There’s a lot of hype around the 4 feet 9 inches tall Olympic gymnast, Simone Biles. But when you talk to those who have seen her perform, they will tell you it’s not hype, it’s pure talent. Biles may be the smallest American Olympian in Brazil, but she’s threatening to become Team USA’s biggest star of Rio 2016 and in China 2020.
Biles, competing in her first Olympic Games, led the charge as the US women won gold in the team gymnastics competition Tuesday.
Now, 25-year-old Biles has become the first gymnast to win five gold medals at a single Olympic game and has officially been named the greatest gymnast of all time!
But her road to gold was paved with hardship. Simone’s mom struggled with drug and alcohol abuse after she was born and her father was never there. So at the age of three, Simone was in foster care.
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Ronald Biles, Simone’s biological grandfather received a call that changed his and Simone’s life forever.
“I got a call from a social worker that said Simone and her sister were in foster care. So I said without hesitation, ‘send them to me,'” he recalls. So Ronald moved them down to Houston and soon after he and his wife Nellie, adopted them.
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“She was so tiny and jumping off everything. I was so scared,” says Nellie. “But Simone, she wasn’t afraid one bit.”
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The couple says that they had no choice but to put her in gymnastics where she flourished. Her room is a testament to that with gold medals, trophies and winning ribbons from tons of competitions. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Simone and Team USA’s win also means the US retained the title it won in London four years ago. It is unbeaten in team competitions during that period.
Russia finished second, while China took the bronze medal.
Biles’ teammates Aly Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas, who became the first US women to win three Olympic gold medals.
“We had a lot of pressure coming in but I think we handled it pretty well,” said…
