Simone Biles just won her sixth Olympic gold medal, further cementing her legacy as one of the greatest gymnasts ever. Magic Johnson took to X, formerly Twitter, to congratulate her on her win and shared a clip from 2016 when he met her for the first time.
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The Hall of Famer reminisced about speaking with Biles and her parents after her maiden Olympic gold medal win in Rio. He wrote,
“It’s truly amazing that in 2017, I sat with Simone and her parents in the gym they own in Houston discussing her first Olympic all-around gold medal in Rio (2016), and she’s just won again today in 2024.”
The Lakers icon called her ‘the most decorated Olympic gymnast’ and shared his excitement about watching her compete in her upcoming individual events later this week.
It’s truly amazing that in 2017, I sat with Simone and her parents in the gym they own in Houston discussing her first Olympic all-around gold medal in Rio (2016), and she’s just won again today in 2024! I’m looking forward to seeing how the most decorated olympic gymnast… pic.twitter.com/DuEiVOLaVi
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) August 1, 2024
Biles won the Artistic Individual All-Around event for the second time in her Olympics career, eight years after her first win in Rio. She beat Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade by a narrow margin and won her second gold medal in Paris after Team USA’s victory in the Team All-Around event.
Her Individual All-Around gold medal win saw her break the tie with four other women and become the third-most successful female gymnast in Olympic history. Only Soviet Union’s Larisa Latynina (9) and Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska (7) have won more gold medals than Biles.
It was her ninth Olympic medal win which saw her climb to fifth on the all-time women’s gymnastics tally. She trails Latynina (18), Caslavska (11), Hungary’s Agnes Kaleti (10), and Soviet Union’s Polina Astakhova (10). The 27-year-old will compete in three more events and is expected to win a medal, if not the gold, in all three.
Biles could leave Paris tied with Latynina on nine gold medals and the second-most overall behind the Soviet Union gymnast with 11. It remains to be seen whether she can finish in the top three in her remaining events and head home with five medals.
Even if she fails to win another medal over the next two weeks, her legacy as one of, if not the greatest gymnast ever has already been etched in stone. In addition to her exploits at the Olympics, she has won 23 gold medals in the Artistic Gymnastics World Championship, the most in history.
At only 27, Biles is already the most decorated gymnast the world has ever seen. However, she isn’t content. The six-time Olympic gold medalist wants to add three more to her tally and tie Latynina’s record for the most wins for a woman gymnast. She’s on the verge of rewriting history and Magic Johnson is excited to witness it.
