Simone Biles
Most decorated gymnast in history with 11 Olympic and 30 World medals.
Simone Arianne Biles Owens was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio. She is an American artistic gymnast. No one in the sport’s history has won more Olympic or World Championship medals: she holds 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals. Many consider her the greatest gymnast ever, and one of the greatest female athletes of all time.
At the Olympics, Biles has twice won the individual all-around gold (2016 and 2024). She has also won vault gold twice (2016 and 2024), floor exercise gold in 2016 and silver in 2024, and bronze on balance beam in both 2016 and 2020. She led the U.S. women’s team to gold in 2016 (the “Final Five”) and again in 2024 (the “Golden Girls”). At the 2020 Olympics, where she was expected to win at least four gold medals, she withdrew from most events after qualifying due to “the twisties”—a temporary loss of spatial awareness during twisting moves. She earned a silver medal with the U.S. team, known as the “Fighting Four.”
Biles is also the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history, with 30 medals—all but seven of them gold. She has won the all-around title six times (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2023), the floor exercise title six times (2013–2015, 2018–2019, 2023), and the balance beam title four times (2014–2015, 2019, 2023)—all records. She has also won vault gold twice (2018–2019) and been part of five gold-medal-winning U.S. teams (2014–2015, 2018–2019, 2023). Her World Championship medals include four silvers (vault in 2013, 2014, and 2023; uneven bars in 2018) and three bronzes (vault in 2015; balance beam in 2013 and 2018).
Domestically, Biles holds a record nine U.S. national all-around titles (2013–2016, 2018–2019, 2021, 2023–2024). In 2024, she became the oldest female gymnast ever to win that title. She has also won seven national titles each on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, and two on uneven bars. She is the only woman to have won all five gold medals at a single U.S. Championships twice (2018 and 2024).
Biles is the sixth woman to win the individual all-around at both the Olympics and World Championships, and the first since Lilia Podkopayeva in 1996 to hold both titles at the same time.
Quick Facts
- Fullname
- Simone Arianne Biles Owens
- Birth Date
- 1997-03-14
- Birth Place
- Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
- Height
- 4 ft 8 in
- Discipline
- WAG
- Country
- USA · WAG
- Natlteam
- 2012–2016, 2018–2021, 2023–2024
- Gym
- World Champions Centre (2015–present) / Bannon's Gymnastix Inc. (2003–2014)
- Headcoach
- Laurent Landi / Cécile Canqueteau-Landi
- Formercoach
- Aimee Boorman
- Show-Medals
- yes
- Spouse
- Jonathan Owens · 2023
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Simone Biles was born in Columbus, Ohio, the third of four siblings. After her birth mother was unable to care for her, Biles and her siblings went in and out of foster care. In 2000, her maternal grandfather Ron Biles and his second wife Nellie Cayetano Biles began caring for the children, formally adopting Simone and her younger sister Adria in 2003. Biles holds Belizean citizenship through her adoptive mother and considers Belize her second home. She attended Benfer Elementary School and later switched to home schooling in 2012 to increase training hours. She earned her high school diploma in mid-2015 and initially committed to UCLA but turned professional in July 2015, forfeiting NCAA eligibility.
Biles first tried gymnastics at age six during a day-care field trip and soon enrolled in an optional training program at Bannon's Gymnastics. She began training under coaches Aimee Boorman and later Laurent and Cecile Landi. Biles has several eponymous skills on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise. While she is famous for these skills, she is not the only gymnast to have attempted them—other athletes have performed the Biles II on floor and the Biles on beam in competition.
Reader's Guide
Simone Biles's significance lies in her unprecedented medal count and the difficulty of the skills she has originated. She is the most decorated gymnast in history, with 11 Olympic medals (tied for second-most among female Olympic gymnasts) and 30 World Championship medals (all but seven gold). She is the originator of the most difficult skill on women's vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, and is the only gymnast to attempt them. Domestically, she has won a record nine U.S. national all-around championships and in 2024 became the oldest female gymnast to win the title. She is the only woman to win all five gold medals in a single U.S. championships twice (2018, 2024). In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2023, she won her eighth U.S. Gymnastics title, breaking a 90-year-old record held by Alfred Jochim. She has won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year four times (2017, 2019, 2020, 2025) and Comeback of the Year once (2024). Her legacy includes being the first American woman to win a World medal on every event and the first woman since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympics or World Championships.
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