Simone Biles: Lesser-known facts and interesting trivia on the Olympic gymnast

Olympic gymnast and world champion Simone Biles turns 25 on March 14, 2022. Simone Biles is one of the finest athletes in the world today. Besides impressing all with her acrobatics, Simone Biles has had a whirlwind of a career. Take a look at her journey. Pictures/ Simone Biles Instagram

Updated On: 2022-03-14 04:11 PM IST

A collage of Simone Biles

Simone Biles is an American professional gymnast, born March 14, 1997. She recently turned 23.

Simone Biles is the third most decorated gymnast in the world and America's most decorated gymnast.

Simone Biles has a total of 30 Olympic medals and World Championships combined.

Simone Biles, billed at 4 ft 8 inches, resides in Texas, United States.

Simone Biles is a 5-time all-round World Champion (2013–2015, 2018–19), a 5-time World floor exercise champion (2013–2015, 2018–19), a 3-time World balance beam champion (2014–15, 2019), two-time World vault champion (2018–19), and a 6-time United States national all-around champion (2013–2016, 2018–19).

Simone Biles was also part of the gymnast American team to win gold at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019.

At a young age, Simone's mother could not take care of her and her three siblings and hence they would be in foster care most often.

Simone Biles first tried her hand at gymnastics at age 6.

After looking after them temporarily since 2000, it was in 2003, that Simone Biles' maternal grandfather officially adopted Simone and her younger sister.

In August 2017, Simone Biles announced on Instagram that she was dating a fellow gymnast named Stacy Erwin. The couple went their separate ways in March 2020.

Simone Biles began home schooling in 2012 and could manage to improve her training hours to 32 hours per week.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Simone Biles won four gold medals and 1 bronze medal.

Simone Biles has a staggering 19 gold medals all round at the World Championships.

Additionally, Simone Biles is also a two time gold medal winner at Pacific Rim Championships.

Simone Biles also has two gold medals and one silver at the FIG World Cup.

In January 2018, Simone Biles released a shocking statement on Twitter that she was sexually assaulted by her USA gymnast physician Larry Nassar. Six days later, he was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison

Simone Biles began dating American football star Jonathan Owens in August 2020.

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens got engaged on February 15, 2022.

Simone Biles was the only athlete to qualify for all the finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. After her show at the qualifiers, Biles cited the effect of the pressure of the Olympics weighing in on her. Simone Biles left the Olympics team competition citing mental health issues. She also said that she was inspired by Naomi Osaka who earlier withdrew from the French Open and Wimbledon for reasons similar to Biles. She withdrew subsequently from most competition categories at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but competed in the beam finals to take home a bronze medal. In doing so she is the joint-record holder for most Olympic medals by an American female gymnast.

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