Simone Arianne Biles (born March 14, 1997)[4] is an American artistic gymnast. Biles is the 2016 Olympic individual all-around, vault and floor gold medalist, and balance beam bronze medalist. She was part of the gold-medal-winning team dubbed the "Final Five" at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[5]
Biles is a five-time World all-around champion (2013–15, 2018–19), five-time World floor exercise champion (2013–15, 2018–19), three-time World balance beam champion (2014–15, 2019), two-time World vault champion (2018–19), a six-time United States national all-around champion (2013–16, 2018–19), and a member of the gold-medal-winning American teams at the 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Additionally, she is a three-time World silver medalist (2013 and 2014 on vault, 2018 on uneven bars) and a three-time World bronze medalist (2015 on vault, 2013 and 2018 on balance beam). Having won a combined total of thirty Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated American gymnast and the third most decorated gymnast of all time, behind Vitaly Scherbo (33 medals) and Larisa Latynina (32 medals). In October 2019, Biles surpassed Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo's record 23 world medals he won in the 1990s, winning her 24th and 25th world medals, both gold, at the World Championship competition in Stuttgart.[6]
As of the 2019 World Championships, Biles is the gymnast with the most World medals (25) and most World gold medals (19), regardless of gender, as well as the female gymnast with the most World all-around titles (5). Biles is the sixth woman to win an individual all-around title at both the World Championships and the Olympics, and the first gymnast since Lilia Podkopayeva in 1996 to hold both titles simultaneously. She is the tenth gymnast and first American gymnast to win a World medal on every event, and the first gymnast since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships, having accomplished this feat at the 2018 World Championships. Olympic Champion Mary Lou Retton called Biles the "greatest gymnast ever"[7] and multiple other observers have echoed the sentiment.[8][9][10][11][12]
