The Olympics may be primarily about supporting the athletes from your country, but if there’s one person we love to cheer on alongside Team GB, it’s Simone Biles. After making a splash at her first Olympics back in Rio, the US gymnast has found a spot in the hearts and minds of people all over the world thanks to her sheer dominance on the world stage.

The amazing thing about Biles is how hard it is to draw comparisons; so many of her achievements are simply incomparable. The USA has had some incredible gymnasts in the past, but no one has ever done it quite like her. Before she travelled to Paris, Biles already had seven Olympic medals and five skills named after her – an honour only bestowed to the first gymnast to successfully perform those skills. She also has a whopping 30 World Championship medals to her name, making her the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history. 

And after yesterday’s gold medal win in the team final, she made history yet again. Biles is now also the most decorated American gymnast ever. With places in the all-around, balance beam, vault and floor exercise finals to come, she could also earn the title of the USA’s most decorated female Olympian outside of the pool.

But for all her success, Biles’s medals and accolades are far from the only impressive thing about her. It has been the moments away from the pressure of international competition that have inspired thousands of people across the world. Not only did she bravely come forward with firsthand testimony of her abuse at the hands of the US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, but she used her experience to implore US government officials to safeguard gymnasts of the future. Her speech in front of a senate judiciary committee came just months after she returned home from the Tokyo Olympics, where she was forced to withdraw from the team gymnastics final due to her struggles with the ‘twisties’. Following that, she took a two-year hiatus from gymnastics.  

That’s a lot to deal with on its own, let alone when you’ve got the whole world’s eyes on you. But after getting therapy and prioritising her mental health (something she speaks openly about in her Netflix documentary Simone Biles Rising), Biles made the decision to return to the Olympics for Paris 2024. And the fact that she’s continued to talk about her mental health in the process – in an interview on the official Olympics site, she revealed she went to therapy yesterday morning (30 July) before the team final – is yet another reason to revel in her greatness.

Both personally and physically, Biles has proven herself to be one of the greatest of all time. To get to watch her perform is an honour we shouldn’t take for granted – and whether or not Paris 2024 is her last Olympics (she hasn’t ruled out LA 2028), it’s safe to say she’s cemented her place in history many times over.  

Images: Getty