The amazing Simone Biles is gearing up to crush even more records at the 2016 Olympics and we got to catch up with the athletic powerhouse, who told us all about how she’s preparing for the big games and opened up about her special bond with fellow Olympians Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman.
Simone Biles, 19, is gearing up for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where the teen will compete in the Olympics for the very first time. We got to watch Simone as she secured her spot on the team during the Olympic Gymnastic Trials in San Jose on July 10. They very next day we spoke to the athlete, who was still buzzing with excitement over the major career move.
“I feel accomplished, motivated. There is just too many things that I feel right now and it’s just amazing. I can’t put how I’m describing into words. And, I’m just very ecstatic, honored, and blessed to be able to represent the United States at the 2016 Rio Olympics. I’m just like… I’m just in awe of myself, almost,” she told us as at a celebratory brunch hosted by Tide PODs celebrating her major accomplishment. Tide partnered with Simone and veteran Olympians Dominique Dawes and Nadia Comaneci for their Evolution of Power campaign — and you can catch Simone in the latest commercial for Tide PODs, which celebrates her indisputable strength.
In case you aren’t familiar with the 4’8″ star, she hasn’t lost a competition in three years already has a slew of records under her belt. At the World Gymnastics Championships, she became the only female gymnast to take home the all-around gold award three years in a row. She holds 14 gold medals, the most of any American, and 10 from the World Gymnastics Competition, which is the most of any female gymnast in history. “It means the world to me,” she said of securing her well-deserved spot on the Olympic team. “I’m very honored and blessed because only five girls got picked out of so many in this whole entire country, and I think it’s a blessing. I know each and every one of us on team USA could’ve gotten picked and done a very well job. So we just have to be really grateful that you’re one of them and we have something big to look up to. But, we’re all very excited.”
Given the fact that Simone is so down-to-earth, it might be easy to forget that she hasn’t lost a competition in three years — but she’s just as driven as she is gracious and it is her skill set that leaves the audience in awe as she performs. In fact, she even has her very own move, “The Biles” — a difficult feat that we hadn’t seen in the sport before Simone came along.
While many people assume that once you put a bunch of teen girls in one room and you’re bound to have some frenmies that could rival Mean Girls that definitely isn’t the case with the new class of Olympians — in fact, Simone says she considers Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman family. “Most people are like “oh, maybe they don’t like each other,” but I think this generation has really seen how well we work together and actually knows we’re friends. And it’s not just for the media. We really do care so much about each other, we’re like a little family,” she said. “It’s very exciting because most of the time people want us to simmer it down to what they want to hear but we have our own side of the story. I don’t know, it’s different from the generations that came before us, times were just different. Dominique [Dawes] said it sucks that she had to compete with her teammates because you should be friends, but back then you couldn’t be friends if you wanted to compete at their level. But now we know friendship the best thing we to build a great team.”
Their strong bond and the way they relate to each other is what really holds the team together like glue. “It’s the greatest. Ally and I will call each other, I’ll be like: ‘And how was your day today’ and she’ll be like: ‘I was kicked out practice,’ and I’ll say: ‘Good well I walked out of practice, it just wasn’t happening today,'” Simone said.
In fact, Gabby and Ali even offered up advice for Simone’s very first trip to the Olympic Games. “They told us to really embrace the moments because once it once the Olympics come it goes so fast, and then it’s done. So you really have to cherish all of the moments, and you just kind of have to live in that moment because it’s very special and such and honor that you almost forget. And you’re just so stressed out that you forget to live in all the memories,” Simone said.
U.S. Athletes Head To Rio
Even though Simone manages to make her difficult moves seem effortless as she walks away winning medal after medal with a smile on her face, it isn’t as easy as it looks. “I feel like kids don’t know that side of us, because they just see us when we’re at our best. We only get to compete six, maybe seven, times a year and most of those times we hit. So they don’t understand that in the gym, we fall just like them. We’re normal,” she said, sharing an encouraging word for all of her fans.
Up next, her fans will get to watch as Simone sets out to make history at the 2016 games. For more on the athlete be sure to tune in as she competes in the 2016 Olympic Games and check out Tide’s Evolution of Power video.
