Editor’s Note: Follow Olympic gymnastics live results, scores and highlights from Simone Biles and the US women’s team’s competition in the team final.
As the 2024 Paris Olympics approach, all eyes are on Simone Biles, who is competing in her third consecutive Olympic Games. After withdrawing from several events at the Tokyo Olympics due to experiencing “twisties,” a term gymnasts use to describe the loss of spatial awareness and orientation in the air, Biles is set to make her ultimate Olympic comeback this summer.
Here’s what you need to know about the gymnastics superstar ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Why is Simone Biles called the GOAT?
Biles has been dubbed “the GOAT,” meaning the greatest of all time, because that’s exactly what she is. She has consistently dominated the sport for over a decade, which would have been an unimaginable feat just a few years ago, as most gymnasts peak in their late teens. Her ability to win is one of a kind. With 37 Olympic and World Championship medals, including 27 gold, Biles is the most medal-winning gymnast in history. She also hasn’t lost an all-around competition since 2013.
2024 Olympic Medals: Who’s leading the medal count? Follow us to track the medal count in each sport.
Biles is redefining the possibilities of her sport, not only through her record number of wins and medals, but also through the unmatched difficulty of the routines she performs. Biles has no fewer than five routines named after her—two on vault and floor, and one on beam—because she was the first, and in most cases, the only athlete to perform them in competition.
Is Simone Biles the most decorated gymnast of all time?
With a total of 37 Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated gymnast – male or female – of any nation in history. Biles officially earned this recognition after surpassing Vitaly Scherbo (33 World and Olympic medals) and Larisa Latynina (32 World and Olympic medals) with her performance at the 2023 World Championships.
Biles is also arguably the most decorated gymnast nationally, having won an unmatched nine U.S. all-around titles.
Biles currently sits ninth in the Olympic medal standings in women’s artistic gymnastics, but she will undoubtedly be aiming to increase that total in Paris.
What’s All About Simone Biles’ GOAT Leotard?
In recognition of her GOAT status, Biles has twice donned a leotard adorned with a goat’s head surrounded by rhinestones. Biles first debuted the design during podium practice before the 2019 national championships and again at the 2021 US Classic, ahead of the Tokyo Games.
What is Simone Biles’ schedule for the Paris Olympics?
Fans who want to see Simone Biles compete will have plenty of opportunities at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
There are six days of competition in gymnastics, and Biles is expected to compete on at least five of those days. If she qualifies for the uneven bars final, she will compete on all six days.
Biles is scheduled to begin her competition at the Paris Olympics with the women’s qualifying round on July 28, followed by the team final on July 30 and the all-around final on August 1.
Here is the full program.
What records could Simone Biles break in Paris?
By qualifying for the 2024 Olympics, Biles would tie the American record for most appearances on a U.S. Olympic gymnastics team. If Biles makes it to Paris, she will join Muriel Davis Grossfeld (1956, 1969, 1964), Linda Metheny (1964, 1968, 1972), and Dominique Dawes (1992, 1996, 2000) as the only American gymnasts to represent Team USA at three different Olympics.
Biles won’t just show up. She’s favored to win at least five of the six events.
With seven Olympic medals, Biles currently shares the title of most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast with Shannon Miller. If she wins at least one of the six medals on offer in artistic gymnastics, which is her overwhelming favorite, she will become the most decorated Olympic gymnast in U.S. history.
Biles currently sits ninth on the international Olympic medal list in women’s gymnastics. With the chance of winning six more medals in Paris, Biles could move up to second on the all-time list. Statistically, Biles cannot catch Latynina, who won 18 Olympic medals for the Soviet Union between 1956 and 1964, unless she competes at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
In a sport where most athletes retire in their early 20s, Biles’ longevity is also breaking records. If Biles wins a single gold medal in Paris, she will become the oldest female gymnast to do so since Latynina in 1964. If Biles wins the all-around, she will be the oldest gymnast to do so since Maria Gorokhovskaya, then 30, in 1952.
