What can’t Simone Biles do?
She’s competed in an Olympic game (Rio 2016), where she took home 4 gold medals, while that same year, she became the first woman to win four straight U.S. all-around titles in over 40 years at the 2016 P&G Championship. And oh, yeah, she’s the most awarded woman gymnast of all time and she hasn’t lost an all-around meet in 8 years. Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Biles is trying a new feat out for size—defying gravity.
In an exclusive NBC ad for the Olympics, the 24-year-old does one of her famous, soaring flips on a mat (and over a gym horse). She winds up flying so high until she’s among the stars, winding above a message that reads “The Greatest of All Time.”
Simone Biles of USA competes on Balance Beam during the Apparatus Finals on Day 10 of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at Hanns Martin Schleyer Hall on October 13, 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
2021 marks the return of the world games, as they were cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That was only the 6th time that the Olympics had been cancelled since 1896, but the first time ever that the event was postponed. The games will take place in Tokyo and retain the Tokyo 2020 title, even though they will be happening a year later.
Read about more Black women athletes who made history.
In a 2020 cover story with Vogue, Biles opened up about not seeing many people who looked like her in gymnastics and being inspired by fellow gold medalist Gabby Douglas. “Growing up, I didn’t see very many Black gymnasts,” she said. “So whenever I did, I felt really inspired to go out there and want to be as good as them. I remember watching Gabby Douglas win the 2012 Olympics, and I was like, ‘If she can do it, I can do it.'”
She certainly did it and in 2021, Biles is poised to do it again—proving once more why she’s one of the greatest living athletes.