Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles Is Good at Everything — She Even Has 2 Best Events Tied for Gold Medals
She’s got moves! Olympic gymnast Simone Biles is the most decorated athlete in her sport in the world — but what is her best event out of all the ones she competes in? With the 2021 Tokyo summer games coming up, fans are curious to know where the Texas native really excels on the gym floor.
Simone currently holds four gold medals from the 2016 summer games in Rio de Janeiro: one for floor, one for all-around, one for vault and one as a team with the other Team USA members. She also holds another five world championship gold medals in both all-around and floor, making both events tied for her best.
Aside from her four Olympic gold medals, the SK-II spokeswoman also holds a bronze medal for balance beam, which she received at Rio in 2016. Altogether, the wins have given Simone a sizable paycheck — you know, aside from the fame and glory that comes with winning the biggest athletics competition in the world.
Olympic athletes are paid $37,500 per gold medal, $22,500 per silver medal and $15,000 per bronze medal, according to a 2018 report from CNBC. Therefore, the elite athlete has made her a collective $165,000 so far through her Olympic wins.
Last year, Simone opened up about dealing with rude spectators while competing. “They focused on my hair. They focused on how big my legs were,” she told Vogue in July 2020. “But God made me this way, and I feel like if I didn’t have these legs or these calves, I wouldn’t be able to tumble as high as I can and have all of these moves named after me.”
She isn’t afraid to speak her mind — and recently, she doubled down on that sentiment. “I feel like I’m not a little girl anymore,” Simone told Shondaland in a July 2021 interview.
“I’m really excited about life and what’s to come and how I’ve changed and evolved as a person. It wasn’t easy to find my voice or to put it out there because it’s a little bit scary about what people are gonna say,” she added. “Because, at the end of the day, a lot of people are like, oh, you’re an athlete. But we’re not just athletes. We’re people too, and we have a right to speak up for what we believe in.”
