The American gymnast Simone Biles, born on March 14, 1997, has become one of the most remarkable athletes during this year, especially after winning 5 medals (4 of them gold) during the last summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The 19-year-old gymnast closed the most important sports event becoming an authentic star. With only 4 feet 9 inches in height and 104 pounds, she was one of the biggest athletes in Rio along with Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps.
During those days, she starred a hilarious moment with the Hollywood celebrity Zac Efron, who wanted to congratulate the American gymnastics team in person. “Call me Miss Efron,” Biles wrote jokingly on social media, something that received an answer from her “Brazilian boyfriend” Arthur Mariano, who wrote on Instagram “I saw her first” and “She is my girl,” but he also sent his congratulations to Biles by writing, “You have made history” and “I love you”.
But behind this champion and this joking atmosphere, there is a tough hidden childhood. She never met her father, her mother suffered from different addictions and when she was three years old, she and her siblings moved in with her maternal grandmother. They ended up legally adopting Simone, and now they live in a small town near Houston, Texas.
She has spoken with the American press about her mother, and she has pointed out that even though she has wondered what would have happened to her life if it had not happened, she believed she would have gotten to succeed because deep inside her, she knew she could do everything she has done so far.
At the age of six, she started to practice gymnastics, and at the age of eight she was discovered by her current coach, Aimee Boorman, who realized her potential early on. Since then, the hard training, the sacrifices and her intense preparation have been something constant in her life. Now she and her medals are worth a total of $2.1 million and still growing. We have not seen the best of her yet, but we have to wait 4 more years until Tokyo 2020 to see all she can really do.
