The results are in, and Simone Biles is officially the most decorated athlete in gymnastics history. Taking her medal tally to 25 – 19 of which are gold – at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Biles has proven yet again that she’s the indisputable queen of the balance beam.
Biles’ success at Stuttgart has seen her thrash her predecessor, Vitaly Scherbo, who holds 12 gold medals and 23 in total. That makes Simone Biles the best gymnast of any gender – hasn’t it been a great year for fempowerment in sport?!
This isn’t even the first time this year that Biles has absolutely floored us with her skills. Who could forget the moment that she pulled off the first ever ‘double double dismount’, now one of two moves that are officially named after her?
Simone Biles’ guts and glory have earned her a legion of fans from around the globe, even ones who couldn’t give a toss about the sport. Because who could fail to love a lady who constantly takes out titles with a smile? Oh, that’s right, the usual lot of insecure men who reckon she’s too ‘cocky’. Who cares what they think anyway, when most of the world is absolutely frothing for you.
One of the reasons she’s so beloved is her quintessential black girl magic. She won the all-around title early in her career, and was the first African-American women to do so – ‘inspirational’ is an understatement. In a 2018 interview with Ebony, she said:
“You see all the African-Americans looking up to you. It really does change their life to see someone in their sport excelling as well as they do, so it really means a lot.”
Despite accruing a frankly ridiculous number of accolades, Simone Biles is not slowing down. There’s more than enough time for her to add a few more golds to the collection at the Tokyo Olympics next year, and let’s be honest, she’ll probably come up with a ‘Biles III’ by then too. Get hyped, y’all.