Much has changed since America’s greatest athlete set Rio aflame, but one familiar constant endures: her only competition is herself
So much has changed in the five years since Simone Biles lit up the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, affirming her presumptive status as the greatest gymnast ever with four gold medals in seven days.
The 24-year-old from suburban Houston moved out of her parents’ house into her own digs, adopted two French Bulldog puppies (Lilo and Rambo) and went public with boyfriend Jonathan Owens, a safety for the NFL’s Houston Texans. She enlisted the husband-and-wife coaching team of Laurent Landi and Cecile Canqueteau-Landi following an amicable split with longtime personal coach Aimee Boorman. The sport she’s come to define was rocked by the worst
Sexual Abuse scandal in
American sports history. And her bid for a historic second straight Olympic all-around title was waylaid by a global pandemic that turned the sports world on its ear.