill that I do.

Simone Biles: We made it up out of almost an injury. I partially tore my calf muscle one time, attempting an extra half twist in my skill list, and then my coach was like, "Well, maybe if you do a half twist, nobody's ever done that before, and it will take the stress off that landing of your calf muscle. So let's just play around in the gym with this." And he's like, "And nobody's ever done it." So then we started playing around with that, and then there's a whole process to doing the skill, and all of that, and getting it named after you. You have to be the first - or even if two people try it, then they kind of base it off of who did it better - who has the higher score, and all of that, because that's happened before if you're both at the same world championships doing the same skill. So there's a lot made up about it, but mine was kind of like from an injury standpoint and taking the pressure off of it.

What was it like, after all these years of preparation, actually being at the Olympics? Can you remember it clearly or is it all a blur?
Simone Biles: I feel like, leading up to the Olympics, whenever we got in the Village and we got all settled, all the practices, they kind of go as a blur. And then you're there at podium training, and then at qualifications and all that, and it's like a blur. But all-around finals and team finals, I remember exactly, and it's just like, even afterward, standing up on that podium hearing it, it just replays in your head and you don't even know what to think. It doesn't feel real.
You are so dominant in your sport now, that the other girls are essentially competing for second place. Does that affect your relationship with the other gymnasts?

You've been taking a year off since the 2016 Olympics before you start training again for 2020. How did it feel being out of your normal routine?
Simone Biles: It feels kind of crazy how fast a year went by because the year of the Olympics - it even goes by - but then afterward you kind of feel like you're doing everything at once, and then you look back and you're like, "It's been a year? Did I enjoy my time off?" Which I did. I enjoyed it so much. It just went by faster than you think, because you think, "A year? Oh, that's a long time!" It went by so fast. But I'm excited to get back into training and get back into the working mode, just because I've been doing so many things that are different and out of my comfort zone, that you sometimes are ready to get back into it.
What will a typical day be like for you when you go back into training for the next three years?

What core value do you think accounts for your success at this early age? Is it fearlessness?
Simone Biles: I feel like it would either have to be that or confidence...

You're only 20 years old but you've already come a long way in life. There's quite a distance from your current achievements to your start in life.
Simone Biles: I'm an Olympic gold medalist. I've won four individual gold medals and a bronze medal. So I have five total, combining a total of nineteen world and Olympic medals. I've been holding a couple of records now. At the age of five, starting in my childhood, I was adopted by my grandparents, who are now my parents. I was in foster care from three to five years old, in and out of it. So I've had a couple of struggles then.
Your grandparents adopted you and became your parents. How old were you when that happened?
Simone Biles: The first time, I was three years old, and then we went to live with them, and then we went back to foster care. And then at five years old, that's when the official adoption and everything went through, and then I went to live with them in Texas.
Do you remember the time before that?
Simone Biles: I mean I remember a little bit being in foster care. Not anything that traumatized me, because we were very lucky and thankful for our situation that we had, even though we were in foster care. We had a very nice and loving foster family and we got to stay in one place, really. So we were very blessed.
When you were first taken to the gym at age six, just watching and imitating the older girls, there were people who saw something special in you.
Simone Biles: Yeah. They saw it. I was six. I was all over the place. That I know.
What do you mean? What were you like at six?
Simone Biles: I thought I was a normal six-year-old. But everyone just saw the strength, and they saw the muscle, and they saw the definition on my body, and that's what intrigued them.
Were you already into tumbling and being active?
Simone Biles: I was active around the house and on the playground, but nothing too serious, where my parents were like, "Let's enroll her in a gym." They just thought I was like every other child, flipping on the bed, flipping on the couch, doing all that stuff. Just a very brave child.
You're quite public that when you were a kid you were diagnosed with ADHD. Has that also been an asset to you as a gymnast?
Simone Biles: I think so, energy-wise, just because it's a way to kill my energy, and I've learned to focus in a little bit more on what I'm doing. So it's helped. It's also helped me speak out to kids on it, that it's not something you should be afraid of telling people or think you're different.
How do you think about it - as a disability or just as a sort of different way of being in the world?
Simone Biles: I feel like, if anyone has asthma, they don't think of it too much as a disability. It's just something you were born with and that you have to accept. You don't think of yourself as an outcast because there are other kids and teens and adults struggling with the same thing. And if they can do it, you see that you can do it as well.
Does it give you an edge?
Simone Biles: If you feed into anything that makes you energized - if you're an athlete, and whatever fuels you, to bring you more energy, then that's what you used, and other people just already have it, I feel like.
So do you already have it?
Simone Biles: I guess a little bit. But then there are downfalls because I don't have the focus that they have, so I could see that as a downfall, which I don't. I just have to focus a little bit more.
What are the tools that you use to focus?
Simone Biles: I started taking medicine. I was diagnosed at a very young age. Went to the doctor, they prescribed me something. So I tried doing that and now that's what I do to make it easier to focus.
Are there other things? All athletes have to find techniques to help focus them. So what else helps you when you're going from your bubbly "having fun" self to having to kill it on the floor?
Simone Biles: I feel like I just know when I need to kill it. I've been trained, and we're very disciplined as athletes at the high level that we do it. There are a lot of risks we take. So I just kind of know that I have an off switch and when to hit it and when to turn it back on.
Who are the people in your life who've inspired you to push along the way?
Simone Biles: I feel like in my immediate circle it's definitely friends, family, coaches, doctors -anyone, really, who has belief in you, and that you can turn to and talk to. At the end of the day, they'll always be on your side and willing to help in any way possible. And then, like, outside outside? I was homeschooled; I don't have a lot of friends. You don't know a lot of people, but then it would be other family members that are always checking up on you.
How about sports heroes or other heroes of yours?
Simone Biles: I feel like other sports athletes really inspire me -Alex Morgan, Serena Williams - just because they're so dominant in their sport. Even watching track and field as well. They're so dominant that you want to become them one day or hope to be a role model for kids like they are.
Have you had a chance to meet those heroes?
Simone Biles: I've gotten a chance to meet both of them. And it was pretty exciting. Alex Morgan and Serena Williams, yes.
What kind of conversations do you have with them? You've met Nadia Comaneci, right?
Simone Biles: Yes. Usually, it's about gymnastics or they wish you luck on future success and then they congratulate you. It's usually not too much because it's just in and out. Everyone's so busy and everyone has their own lives and you're all just going all over the place.
You've been training as a gymnast continuously from age six to nineteen. What's it like to be taking this year off? What things are you getting to do for a change?
Simone Biles: Most of the time in gymnastics, if you ask, "Can I go do this or do that?" obviously the answer is already "no" because the fear of you getting hurt. So I feel like "the year of yeses" is kind of weird, because you're like, "I can do that? Nobody's worried about me getting hurt?" So I've gotten to go on family vacations, which I couldn't do a lot of leading up to the Olympics and those last couple of years. And I got to go indoor skydiving, and I did a lot of speaking engagements. And even when you're younger, like, "Oh, I want to be on TV; I want to be in commercials," and now I do all that stuff. So you kind of get to taste a little bit of everything, and now you're just ready to go back into your shell.
You've always kept track of your goals. With this incredible run of gold medals behind you, what did you put in your short- and long-term goals for your year off?
Simone Biles: It was just to live life and to have fun with whatever opportunities arose, rather than set down things because I knew that at the end of the year I wanted to start training again. So I guess that could have been the biggest goal on the paper, but I didn't write anything down because I've been doing it for so long and usually they were about gymnastics. And since I wasn't doing gymnastics, I just wanted to have fun.
You knew from the time you were tiny that gymnastics was your love and your passion. Have you thought what comes after gymnastics? What are your other loves in the world?
Simone Biles: I kind of tried to do that during the year off. But then you try not to think, "What comes after gymnastics?" because I know ahead of time I'm going to be joining again for three years. So you can't think too far, and you have to kind of live in the moment. I feel like maybe if this interview was after a second Olympics, I could tell you. Right now, since it's going back into the grind and going back into gymnastics, you don't really know yet, because the opportunities will hopefully be endless. And the deciding factors? We'll see.
Your book is called Courage to Soar You're training with a new coach now for the first time. What's that like? Now that you're a young adult, you'll be forging that relationship in a different way than you did as a child. , and the subtitle is A Life In Balance. What does that mean, the "life in balance" part? What is a life in balance for you? How will it be different? What will be different this time, do you think?
Simone Biles: It's keeping everything on the table, and me still living my life. It's very balanced and it's very organized, because my body can do a lot of crazy things, and it's kind of like sporadic, but it's very controlled as well. So whenever I go to the gym, I do what I have to do, and then whenever I'm at home, I try to be as normal a kid as possible. I think that's where the balance comes in.
Is your body in a different place as an adult? Usually, Olympic gymnasts have sort of peaked at your age - because they're competing at 16 years old, their body changes, and that makes it hard to keep competing.
Simone Biles: With my new coach that I have, I've worked alongside him, because his athlete was also on the 2016 team and we've been training for four or five years together. So he was always at the camps I went to every single month. So it's not like he's a stranger to me. I know him.
About a decade ago, the International Gymnastics Federation threw out the old ten-point system. They saw that it was holding back the sport, in that it didn't really pay to be more daring. And there was a lot of hubbub about it at the time. But you've personally proved the benefit of getting rid of the ten-point system. Can you talk about that, about how gymnastics has changed and how being free of the ten-point system has changed what you do?
Simone Biles: I feel like there will be differences; I just don't know what they'll be yet. I think it's just different from having a coach your whole entire life and then switching because I think the relationship is different. Because it's not like they've grown up with you. Now I'm an adult so it will be different. But I can't tell you exactly what that is because I haven't worked with him yet.

Simone Biles: I feel like since I already went through that whole entire process at 16 years old - whenever my body was changing and all of that stuff happened - I wasn't peaking yet, and then after all that happened, then I peaked and I feel like, in this day in our sport, we're realizing that we've been peaking at an older age, so it's been working.
You've said you were a very brave child. Would you say that's one of your defining characteristics, bravery or fearlessness?
Simone Biles: I wasn't even born when the ten-point system was happening, so I can't say too much about it. I was born in 1997 and I think they changed it a little bit after. So I wasn't even a gymnast yet. So all I grew up with was not the ten-point system. But they kind of included it still in. We can get a ten on execution, which has not ever happened yet. But you have the option, at least for a 10.0 in execution, but otherwise, I feel like they felt that you could further yourself more as a gymnast in your capabilities. And you could choose your own start values, in that you could put your own flair and your own personality into your gymnastics, rather than just setting it as a ten and you can't really do too much more to go over a ten.
What are you afraid of? Everyone has fears.
So, say my sister was doing gymnastics and she can't do the same skills I can do on whatever event that is. Maybe on bars she can have a higher start value because she can do more on bars. And say I'm like, not good at bars; I do what I'm capable of and then I see my start value. Say it's a 15; say she starts out a 16. Then there are those differences, and then on vaults, say if I'm better than her, I can start at a higher start value. So you really do gymnastics to your own capability rather than everybody doing it to the same level and getting scored the same. So that's when you can push your body and your mind and the limits.
How do you carry both of those inside of you - the fearlessness you need to do it and the fear that's very real?
Simone Biles: I think so because to do this sport, it does come with fear, but then you also have to be fearless. You have to be brave and trust in yourself. So I think once you start to trust in yourself you become stronger as an athlete.
You hit a rough patch when you went from being a junior athlete to a senior athlete. There was one point when you didn't make the national team. When was that?
Simone Biles: I'm afraid of letting people down, failure, being injured, or having an injury so bad and the doctor telling me I won't continue with my sport. But I think that's true of every athlete if you ask them.
Is that when that rocky period happened?
Simone Biles: You don't think of the fear because if you think of the fear you start changing things and that's when you can get injured, or all those things that you don't want to happen that you're thinking of could happen.
After that, you won spectacularly and you've basically won every competition since then.
Simone Biles: I was a junior when I didn't make team. I made team when I was a senior. Or I made team when I was a junior, but then by the time it came out, around the competitive season, I had moved up to a senior and that's when I started competing.
Obviously what happens between you and a psychologist is private, but is there some part of that process you can talk about? You went from being a great athlete who had her great days and her off days to being one who's completely unbeatable. What clicked?
Simone Biles: No, it happened when I was a junior.
Were you prepared to have your personal life subjected to the kind of scrutiny that star athletes and people in the public eye receive?
Simone Biles: Yes. While I was doing well before I met with a sports psychologist, then I kind of fell apart, and that's when we were introduced to him.
You and Katie Ledecky, the super swimmer, were chosen as sponsors of a Navy aircraft carrier. Can you tell us what that means?
Simone Biles: I think that part is very private and it's something that I don't really share too much. But I also think it was just that going to him, and then the main question he asked was, "You're usually having fun when you compete, right? Were you having fun that day?" And I was like, "No, I was too focused on what everybody else was thinking and saying and I wanted to please everyone." He's like, "Did you do that before?" And I said, "No". He said, "Then why did you do that then?" I think that's kind of what clicked. Then I realized what I do for myself is I have fun. I go out there and I don't let anybody else change how I do things. I think that's what really clicked.
How did it feel, representing the United States at the Olympics?
Simone Biles: I feel like, going into the Olympic games, you only have one goal in mind, and you're not really tied into the media or what they're doing because you're so focused on yourself. I feel like, if you're at the Olympic Games focusing on what the media's going to say about you, you're not really doing your job, or you're probably not as stressed as you should be. So we go in knowing that we have one goal in mind and then we're kind of set on that. So we're not even focused on social media or what's happening, or you don't even see it because you're not on it and you're not really watching TV or all of that.
Simone, thank you so very much for joining us.
Simone Biles: We saw the first cut of steel; we got to put our names in it that will go in some place in the ship. But it's, basically, you have this aircraft carrier. You get to do the christening of the ship, so we'll break the bottle. Not very soon - it's in a couple of years. We still have awhile.

Simone Biles: I think, going to the Olympics, it brings a whole other level of patriotism. So I think we have a lot of pride in representing our country. And even the soldiers that go out and represent everyone call us their heroes and all of that, but I think they're the real heroes. So I think we have a different kind of respect when we go and compete for our country, just because we're selected from a wide variety of a group of athletes, and then they narrow it down. So I was one of five that were selected on the team out of hundreds and hundreds of gymnasts in the United States.

Simone Biles: Thank you.

Simone Biles was born in Columbus, Ohio. Both of her parents struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction. Her birth father abandoned the family, and her mother, Shannon, was unable to care for Simone and her three siblings. After spending time in foster care, three-year-old Simone and her younger sister, Adria, were adopted by Shannon's father, Ron Biles, and his second wife, Nellie. Simone's older brother and sister were adopted by Ron Biles's sister. Ron Biles is an Air Force veteran and former air traffic controller. Nellie is a trained nurse who owned and operated a string of nursing homes in the Houston area. They gave Simone and Adria a secure upbringing in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, and the girls have always regarded Ron and Nellie as their mother and father. From the beginning, Simone was an active child, running and jumping wherever she could. Her natural strength and high energy combined with an unusual degree of physical daring. "Just a very brave child," is how she describes herself at that age. On a daycare field trip at age six, she was taken to a gym and saw older girls practicing gymnastics. When the coaches saw the six-year-old Simone successfully imitating the feats of girls in their teens, they wrote a note to the family suggesting that the child take regular gymnastic classes. She began a training program at Bannon's Gymnastix in Houston with Coach Aimee Boorman. The energetic child took to the training quickly and set out on the long road to becoming a champion.

The exuberance and boundless energy that made Biles a star pupil at Bannon's Gymnastix posed a different challenge to her teachers and classmates in public school. At an early age, she received a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Like most young people with this diagnosis, she was prescribed the stimulant Ritalin. With its use, she was able to focus for longer periods on the task before her, whether academic or gymnastic. Nellie Biles was a great help to Simone as well, sitting down with her at the beginning of each year to write a list of goals for the next 12 months and to record her progress throughout the year.

Simon Biles made her first appearance in junior national competition at the 2011 American Classic in Houston, placing third in the all-around competition and first in the vault. Simone was now at a crossroads. Making the commitment to competitive gymnastics would require sacrifice. At age 14, Biles left her public school to be homeschooled. From then on, she would forgo the usual round of teenage social activities to train for six to eight hours a day.

At the 2012 American Classic, she placed third on the balance beam, tied for second in floor exercise, and took first place in both the vault and all-around competition. At the 2012 U.S. Classic, she placed second in floor exercise and again finished first in vault and all-around. She finished first on vault again at the USA Gymnastics National Championships and was named to the United States Junior National Team.

At age 15, she was a few months too young to compete for a place on the 2012 Olympic team, a circumstance which may have been more fortunate than it appeared at the time. When she made her senior international debut at the 2013 American Cup, her strength, particularly on the vault, was apparent to all. Competing for the United States at Jesolo, Italy, she took gold medals in all-around, vault, balance beam and floor exercise. In competition with teams from Germany and Romania at Chemnitz, Germany, she again won vault, balance beam and floor exercise, but trouble lay ahead.

At the 2013 U.S. Classic, she lost control on the balance beam and fell during her floor exercise. Her coach, Aimee Boorman, was forced to pull her from the meet. Observers of the gymnastics circuit wondered openly whether her undeniable strength and agility were enough to overcome some inner deficiency. Biles consulted a sports psychologist and attended a private training camp with legendary coach Márta Károlyi. Biles does not discuss the substance of these sessions in detail, but something clicked. She learned to put the expectations of others out of her mind and enjoy her performance in the moment. Only three weeks after her disastrous showing at the Classic, she won the USA Gymnastics National Championship and was named to the Senior National Team. Two months after that, she won World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium - her first international title - scoring first on floor exercise, second on the vault and first in all-around. She has not lost a meet since.

Biles was setting a new standard of performance in her sport. The height of her jumps, the speed of her turns, and the security of her landings set her apart from all competitors. Under the historic ten-point system of the International Federation of Gymnastics, a gymnast's performance in each event was rated on a fixed scale of one to ten. This system encouraged competitors to perfect traditional skills, and above all, to avoid making mistakes, rather than experimenting with new moves. Under a new open-ended scale, instituted by the federation in 2006, higher levels of difficulty could be recognized, and Biles was prepared to push the envelope. On the vault and balance beam, she added extra twists and flips to her dismounts. While she recovered from a knee injury, her coach suggested that she conclude a double layout (flipping end over end with straight legs and body) by executing a half-twist and landing on one foot, sparing the tender knee. Biles introduced the new skill at the 2013 World Championships; it has now entered the repertoire and is known as the Biles.

In 2014, Biles and her coach, Aimee Boorman, ended their relationship with Bannon's Gymnastix. Ron and Nellie Biles have opened a new facility, the Word Champions Centre, in Spring, Texas, where Boorman and Biles trained for the subsequent seasons. A shoulder injury kept Biles out of competition at the beginning of the 2014 season, but she returned in the 2014 U.S. Classic in Chicago, tying for first on the balance beam, taking first place in vault and floor exercise, and winning the all-around by a wide margin. She now routinely finished ahead of her nearest competitors by margins of whole points rather than factions, as is more customary. At the 2014 USA Gymnastics National Championships, Biles tied for the silver on balance beam, despite a fall during her final routine of the two-day meet. She won the gold in the vault and floor exercise to emerge as national all-around champion after two days of competition, finishing more than four points ahead of her nearest competitor. Later that year, at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Nanning, China, Biles took a silver medal in the vault, gold in the balance beam and floor exercise, and won her second consecutive world all-around title.

Biles began 2015 with victories in the AT&T American Cup in Arlington, Texas and the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy. At that year's U.S. Classic, she finished first in the all-around competition, with first place finishes in balance beam, vault and floor exercise. Although she had won early acceptance to UCLA, she made the decision to become a professional, thereby forfeiting the opportunity to compete for UCLA.

Her winning streak continued with a third consecutive all-around championship at the 2015 U.S. National. She won a third international title at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. In Glasgow, she took gold medals in balance beam and floor exercise again, bringing her total medal and gold medal count to the highest ever won by any female in world gymnastics competition. She was named Team USA Athlete of the Year.

She embarked upon a new year of competition, one that would see her participate in the Olympics for the first time. She began the year winning an all-around victory at the Pacific Rim Championships with the highest scores on vault, floor and balance beam. At the 2016 USA Gymnastics National Championships, she again won the titles in vault and floor exercise, winning the all-around title.

As expected, Biles was selected for the 2016 Olympics team, and Coach Boorman was chosen to head the USA Gymnastics Women's Team. The 2016 Olympic Games were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On August 9, 2016, Biles led the American gymnasts to victory in the team event, with a score more than eight points ahead of the second-place Russian team. Two days later, Biles took the gold medal in the all-around event, with the highest scores on vault, floor and balance beam. She won a second individual gold medal in the vault. Despite her first-place finish on the balance beam in the all-around competition a few days earlier, an unexpected error marred an otherwise impressive performance on the balance beam final. She still received a bronze medal for that event. She ended by winning a fourth gold medal in the floor exercise final. Besides tying a number of other world records, she set a new American record for most gold medals in gymnastics at a single Olympics Games. Between her performances at the Olympics and in World Championship competition, she has won 19 medals, making her the most decorated American gymnast of all time. As Team USA's outstanding star of the Games, Biles was chosen by her teammates to carry her country's flag in the closing ceremonies.

In the wake of the Games, Russian computer hackers gained access to the medical records of Biles and other Team USA athletes. They disclosed that Biles had tested positive for Ritalin and tried to use this information to discredit her performance. Biles freely admitted that she has long taken Ritalin for ADHD and the Olympics Committee confirmed that she had received a therapeutic exemption to continue her medication while competing. Her forthright discussion of her experience with ADHD gave encouragement to many young people in similar situations.

After 13 years of incessant practice and competition, Biles decided to take a year off before resuming training for the 2020 Olympics. In 2017, she was given the ESPY Award for Best Female Athlete of the Year. After her lifelong coach Aimee Boorman moved from Texas to Florida, Biles resumed training with Coach Laurent Landi.

The world of female competitive gymnastics was rocked in early 2018, as more than 150 former patients of Team USA doctor Larry Nassar had accused him of sexually abusing them while they were under his care. On January 18, Simone Biles added her name to the list. Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison on federal child pornography charges, and in two different trials, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years for multiple counts of sexual assault. He will spend the rest of his life in prison. Simone Biles praised the judges' decisions in the case and called on the U.S. Olympic Committee to reach out to abuse survivors such as herself.

After a 711-day layoff, Simone Biles made a triumphant return to public competition at the U.S. Classic in July 2018. She posted the highest scores on vault, floor exercise, balance beam, and all-around performance. At the USA Gymnastics National Championships the following month, Biles won gold medals in all four events - her first medal for the uneven bars, previously regarded as her weakest event - and took the all-around title. She is only the second woman in history to win all five gold medals at the National. Biles wore a teal-colored leotard for her historic performance, a gesture of solidarity with all victims of sexual assault.

At the 2018 World Gymnastics Championship, Biles won a medal in every event: bronze in the balance beam, silver in the uneven bars, and gold medals in the floor exercise, vault and team final, and for all-around individual performance. The first American competitor to win a medal in every event at the World Championship, she achieved this remarkable performance while suffering from a painful kidney stone. Delaying treatment until after the competition, she declined pain medication that would have prevented her from qualifying under anti-doping regulations.

At the World Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany in October 2019, she led Team USA to its fifth consecutive victory and won five more gold medals - in balance beam, floor exercise, vault, all-around, and as a member of the winning team. This raised her total number of medals in world competition to 25, an all-time record. She is now the most decorated gymnast in history.

The gymnastics world was looking forward to seeing Simone Biles dominate her sport at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, but the competition was postponed for a year due to the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Other public events were suspended as well, and Simone Biles did not perform in public competition for over a year. In May 2021, when she returned to competition at the U.S. Classic in Indianapolis, she stunned audiences with an unprecedented feat in her vaulting routine: a Yurchenko double pike, requiring her to push off from the vaulting table with her hands and flip twice before landing. She is the first woman ever to perform this feat in competition. Ms. Biles placed first in all-around competition at this event, as she did again two weeks later at the U.S. Gymnastics Championship. This was a record-setting seventh all-around win in national competition; she has captured all-around honors in every event she has entered since 2013.

At the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, held between July 23 and August 8, 2021, Biles left an indelible mark, changing the narrative from winning medals to championing athlete mental health and well-being. In the very first event, the team competition, Biles withdrew after completing only one vault, citing an inability to perform due to mental stress and a lack of "air awareness." Then, on the last day of gymnastics contests, Biles made a dramatic return, capturing a bronze medal in the balance beam - her seventh career Olympic medal - tying her with Shannon Miller for the most ever for an American gymnast.

In June 2022, Simone Biles and more than 90 women and girls filed $1 billion in claims against the FBI for its mishandling of sexual assault allegations raised against then national gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar, in 2015. The claimants include McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman, the elite gymnasts who were first identified in the summer of 2015 as having been sexually abused by the then-doctor to the national women's gymnastics team under the guise of medical treatment.

President Joe Biden, on July 7, 2022, presented the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including gymnast Simone Biles, the late John McCain, the Arizona Republican whom Biden served with in the Senate, and gun-control advocate Gabby Giffords. "Today, she adds to her medal count," Biden said as he introduced Biles. Biles, 25, became the youngest person to ever receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In June 2023, Simone Biles announced plans to return to elite gymnastics competition, two years after her unexpected withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics due to a disorienting condition. This revelation subtly surfaced when her name appeared on the entry list for the U.S. Classic, a qualifying event for the national championships. Despite the absence of detailed intentions, this move suggests a potential bid for the 2024 Paris Olympics, marking her first step toward that goal. Biles, previously undefeated in all-around competitions since 2013, withdrew from defending her titles in Tokyo only to return and clinch a bronze medal in the balance beam final. She has not competed since then.

Radiating resilience and skill, Simone Biles made a triumphant return to elite competition in August 2023, besting the field by five points with a 59.100 all-around total more than two years after her last elite meet at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Demonstrating both her unparalleled legacy and adaptability, Biles confidently landed the highly challenging Yurchenko double pike - a feat she had been preparing for prior to the Tokyo Games but had not performed since the official Olympic warm-up. With a performance that effortlessly qualified her for the upcoming U.S. championships, Biles showcased a strategic approach, integrating simpler yet soaring routines that align with the contemporary gymnastics rulebook.

In a continuation of her awe-inspiring journey, Simone Biles clinched her eighth U.S. all-around title just weeks after her stellar performance at the U.S. Classic. At 26, she not only became the oldest gymnast to achieve this distinction but also shattered a 90-year record by becoming the first American gymnast to secure eight national all-around titles. Demonstrating her unmatched prowess and consistency, Biles executed a near-flawless Yurchenko double pike vault, reminiscent of her recent elite competition. While her scores and accolades speak volumes, Biles remains grounded, emphasizing her passion for gymnastics and maintaining an air of mystery regarding her future endeavors.

In October 2023, Simone Biles clinched her 21st world championship gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. At 26, she won her sixth all-around title. With this achievement, Biles surpassed Vitaly Scherbo's record, becoming the most decorated gymnast, male or female, in the combined history of the Olympics and world championships.

The gravity-defying performances of gymnast Simone Biles have placed her in a class by herself, demolishing previous standards of difficulty and inspiring the awe of coaches, competitors and former champions.

Her life might have turned out very differently. At the age of two, she and her siblings were taken from their drug-addicted mother and placed in foster care. Adopted by her grandfather and his wife, she was introduced to gymnastics during a day-care field trip at age six. Her talent was evident from the beginning, but in her first adult competitions, she suffered her share of mishaps. Only three weeks after a particularly disastrous showing, she won her first U.S. Championship, and two months later, a world title. Since then, she has not lost a meet, winning four national and three world championships.

At the 2016 Olympics, she won four gold medals, one as a member of the women's championship team, and three more in the all-around, vault and floor exercise categories. At the 2019 World Championship she won five more gold medals - placing first in balance beam, vault, floor exercise, all-around, and as a member of the wining team. These victories boosted her total number of medals in World Championship competition to a record-breaking 25, in addition to her Olympic gold. She is now the most decorated competitive gymnast in history.

How did you first become involved in gymnastics?

Simone Biles: So I was six years old, whenever I went on this daycare field trip, and all I can really remember is, the gym that I went to, it was split into two sections. So the front of the gym was like the rec, and then the back gym where all the team girls were working out - and I remember being on a trampoline, kind of like peeking through because there was a wall that divided it, but it was really just the bathrooms. So I remember peeking back, and I would see these girls on the tramps and on the beams, and all that tumbling and flipping, and I was like, "I think I can do that." So then I started copying them, and then a coach came over and was like, "Have you ever done it?" And then they just sent a letter home. It's kind of a blur because I didn't think in that moment my life would have changed and I would be who I am today. So it's like, you don't really remember it too much.

I started setting goals in gymnastics, thinking what did I want to do with the sport. As I progressed and got older, I started setting more goals. And whenever - I was around 14 years old - I made a lot of sacrifices. I decided to give up public school, go to homeschool. I gave up all the school dances. I've never been to a prom. Never done a lot of those things that maybe most of your kids are doing or want to do. But I fell in love with the sport. So I guess that's what I got out of it. I got to go to World Championships; I got to go to the Olympics. I got to live out a lot of dreams that most kids dream of since they were little kids in Mommy and Me classes. So I'm very grateful for that. But it also made me set goals at a very young age, which I can't be more proud of.

Speaking of setting goals, we understand you have an annual routine with your mom where you write this all down.

We all have to deal with setbacks and disappointment in our lives, but as a competitive gymnast you succeed or fail in a very public way. You can literally fall on your face.

You've had to recover from some major setbacks yourself. You had a particularly difficult time at a competition in 2013, didn't you?

You introduced a whole new move in gymnastic competition. How did that come about?
If you watch any of my floor routines, it's usually my second skill. It's called the Biles. You guys won't clearly understand this because it's gymnastics terms. But what I'll go on to do, I'll do a double layout - which is I'll do two flips with a straight body - and at the very end of it I do a half turn. So if you watch my floor routine, that's the second skill that I do.

Simone Biles: We made it up out of almost an injury. I partially tore my calf muscle one time, attempting an extra half twist in my skill list, and then my coach was like, "Well, maybe if you do a half twist, nobody's ever done that before, and it will take the stress off that landing of your calf muscle. So let's just play around in the gym with this." And he's like, "And nobody's ever done it." So then we started playing around with that, and then there's a whole process to doing the skill, and all of that, and getting it named after you. You have to be the first - or even if two people try it, then they kind of base it off of who did it better - who has the higher score, and all of that, because that's happened before if you're both at the same world championships doing the same skill. So there's a lot made up about it, but mine was kind of like from an injury standpoint and taking the pressure off of it.

What was it like, after all these years of preparation, actually being at the Olympics? Can you remember it clearly or is it all a blur?
Simone Biles: I feel like, leading up to the Olympics, whenever we got in the Village and we got all settled, all the practices, they kind of go as a blur. And then you're there at podium training, and then at qualifications and all that, and it's like a blur. But all-around finals and team finals, I remember exactly, and it's just like, even afterward, standing up on that podium hearing it, it just replays in your head and you don't even know what to think. It doesn't feel real.
You are so dominant in your sport now, that the other girls are essentially competing for second place. Does that affect your relationship with the other gymnasts?

You've been taking a year off since the 2016 Olympics before you start training again for 2020. How did it feel being out of your normal routine?
Simone Biles: It feels kind of crazy how fast a year went by because the year of the Olympics - it even goes by - but then afterward you kind of feel like you're doing everything at once, and then you look back and you're like, "It's been a year? Did I enjoy my time off?" Which I did. I enjoyed it so much. It just went by faster than you think, because you think, "A year? Oh, that's a long time!" It went by so fast. But I'm excited to get back into training and get back into the working mode, just because I've been doing so many things that are different and out of my comfort zone, that you sometimes are ready to get back into it.
What will a typical day be like for you when you go back into training for the next three years?

What core value do you think accounts for your success at this early age? Is it fearlessness?
Simone Biles: I feel like it would either have to be that or confidence...

You're only 20 years old but you've already come a long way in life. There's quite a distance from your current achievements to your start in life.
Simone Biles: I'm an Olympic gold medalist. I've won four individual gold medals and a bronze medal. So I have five total, combining a total of nineteen world and Olympic medals. I've been holding a couple of records now. At the age of five, starting in my childhood, I was adopted by my grandparents, who are now my parents. I was in foster care from three to five years old, in and out of it. So I've had a couple of struggles then.
Your grandparents adopted you and became your parents. How old were you when that happened?
Simone Biles: The first time, I was three years old, and then we went to live with them, and then we went back to foster care. And then at five years old, that's when the official adoption and everything went through, and then I went to live with them in Texas.
Do you remember the time before that?
Simone Biles: I mean I remember a little bit being in foster care. Not anything that traumatized me, because we were very lucky and thankful for our situation that we had, even though we were in foster care. We had a very nice and loving foster family and we got to stay in one place, really. So we were very blessed.
When you were first taken to the gym at age six, just watching and imitating the older girls, there were people who saw something special in you.
Simone Biles: Yeah. They saw it. I was six. I was all over the place. That I know.
What do you mean? What were you like at six?
Simone Biles: I thought I was a normal six-year-old. But everyone just saw the strength, and they saw the muscle, and they saw the definition on my body, and that's what intrigued them.
Were you already into tumbling and being active?
Simone Biles: I was active around the house and on the playground, but nothing too serious, where my parents were like, "Let's enroll her in a gym." They just thought I was like every other child, flipping on the bed, flipping on the couch, doing all that stuff. Just a very brave child.
You're quite public that when you were a kid you were diagnosed with ADHD. Has that also been an asset to you as a gymnast?
Simone Biles: I think so, energy-wise, just because it's a way to kill my energy, and I've learned to focus in a little bit more on what I'm doing. So it's helped. It's also helped me speak out to kids on it, that it's not something you should be afraid of telling people or think you're different.
How do you think about it - as a disability or just as a sort of different way of being in the world?
Simone Biles: I feel like, if anyone has asthma, they don't think of it too much as a disability. It's just something you were born with and that you have to accept. You don't think of yourself as an outcast because there are other kids and teens and adults struggling with the same thing. And if they can do it, you see that you can do it as well.
Does it give you an edge?
Simone Biles: If you feed into anything that makes you energized - if you're an athlete, and whatever fuels you, to bring you more energy, then that's what you used, and other people just already have it, I feel like.
So do you already have it?
Simone Biles: I guess a little bit. But then there are downfalls because I don't have the focus that they have, so I could see that as a downfall, which I don't. I just have to focus a little bit more.
What are the tools that you use to focus?
Simone Biles: I started taking medicine. I was diagnosed at a very young age. Went to the doctor, they prescribed me something. So I tried doing that and now that's what I do to make it easier to focus.
Are there other things? All athletes have to find techniques to help focus them. So what else helps you when you're going from your bubbly "having fun" self to having to kill it on the floor?
Simone Biles: I feel like I just know when I need to kill it. I've been trained, and we're very disciplined as athletes at the high level that we do it. There are a lot of risks we take. So I just kind of know that I have an off switch and when to hit it and when to turn it back on.
Who are the people in your life who've inspired you to push along the way?
Simone Biles: I feel like in my immediate circle it's definitely friends, family, coaches, doctors -anyone, really, who has belief in you, and that you can turn to and talk to. At the end of the day, they'll always be on your side and willing to help in any way possible. And then, like, outside outside? I was homeschooled; I don't have a lot of friends. You don't know a lot of people, but then it would be other family members that are always checking up on you.
How about sports heroes or other heroes of yours?
Simone Biles: I feel like other sports athletes really inspire me -Alex Morgan, Serena Williams - just because they're so dominant in their sport. Even watching track and field as well. They're so dominant that you want to become them one day or hope to be a role model for kids like they are.
Have you had a chance to meet those heroes?
Simone Biles: I've gotten a chance to meet both of them. And it was pretty exciting. Alex Morgan and Serena Williams, yes.
What kind of conversations do you have with them? You've met Nadia Comaneci, right?
Simone Biles: Yes. Usually, it's about gymnastics or they wish you luck on future success and then they congratulate you. It's usually not too much because it's just in and out. Everyone's so busy and everyone has their own lives and you're all just going all over the place.
You've been training as a gymnast continuously from age six to nineteen. What's it like to be taking this year off? What things are you getting to do for a change?
Simone Biles: Most of the time in gymnastics, if you ask, "Can I go do this or do that?" obviously the answer is already "no" because the fear of you getting hurt. So I feel like "the year of yeses" is kind of weird, because you're like, "I can do that? Nobody's worried about me getting hurt?" So I've gotten to go on family vacations, which I couldn't do a lot of leading up to the Olympics and those last couple of years. And I got to go indoor skydiving, and I did a lot of speaking engagements. And even when you're younger, like, "Oh, I want to be on TV; I want to be in commercials," and now I do all that stuff. So you kind of get to taste a little bit of everything, and now you're just ready to go back into your shell.
You've always kept track of your goals. With this incredible run of gold medals behind you, what did you put in your short- and long-term goals for your year off?
Simone Biles: It was just to live life and to have fun with whatever opportunities arose, rather than set down things because I knew that at the end of the year I wanted to start training again. So I guess that could have been the biggest goal on the paper, but I didn't write anything down because I've been doing it for so long and usually they were about gymnastics. And since I wasn't doing gymnastics, I just wanted to have fun.
You knew from the time you were tiny that gymnastics was your love and your passion. Have you thought what comes after gymnastics? What are your other loves in the world?
Simone Biles: I kind of tried to do that during the year off. But then you try not to think, "What comes after gymnastics?" because I know ahead of time I'm going to be joining again for three years. So you can't think too far, and you have to kind of live in the moment. I feel like maybe if this interview was after a second Olympics, I could tell you. Right now, since it's going back into the grind and going back into gymnastics, you don't really know yet, because the opportunities will hopefully be endless. And the deciding factors? We'll see.
Your book is called Courage to Soar You're training with a new coach now for the first time. What's that like? Now that you're a young adult, you'll be forging that relationship in a different way than you did as a child. , and the subtitle is A Life In Balance. What does that mean, the "life in balance" part? What is a life in balance for you? How will it be different? What will be different this time, do you think?
Simone Biles: It's keeping everything on the table, and me still living my life. It's very balanced and it's very organized, because my body can do a lot of crazy things, and it's kind of like sporadic, but it's very controlled as well. So whenever I go to the gym, I do what I have to do, and then whenever I'm at home, I try to be as normal a kid as possible. I think that's where the balance comes in.
Is your body in a different place as an adult? Usually, Olympic gymnasts have sort of peaked at your age - because they're competing at 16 years old, their body changes, and that makes it hard to keep competing.
Simone Biles: With my new coach that I have, I've worked alongside him, because his athlete was also on the 2016 team and we've been training for four or five years together. So he was always at the camps I went to every single month. So it's not like he's a stranger to me. I know him.
About a decade ago, the International Gymnastics Federation threw out the old ten-point system. They saw that it was holding back the sport, in that it didn't really pay to be more daring. And there was a lot of hubbub about it at the time. But you've personally proved the benefit of getting rid of the ten-point system. Can you talk about that, about how gymnastics has changed and how being free of the ten-point system has changed what you do?
Simone Biles: I feel like there will be differences; I just don't know what they'll be yet. I think it's just different from having a coach your whole entire life and then switching because I think the relationship is different. Because it's not like they've grown up with you. Now I'm an adult so it will be different. But I can't tell you exactly what that is because I haven't worked with him yet.

Simone Biles: I feel like since I already went through that whole entire process at 16 years old - whenever my body was changing and all of that stuff happened - I wasn't peaking yet, and then after all that happened, then I peaked and I feel like, in this day in our sport, we're realizing that we've been peaking at an older age, so it's been working.
You've said you were a very brave child. Would you say that's one of your defining characteristics, bravery or fearlessness?
Simone Biles: I wasn't even born when the ten-point system was happening, so I can't say too much about it. I was born in 1997 and I think they changed it a little bit after. So I wasn't even a gymnast yet. So all I grew up with was not the ten-point system. But they kind of included it still in. We can get a ten on execution, which has not ever happened yet. But you have the option, at least for a 10.0 in execution, but otherwise, I feel like they felt that you could further yourself more as a gymnast in your capabilities. And you could choose your own start values, in that you could put your own flair and your own personality into your gymnastics, rather than just setting it as a ten and you can't really do too much more to go over a ten.
What are you afraid of? Everyone has fears.
So, say my sister was doing gymnastics and she can't do the same skills I can do on whatever event that is. Maybe on bars she can have a higher start value because she can do more on bars. And say I'm like, not good at bars; I do what I'm capable of and then I see my start value. Say it's a 15; say she starts out a 16. Then there are those differences, and then on vaults, say if I'm better than her, I can start at a higher start value. So you really do gymnastics to your own capability rather than everybody doing it to the same level and getting scored the same. So that's when you can push your body and your mind and the limits.
How do you carry both of those inside of you - the fearlessness you need to do it and the fear that's very real?
Simone Biles: I think so because to do this sport, it does come with fear, but then you also have to be fearless. You have to be brave and trust in yourself. So I think once you start to trust in yourself you become stronger as an athlete.
You hit a rough patch when you went from being a junior athlete to a senior athlete. There was one point when you didn't make the national team. When was that?
Simone Biles: I'm afraid of letting people down, failure, being injured, or having an injury so bad and the doctor telling me I won't continue with my sport. But I think that's true of every athlete if you ask them.
Is that when that rocky period happened?
Simone Biles: You don't think of the fear because if you think of the fear you start changing things and that's when you can get injured, or all those things that you don't want to happen that you're thinking of could happen.
After that, you won spectacularly and you've basically won every competition since then.
Simone Biles: I was a junior when I didn't make team. I made team when I was a senior. Or I made team when I was a junior, but then by the time it came out, around the competitive season, I had moved up to a senior and that's when I started competing.
Obviously what happens between you and a psychologist is private, but is there some part of that process you can talk about? You went from being a great athlete who had her great days and her off days to being one who's completely unbeatable. What clicked?
Simone Biles: No, it happened when I was a junior.
Were you prepared to have your personal life subjected to the kind of scrutiny that star athletes and people in the public eye receive?
Simone Biles: Yes. While I was doing well before I met with a sports psychologist, then I kind of fell apart, and that's when we were introduced to him.
You and Katie Ledecky, the super swimmer, were chosen as sponsors of a Navy aircraft carrier. Can you tell us what that means?
Simone Biles: I think that part is very private and it's something that I don't really share too much. But I also think it was just that going to him, and then the main question he asked was, "You're usually having fun when you compete, right? Were you having fun that day?" And I was like, "No, I was too focused on what everybody else was thinking and saying and I wanted to please everyone." He's like, "Did you do that before?" And I said, "No". He said, "Then why did you do that then?" I think that's kind of what clicked. Then I realized what I do for myself is I have fun. I go out there and I don't let anybody else change how I do things. I think that's what really clicked.
How did it feel, representing the United States at the Olympics?
Simone Biles: I feel like, going into the Olympic games, you only have one goal in mind, and you're not really tied into the media or what they're doing because you're so focused on yourself. I feel like, if you're at the Olympic Games focusing on what the media's going to say about you, you're not really doing your job, or you're probably not as stressed as you should be. So we go in knowing that we have one goal in mind and then we're kind of set on that. So we're not even focused on social media or what's happening, or you don't even see it because you're not on it and you're not really watching TV or all of that.
Simone, thank you so very much for joining us.
Simone Biles: We saw the first cut of steel; we got to put our names in it that will go in some place in the ship. But it's, basically, you have this aircraft carrier. You get to do the christening of the ship, so we'll break the bottle. Not very soon - it's in a couple of years. We still have awhile.

Simone Biles: I think, going to the Olympics, it brings a whole other level of patriotism. So I think we have a lot of pride in representing our country. And even the soldiers that go out and represent everyone call us their heroes and all of that, but I think they're the real heroes. So I think we have a different kind of respect when we go and compete for our country, just because we're selected from a wide variety of a group of athletes, and then they narrow it down. So I was one of five that were selected on the team out of hundreds and hundreds of gymnasts in the United States.

Simone Biles: Thank you.

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The gravity-defying performances of gymnast Simone Biles have placed her in a class by herself, demolishing previous standards of difficulty and inspiring the awe of coaches, competitors and former champions. Her life might have turned out very differently. At the age of two, she and her siblings were taken from their drug-addicted mother and placed in foster care.

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1. Katie Ledecky

2. Olympic Swimming - Swam in the Nation’s Capital Swim Club in Maryland and Stanford University

3. Katie Ledecky has broken 16 world records in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m races, and has won 9 gold Olympics medals and 21 gold World Championship medals. In total she has 40 medals, which led her to receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025 and USA Swimming Athlete of the Year.

4. She challenged gender barriers through her multiple world-record breaking races

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*Judit Polgár

*Professional Chess Player

*No. 8 overall in the world and a peak rating of 2735

*She has won many tournaments in chess even when the

*Chess tournaments were male dominated.

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My Athlete is Serena Williams

They played tennis

They have won 23 grand slams

Of a 4 time Olympic gold medal winner

This athlete is a change maker because she is widely considered one of the best female athletes ever in tennis and has inspired many young women to strive for success.

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Caitlin Clark

She plays basketball

She is the NCAA’s all time leading scorer, she was the 2024 WNBA rookie of the year.

She helps the WNBA get more views and awareness.

Ibrahim Hardan

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1. Pat Summit

2. Basketball- Played at the University of Tennessee Martin and for Team USA. Coached at the University of Tennessee and for Team USA.

3. Coached 1,098 wins, won 8 NCAA championships, never had a losing season, 100% graduation rate, Naismith Coach of the Century in 2000, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Won a silver medal as a player and gold medal as a coach.

4. She transformed women's basketball from overlooked and underfunded to a highly competitive sport. She fought for resources for women's basketball. She is the face of women's basketball. Started the Pat Summit Foundation for Alzheimers research.