Simone Biles | Biography, Olympics, Medals, & Facts | Britannica

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• Introduction & Top Questions
• Early life
• Senior career
  • 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games
  • 2020 Tokyo Games
  • 2024 Paris Games
• Personal life

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• How tall is Simone Biles?
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• Olympic Games - Simone Biles
• Academy of Achievement - Simone Biles
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• BBC - Simone Biles: What are the twisties in gymnastics?

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Quick Summary Ask Anything Also known as: Simone Arianne Biles Written by Luan Peszek Publications Director and Editor, U.S.A. Gymnastics. Author of The Gymnastics Almanac. Luan Peszek Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Feb. 18, 2026 •History Quick Summary Ask Anything

Top Questions

How tall is Simone Biles?

Simone Biles is 4 feet 8 inches (1.4 meters) tall, which is about 4 inches (10 cm) below the average height of a female gymnast—and about 7 inches less than the average American woman, who stands about 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 meters).

Why are gymnasts this size? Because smaller frames offer such advantages as a better power-to-weight ratio and a lower moment of inertia. The latter allows gymnasts to perform swings and rotations at a greater speed and with more ease. As routines have become more complex, the average height of a female gymnast has decreased. Biles’s smaller-than-average stature has helped her execute some of the toughest moves in the sport. Notably, in 2021 she became the first female gymnast to land the most difficult vault, the Yurchenko double pike, during a competition.

How many Olympic medals has Simone Biles won?

The most-decorated gymnast of all time, Simone Biles has won 11 Olympic medals: 7 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze.

At her first Olympics, the 2016 Games in Rio, Biles claimed 5 medals: 4 gold (team, all-around, vault, and floor exercise) and 1 bronze (balance beam). She next competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she was forced to withdraw from several events due to the “twisties,” a mental block in which gymnasts lose their spatial orientation during aerial moves. However, she still managed to win a silver in the team event and a bronze in the balance beam. At the 2024 Paris Games, she won 4 medals: 3 gold (team, all-around, and vault) and 1 silver (floor exercise).

In addition, Biles has also captured an unprecedented 30 world championship medals, of which 23 are gold.

Who is Simone Biles’s husband?

In 2023 Simone Biles wed Jonathan Owens. He is an NFL safety and has played for the Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, and Green Bay Packers. In 2024 he was traded to the Chicago Bears.

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Simone Biles (born March 14, 1997, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) is one of the greatest gymnasts in the history of the sport, known for her consistency and the complexity of her performances. Throughout her career, she has set a number of records. Notably, at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Biles became the first female U.S. gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Games, and she was the first gymnast to win six world all-around titles (2013–15, 2018–19, 2023). She has also won an unprecedented 30 world championship medals, of which 23 are gold.

Early life

Biles grew up in Spring, Texas, in the Houston metropolitan area, after she and her sister Adria were adopted by their grandparents, Ronald and Nellie Biles. Simone became interested in gymnastics at age six during a day-care field trip to Bannon’s Gymnastix, and she remained there for 11 years under the direction of her coach, Aimee Boorman. Biles won a gold in floor exercise and a bronze in vault at the Women’s Junior Olympic National Championships in 2010 before breaking into the elite level of competition in 2011. Less than two years later she dominated the sport. What set Biles apart was her consistency, her exuberant personality, and the high degree of difficulty she incorporated into her routines in all four events—vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.

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Senior career

Olympic medals2016 Rio Games

• Gold: 4 (team, all-around, vault, and floor exercise)
• Bronze: 1 (balance beam)

2020 Tokyo Games

• Silver: 1 (team)
• Bronze: 1 (balance beam)

2024 Paris Games

• Gold: 3 (team, all-around, and vault)
• Silver: 1 (floor exercise)

In 2013, her first year as a senior competitor, the 4-foot 8-inch (1.4-meter) Biles won the all-around title at her first world gymnastics championships, becoming the first African American woman to claim the title. She also prevailed in the floor exercise, earned the silver medal in vault, and took home the bronze medal in balance beam. At the 2014 world championships, Biles captured four gold medals: in the women’s team competition and the individual all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise events. She also took the silver medal in vault.

Biles claimed her third consecutive U.S. all-around title in 2015, becoming the first woman to accomplish that feat since Kim Zmeskal in 1992. At the 2015 world championships, she completed her hat trick of all-around titles. She also secured the balance beam and floor exercise titles, the bronze medal in vault, and a share of the team title. Those wins brought her career total to 14 world championship medals, the most ever earned by a U.S. gymnast, male or female. In addition, her 10 world championship gold medals were the most won by a female gymnast in the sport’s history. Biles would go on to add to those totals.

2016 Rio de Janeiro Games

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Biles, who was too young to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, was a favorite entering the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. She lived up to expectations, first leading the United States to gold in the team event and then winning the individual all-around. She also won the floor and vault events, becoming the fifth female gymnast to claim four gold medals at a single Olympics. Biles also captured a bronze in the balance beam to bring her medal total to five.

Biles subsequently took a break from gymnastics, and in 2018 she announced that she had been a victim of Larry Nassar, a former doctor for the U.S. national gymnastics team who was convicted of sexually abusing numerous athletes. That year Biles returned to competition. At the 2018 U.S. national championships, she became the first female gymnast in nearly 25 years to win all five events, including a record-setting fifth all-around title. Biles became the most-decorated female gymnast in world championships history when she won four golds (including another all-around title), one silver, and one bronze at the 2018 championships to bring her career total at that competition to 20 medals.

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Biles continued to make history in 2019. At that year’s world championship she became the first gymnast in more than six decades to win five gold medals, including one in the all-around event. She also debuted a new, incredibly difficult move on the balance beam—a double twisting, double backflip dismount—which she successfully executed. It was later named the Biles, becoming one of several moves that she introduced in the sport. In addition, she bypassed Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus to become the gymnast with the most world championship medals (25). Also in 2019 she won five medals at the U.S. national championships, four of which were gold.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no major events were held in 2020. The break, however, had little effect on Biles. At the 2021 U.S. Classic she became the first female gymnast to land the sport’s most difficult vault, the Yurchenko double pike (also known as the Biles II), during a competition. Later that year she competed at the U.S. national championships, where she captured her seventh all-around title. She also won three other gold medals and one bronze.

2020 Tokyo Games

There were high expectations for Biles as she entered the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were delayed until 2021. However, she withdrew from most events due to “the twisties,” a mental block in which gymnasts lose their spatial orientation during aerial moves. Her decision not to compete sparked discussions about the pressure placed on athletes and their mental health concerns. Biles did return for the final event, the balance beam, and she won a bronze medal.

Biles subsequently took a break from gymnastics, but she returned in 2023 and quickly reasserted herself as a dominating force in gymnastics. That year she competed at the U.S. national championships, where she won a record-setting eighth all-around title. She also captured gold medals in the balance beam and floor exercise and claimed a silver in the vault. These wins raised her total number of U.S. titles to an unprecedented 27. Later in 2023 Biles competed at the world championships, where she continued to add to her medal count, bringing her total to 30. She claimed gold medals in four events: team, all-around, floor exercise, and balance beam. In addition, she won a silver in the vault.

2024 Paris Games

In the lead-up to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Biles continued to dominate the sport. At that year’s U.S. national championships, she captured an unprecedented ninth all-around title. In addition, she won all four individual events: balance beam, vault, floor exercise, and uneven bars. As the event’s top finisher, Biles qualified for the Olympic trials, and she later made the team.

At the Paris Games, Biles demonstrated why many consider her the greatest gymnast in the history of the sport. Backed by her stellar performance, the United States won the gold medal in the team event. She then recaptured the individual all-around gold medal. On the vault, Biles performed the Yurchenko double pike and won her third gold of the Paris Games. She finished in fifth place on the balance beam after falling during her routine. On the floor exercise, considered her signature event, the usually flawless Biles stepped out of bounds twice, and she earned the silver medal.

Quick Facts In full: Simone Arianne Biles (Show more) Born: March 14, 1997, Columbus, Ohio, U.S. (age 28) (Show more) Awards And Honors: Olympic Games Presidential Medal of Freedom (2022) (Show more) See all related content

Personal life

Biles’s memoir, Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, a Life in Balance (written with Michelle Burford), was published in 2016. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. The following year Biles married NFL safety Jonathan Owens.

Luan Peszek The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica