Another Happy Landing: Simone Biles Brings Home the Gold

Simone Biles made history by obtaining her eighth gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic games and becoming the most decorated female gymnast of all time. At only 27, her first Olympic event was the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where she brought in four gold medals and one bronze medal for the United States. 

Simone Biles now has six gold medals — the most for any American gymnast, male or female, in #Olympics history. pic.twitter.com/NUMSl9zFOK

— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 1, 2024

Biles, a woman who has known the game for not so long, but has been clearing it and winning every medal she can. She is also no stranger to adversity as due to her mental health, she withdrew from the Olympic team final in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). This brought her much praise, but also many people called her selfish and that she was letting down her team for a selfish reason. 

Even with the derision, she powered through, and as shown on July 30, she won the gold medal and showed that she and her team are forced to be reckoned with as she posted an Instagram picture with the caption “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions.”

Even with these medals, Biles doesn’t rest on her laurels as her all-around final is coming up on Aug. 1 where she is looking to bring home the gold once again. With all this power with Team USA, there is a reason why Gen Z is nothing to mess with.

To celebrate her wins, she clapped back at Donald Trump’s comment about “Black jobs.”

I love my black job 🖤 https://t.co/c5wPc6xOY3

— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) August 2, 2024

Zipporah Pruitt, (she/her) is an L.A. homegrown journalist, who covers entertainment and culture. Follow her on X and Instagram: @zippzine.

Edited by Nykeya Woods