With 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals to her name, Team USA’s Simone Biles is comfortably the most decorated gymnast in history.
Adding to her medal haul at the Paris Olympics 2024 this summer, the 27-year-old won three golds medals and one silver in the French capital, grabbing the top awards in Vault, Team and Individual all-around during the Olympic Games. She is one of the richest athletes on the planet too, with a reported net worth of $25million.
While Biles is be a world class talent in her field, she has also proven to be a real advocate for mental health after removing herself from the last Olympics in Tokyo when she is said to have suffered from ‘the twisties’, an issue that is most commonly triggered by stress and/or anxiety and can make an athlete feel lost in the air. An icon both in - and out - of the arena.
Want to know why so she is so iconic? Here are 20 of Simone Biles best quotes that prove exactly why so many see her as the greatest of all time.
1. On having fun with competing...
"At the end of the day, if I can say I had fun, it was a good day." | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images
2. On pizza...
"It doesn't even matter if I don't win a self-gold - after every meet, I have pizza. Pepperoni pizza." | Mike Egerton/PA Photo: Mike Egerton/PA
3. On life outside of gymnastics...
"Gymnastics is just one part of my life, and I'm having as much fun with it as possible." | JEFF PACHOUD Photo: JEFF PACHOUD
4. On how she started as a gymnast...
"I started gymnastics when I was six years old. I was at day care, and they took us on a field trip to a gym club, Bannon's Gymnastix in Houston, and that's how I got started." | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images