Simone Biles

popular Wiki of the Day

pWotD Episode 2645: Simone Biles
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With 627,778 views on Monday, 29 July 2024 our article of the day is Simone Biles.
Simone Arianne Biles Owens (née Biles; born March 14, 1997) is an American-Belizean artistic gymnast representing the United States. With 7 Olympic and 30 World Championship medals, she is the most decorated gymnast in history and is widely considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. With seven Olympic medals, she is the ninth-most decorated female Olympic gymnast, and is tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals earned by a U. S. gymnast.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Biles won individual gold medals in the all-around, vault, and floor, bronze on balance beam, and gold as part of the United States team, dubbed the "Final Five". At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where she was favored to win at least four of the six available gold medals, she withdrew from most of the competition due to "the twisties", a temporary loss of air awareness while performing twisting elements. She won a silver medal with her team and a bronze medal on the balance beam.
Biles is a six-time World all-around champion (2013–2015, 2018–2019, 2023), six-time World floor exercise champion (2013–2015, 2018–2019, 2023), four-time World balance beam champion (2014–2015, 2019, 2023), two-time World vault champion (2018–2019), nine-time United States national all-around champion (2013–2016, 2018–2019, 2021, 2023–2024), and was a member of the gold medal-winning American teams at the 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She is also a four-time World silver medalist (2013–2014 and 2023 on vault, 2018 on uneven bars) and a three-time World bronze medalist (2015 on vault, 2013 and 2018 on balance beam).
In 2019, Biles broke the record for most World Championship medals in gymnastics; she won her 24th and 25th medals at the event, surpassing Vitaly Scherbo's 23 World medals. Biles has since secured an additional five World medals, for a total of 30. She holds the record for World all-around titles (6), and is the sixth woman to win an individual all-around title at both the World Championships and the Olympics, the first since Lilia Podkopayeva in 1996 to hold both titles simultaneously. Biles is the tenth female gymnast and first American female gymnast to win a World medal on every event, and the first female gymnast since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships.
In 2022, Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2023, she won her eighth U. S. Gymnastics title, breaking the 90-year-old U. S. Gymnastics title record previously held by Alfred Jochim. Biles has won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year thrice (2017, 2019, 2020), and Comeback of the Year once (2024).
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:23 UTC on Tuesday, 30 July 2024.
For the full current version of the article, see Simone Biles on Wikipedia.
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