Simone Arianne Biles (born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast and the 2016 Olympic individual all-around, vault and floor gold medalist, and balance beam bronze medalist. Among her many accomplishments, she was part of the gold medal-winning team dubbed the “Final Five” at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[5]
Biles is a three-time world all-around champion (2013–15), three-time world floor champion (2013–15), two-time world balance beam champion (2014, 2015), four-time United States national all-around champion (2013–16), and a member of the gold medal-winning American teams at the 2014 and 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She also won the bronze medal for vault at the 2015 World Championships.
Having won a combined total of nineteen Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated American gymnast and the sixth woman to have won an individual all-around title at both the World Championships and the Olympic Games. With four Olympic gold medals, Biles set an American record for most gold medals in women’s gymnastics at a single Games. Her accomplishments have led many of her peers as well as the media to refer to her as the greatest gymnast ever.
Simone Arianne Biles was born in Columbus, Ohio, the third of four siblings. Her birth mother was unable to care for Simone or her other children due to her drug and alcohol addiction, so the children were in and out of foster care. Ron Biles, Simone’s grandfather, and his second wife, Nellie Cayetano Biles, began temporarily caring for their daughter’s children in 2000, in the north Houston suburb of Spring, Texas and later in 2003 the couple officially adopted the two youngest children, Simone and Adria, and Ron’s sister adopted the two oldest.
Finding her passion at an early age, Simone was always jumping around and was introduced to the sport on a school field trip to Bannon’s Gymnastix at the age of six, where she began spontaneously imitating the gymnasts’ moves, insisting that her parents enroll her at the gym. Biles soon enrolled in an optional training program at Bannon’s Gymnastix. She began training with coach Aimee Boorman at age 8. Her big grin and engaging personality shine through both in and out of the sport and while she trains close to 35 hours per week, Biles knows how to keep things fun and is known for inventing new skills during training. One move, a complex flip that she incorporated into her floor routine during the 2013 World Championships, is now known as the “Biles.”
Sources: Wikipedia, http://www.simonebiles.com/bio