Simone Biles: Height Doesn't Matter In Photos | Time

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Connect with UsBy Raisa BrunerAugust 2, 2016 4:33 PM EDT

There’s been quite a bit of hype around 19-year-old superstar American gymnast Simone Biles going into this year’s Olympics. The athlete is an advance favorite to bring home a hefty stack of medals, thanks to the level of difficulty she includes in her routines and her title as three-time world champ.

But although she may be launching herself to unheard-of heights in her jumps, with her two feet on the ground, Biles is very tiny. So tiny, in fact, that at 4 ft. 8 in., she’s the shortest of the 555 athletes that make up the U.S.’s Olympic delegation. She was even able to find a fellow Team USA Olympian, volleyball player David Lee, who stands two whole feet taller.

size difference in olympians doesn't matter, depending on what sport you do 😉 6'8" & 4'8" pic.twitter.com/xiU9zIBXJH

— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) August 2, 2016

Fellow gymnastics squad member (and 2012 medalist) Aly Raisman also went back-to-back with Lee for a photo opp — and he towers over her, too. Take a look at how the entire men’s volleyball team of Cuba dwarfs the petite U.S. ladies’ gymnastics squad, none of whom clock in above 5 ft. 2 in.:

Even in comparison with her own crew, Biles is a particularly compact athlete. Here she is with Gabby Douglas, the reigning all-around champion from 2012:

And here’s the whole 2016 squad lined up (and decked out in patriotic leotards).

The lesson here, as Biles herself tweeted: size really doesn’t matter. Because the Team USA gymnasts may be small, but expectations for their Rio success are very tall.

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Write to Raisa Bruner at [email protected]

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