5 Things You Might Not Know About US Gymnast Simone Biles

Recognized by many as one of the greatest gymnasts to ever compete, Simone Biles is a record-breaking U.S. gymnast competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Here are five things you might not know about Simone Biles.

1. Early Days of Gymnastics: Biles visited a gymnastics center on a field trip with her daycare group. The young Biles was seen imitating gymnasts while there on visit.

The gym sent a letter to Biles requesting for her to join the gymnastics program and the rest is history.

2. Record Titles: Biles won her first U.S. and World all-around titles in 2013 and went on to hit a record third straight world all-around title in 2015. She won a record 10 gold medals in the 2015 World Championships.

In 2019, Biles won her sixth U.S. all-around title. Later in 2019, Biles won her record 25th World Championship Medal.

3. Success at Olympics: Biles competed as a member of “The Final Five” U.S. gymnastics team at the 2016 Olympics. The team was named in honor of coach Marta Karolyi and the team being the last to feature five gymnasts with future years having four members on the team.

The 2016 U.S. Olympic team became the third from the country to win team gold. Biles won a total of four gold medals (team all-around, individual all-around, vault, floor) and a bronze medal (balance beam).

Biles's win in the individual all-around at the 2016 Olympics came with a margin of 2.1, which was more than the winning margins of all Olympics from 1980 through 2012 combined, showing the dominance she had in this event.

The U.S. gymnast was honored as the flag bearer at the 2016 Olympic Games closing ceremony, the first U.S. female gymnast to have this honor.

Related Link: How Many Medals Could USA Olympics Team Win At The 2020 Tokyo Olympics?

4. Dancing With The Stars: Biles participated in the “Dancing With The Stars” reality show airing on Walt Disney Co DIS channel ABC. She finished in fourth place for season 24 with her partner Sasha Farber.

Biles was the fifth gymnast to appear on “Dancing With The Stars.” Shawn Johnson was the runner-up in season 8, teammate Aly Raisman finished fourth in season 16, Nastia Liukin finished fourth in season 20 and teammate Laurie Hernandez won season 23.

5. Strong Following, Endorsements: Biles has over 1.2 million followers on Twitter Inc TWTR. She became the first Olympian to get her own Emoji on Twitter. Using hashtags #simone and #simonebiles creates a gymnast emoji that resembles a goat at the end of the hashtags.

Biles is one of the most marketable Olympic athletes of all time. The U.S. gymnast can be seen in advertisements for companies like Visa Inc V, DoorDash Inc DASH and Beats by Dre, an Apple Inc AAPL company.

Biles moved from Nike Inc NKE to Athleta, a Gap Inc GPS brand, earlier this year. The move was seen as a big boost to the Athleta brand with the high-profile name recognition Biles brings.

Photo: Abelardo Mendes Jr/ rededoesporte.gov.br, Flickr