Simone Biles - The Magician
GYMNASTICS - TEAM USA - OLYMPIAN
ARCHETYPE: THE MAGICIAN
Day 130/135
Athletic Accomplishments
Simone Biles is the winningest American gymnast of all time, with a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals. And she’s not even done yet.
Biles moved from Ohio to Texas at age 3, to live with her grandparents, who adopted her. At age 6, she tried gymnastics during a daycare field trip, and the teacher encouraged her to stay with it. As luck would have it, she took that advice, and look where it has taken her.
Biles made a name for herself, winning all-around at World Championships in 2013. By 2015, she had turned professional and set her attention on the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won individual gold medals in all-around, vault, and floor. She also won bronze in balance beam and gold as part of Team USA’s “Final Five.”
She is also the first American gymnast to medal in every event at a world competition, doing so at the 2018 World Championships in Doha. Not impressed? Okay, well, what if I told you that the night prior to the qualification round, Biles went to the emergency room for stomach pains, which turned out to be a kidney stone, and then checked herself out of the hospital to compete and qualify in all individual events?
Still not impressed? Okay, then let me just click these wins off real quick:
5x all-around World Champion
7x all-around U.S. National Champion
5x floor exercise World Champion
3x balance beam World Champion
2x vault World Champion
4x team competition gold medal at World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Biles is such a unique talent that she has four eponymous moves or combinations (i.e., named for her) in vault, balance beam, and two on the floor exercise.
This summer, Biles is the headliner of the U.S. gymnastics team, hoping to extend her collection of hardware and podium visits. My money’s on Biles.
Character Archetype: The Magician
Who is the greatest athlete of all time? No disrespect, but you can keep Tom Brady and LeBron James and even Serena. I choose Simone Biles.
Where do I even start? Thirty Olympic and World Championship medals. The greatest gymnast of all time. No debate, discussion, or denials. This is iron clad.
Biles has medaled in all four events—beam, floor, vault, and uneven bars—at times in the same competition. And she’s not just scraping by, winning on technicalities and pointed toes. Biles attempts moves—including a Yurchenko double pike earlier this year—that are more difficult than any other gymnast in the competition by not just leaps and bounds, but flips and twists. She seems to defy physics and bend gravity, like an actual superhero.
When asked why she does these stunts, despite the judges not rewarding them with appropriately high scores, she quickly answered, “Because I can.”
There is no better answer. There is no better gymnast. Simone Biles is the absolute GOAT.