Simone Biles has done it yet again, clinching her 20th gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship and leading the U.S. women’s team to their historic 7th consecutive victory.

There is no question that Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast that has ever set foot on the mat. Her domination in the sport has been unparalleled, and she has earned every bit of praise she has received as a gymnast.

However, there’s a solid argument to be made that she isn’t just the GOAT of gymnastics, but truly the greatest athlete of all time. Yes, I know, it’s a subjective title, comparing sports is like comparing apples and oranges and people will argue about who deserves that title the most. But hear me out before putting Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali or Jim Thorpe up against the 4-foot 8-inch wonder that is Simone Biles.

Here are 5 reasons she deserves the GOAT title:

1. She has dominated her sport with the winningest record of all time

This is the easy argument, of course, and one that could be used for any athlete who holds the most gold medals and the most medals overall in their sport. Let’s just see this as the foundation of the GOAT house that Simone built.

Biles has now won 26 world championship medals (20 gold, three silver and three bronze) and seven Olympic medals. That puts her at the top of women’s gymnastics historical record and has her tied with Belarus’ Vitaly Scherbo for most gymnastics medals, male or female, earned on the world stage.

2. She can do things no one else in her sport can do

There’s winning championships, and then there’s pushing your sport forward by inventing new moves or succeeding in feats no one has ever attempted, much less achieved, before.

Biles has done that, not once, not twice, not thrice, but a whopping five times. This single gymnast has five official moves named after her in the international rule book (one on balance beam, two on floor exercise and two on vault). She is pushing the boundaries of the sport like no one else ever has.

Every sport has had individuals who excel at a unique skill. Many of those individuals aren’t also world champions. Most of them don’t have multiple moves that bear their name because no one else has ever done them. Biles has done it all.

3. She stands out as an individual competitor and as a team leader

Gymnastics is both an individual sport and a team sport, and Biles has proven her skills in both. As an individual competitor, obviously, Biles is No. 1. But she has also led the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team to victory time and time again.

Biles’ teammates praised her leadership skills after she backed out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 (which we’ll get to in a moment). Though she was no longer competing herself, she stood on the sidelines and became her teammates’ best cheerleader. Her teammates and coaches said that meant the world, and Biles’ unwavering encouragement and support for her fellow gymnasts helped propel them to their own medal-winning performances.

To be able to dominate at the highest level as an individual and be an effective team leader is the mark of an exceptional athlete. Biles does both and makes it look easy.

4. She faced a devastating setback in her sport and came back on top

It’s not easy to maintain the status of being “the best” at a sport. Being the best and then having a major setback disrupt your career is even more difficult. Overcoming that setback and returning not only to a high level of competition but jumping back up to the very top is something only GOATs do.

Biles did it. After getting the dreaded “twisties” at the Tokyo Olympics, Biles did the right thing and dropped out of the competition. (The twisties cause a gymnast to lose their sense of place in the air, creating both a frustrating and incredibly dangerous situation.) She could have called it quits then and no one would have blamed her.

But she didn’t. She came back. And unlike some other star athletes who have pushed past their prime and lost some of their competitive edge, Biles is slaying once again, winning world titles like she was born for it.

She balances it with wisdom, but her competitive spirit is unstoppable.

5. She is well past retirement age and still dominating in her sport

Biles is 26 years old, which isn’t old by most measures, but she’s a bit of a grandma in the world of gymnastics. The average age for elite female gymnasts to retire is 22. There are other competitive gymnasts who are older than Biles, but they aren’t up there on the world championship podium with her. The main reason gymnasts retire so early is the wear and tear gymnastics puts on their bodies. Biles continually pushes her body to do what no one else can do, and she’s still going strong.

Her ability is unparalleled but her longevity is equally impressive. Peak time varies by sport, of course, but for a gymnast to be this dominant for this long is an incredible accomplishment.

As one teammate, Joscelyn Roberson, was downed by a shock injury in the warm-ups and others were tense under the pressure of international competition, Simone Biles’s first final back on Wednesday night gave an appropriate demonstration of the more underrated qualities that have made her so successful for so long.

Biles is certainly the best gymnast in the world, but the 26-year-old’s success is also driven by the mental strength that has allowed her to win so consistently and under so much pressure. When her teammates needed her, she was there. Biles’s all-around total in the team final was 58.732, 1.633 points higher than the second-best performer and she closed out the night with one of her best-ever floor routines.

On Friday Biles will try to win the world all-around title for a sixth time, a competition in which she remains unbeaten since her debut in Antwerp a decade ago. Between her scores in the qualification round and the team final – by far the two highest international all-around scores of this Olympic quad – and the strong mental state she appears to be in, Biles is the prohibitive favourite to maintain her dominance.

The question is whether anyone will come close enough to at least put her under pressure. The defending champion, Rebeca Andrade, is clearly the most capable. Andrade’s trajectory remains one of the most satisfying in the sport’s recent history. Despite the immense talent she clearly held as a junior, her potential was constantly stunted by injuries as she tore her anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) on three separate occasions between 2015 and 2019.

By 2019, there were significant doubts about whether Andrade would ever be healthy enough to thrive. Instead, she returned just in time in 2021 to enjoy an incredible breakout Olympics in Tokyo, winning gold on vault and silver in the all-around, which have catapulted her to greater success. The world all-around title followed last year and on Wednesday she led Brazil to a historic team silver medal. In Biles’s absence since Tokyo, she has been the gymnast of this period.

If Biles has taken women’s gymnastics to impossible heights that few could have ever imagined, Andrade is the type of gymnast that many fans dreamed of. She combines her great power, amplitude, form, technique and grace across all four apparatuses with boundless charisma. If the 24-year-old competes at her very best on Thursday, Andrade is capable of scoring up to around 58, a huge score, but one that would still rest on mistakes from Biles in order for her to be competitive.

Two years after she was forced to withdraw from the Olympic team final and spent the remainder of the night on the sidelines, this time Simone Biles competed right until the end.

Charged with closing out another gold medal after a challenging evening of injuries and uncertainty, Biles showed steely nerves. She marched through a spectacular routine, drawing a standing ovation from the Antwerp crowd as the United States clinched a sixth consecutive team gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with a score of 167.729.

The night, though, was also defined by a pair of historic performances behind the US. Brazil’s injury ravaged generational talents, Rebeca Andrade and Flávia Saraiva, finally took their nation to the podium for the first time as they clinched a historic team silver medal, scoring 165.530.

Likewise, Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos, who recently moved from Paris to Biles’s family gym in Texas with hopes of finally fulfilling her enormous potential, led France to their first ever world bronze medal by scoring 164.064 for bronze. As new nations stepped up, Great Britain were left behind during a tough night in Antwerp as they finished in sixth place.

Despite their victory, the US suffered brutal luck early on. During their warm-up on the first apparatus, Joscelyn Roberson landed awkwardly while attempting her supremely difficult Cheng vault, hurting her left foot and forcing her out of the competition. Despite some errors, the depth in the US team and another dominant performance from Biles drove them to victory.

“This team that we have throughout this year had the most grit, courage and fight, especially after everything that transpired out on the floor,” said Biles.

“You had Jos go down, you had somebody step up to the plate. We had so many different emotions going throughout the day and it wasn’t USA’s best day. It’s crazy, we still pulled it out, so I’m really, really proud of the team.”

Shortly afterwards, Jessica Gadirova fell on her own Cheng. More falls followed for Great Britain on the uneven bars and balance beam as the prospect of a third consecutive medal became increasingly remote.

Instead, Brazil, France, China and Italy battled for the medals until the end, with Brazil finishing as the best of the rest as Andrade clinched silver with an incredible final floor routine and Cheng vault.

Ten years to the day since her first world medal in the same arena, the night ended as so many of these occasions have during Biles’ reign over the past decade. The last gymnast to compete in the final rotation, all eyes on her, Biles demolished her closing floor routine, earning the highest score of the competition (15.166). As she departed the podium, the Antwerp crowd loudly saluted the return of a legend.

After her first of six finals, Biles’ now holds 33 medals at the Olympic games and world championships, equalling Vitaly Scherbo as the all-time record holder. No woman has won more world team medals than Biles, now a five-time world team champion.

American Simone Biles has become the most successful gymnast in history, amassing 33 world and Olympic medals, including the recent team gold at the Antwerp 2023 World Championships.

Guiding the American team to victory with 167.729 points, Biles showcased exceptional performances on the vault and floor exercises, competing across all apparatus.

Shilese Jones did her part with strong performances on the vault and uneven bars. Leanne Wong excelled in the vault, and Skye Blakely delivered an impressive performance on the uneven bars.

Biles has the chance to add more medals on Friday, October 6, in the individual All-Around final, where she qualified first with a total score of 58.865.

Simone Biles’ medal count

Simone Biles’ career began to take off at the Antwerp 2013 World Championships, when she won four medals: gold in team and floor, silver in vault, and bronze in the balance beam.

In Nanning 2014, she won four gold medals and one silver. In Glasgow 2015, she was first in four competitions and third in one, the same count as Doha 2018. In Stuttgart 2019, she swept the five gold medals.

Her Olympic achievements include four gold medals and one bronze at Rio de Janeiro 2016, along with one silver and one bronze at Tokyo 2020, tying her with compatriot Shannon Miller at seven Olympic medals

The Antwerp 2023 finals

As the 52nd World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Antwerp 2023 concludes on Sunday, October 8, Biles has qualified for all finals, ranking first in the horse vault, balance beam, and floor exercises and fifth in the uneven bars final.

Simone Biles will return to the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Wednesday as she looks to continue her brilliant form at the competition.

The 26-year-old is set to participate in the women’s team final as the US looks to win its seventh consecutive world title in the discipline.

It’s already been an impressive competition for Biles, who made history on the opening day of championships in Antwerp, Belgium.

On Sunday, she finished first in the women’s all-around qualification and became the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike vault – a high-difficulty skill historically only done by men – at an international competition.

It is Biles’ first competition back on the world stage since the Tokyo 2020 Games when she pulled out of several events suffering from what is known as the “twisties” – a mental block causing a gymnast to lose track of their positions in midair.

Since then, she has once again displayed all the qualities that have carried her to the pinnacle of the sport, coming back to win a record eighth national all-around title.

And by competing in Antwerp, Biles became the first woman to represent the US at six artistic world championships.

The seven-time Olympic medalist will be joined by US teammates Skye Blakey, Shilese Jones, Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong for the team final on Wednesday.

How to watch

The world championships began on September 30 and will run until October 8.

On Wednesday, Biles will be part of the USA’s five-woman team competing in the final of the team event.

Biles will also take part in the women’s individual all-around final on Friday, before the women’s vault and uneven bars finals on October 7 and the balance beam and floor exercise finals the following day.

NBC will broadcast coverage in the US, while the BBC will show the finals in the UK.

All three days of qualifying were broadcast on the International Gymnastics Federation’s streaming hub, All Gymnastics TV. The finals will also be available in some countries on the platform.

Full-circle moment

In 2013, Biles made her world championships debut in Antwerp, winning the all-round and floor exercise gold, as well as vault silver and beam bronze.

In the 10 years since that moment, she has accumulated 25 world championship medals – 19 gold, three silver and three bronze – in total.

She last competed at the world championships in 2019, winning five gold medals – a feat she could replicate in Belgium.

Biles is already the most decorated gymnast in US history, winning 32 medals across the Olympics and the world championships.

Ever since the sporting limelight discovered Simone Biles, her life has been devoted exclusively to gymnastics. The 2013-turned-elite kept her life limited to a small circle of people. However, things changed when her relationship with the WWE superstar made headlines during her professional gap year in 2017. Their relationship lasted for three years until they finally broke it off leaving behind a sour taste. However, over time the athletes had grown familiar and shared close bonds with each other’s friends.

Simone Biles’ ex-boyfriend drops a wishful comment

Since a young age, the Olympic gold champion has experienced many emotional hardships in her life. Having found solace in her husband shows in her strength as often credited by her in post-victory interviews. In her lows, Biles often leans on her girls’ tribe consisting of her bestie Rachel Moore. Just days ahead of her joining the newlywed gang with Simone, a pre-wedding photo was posted on her Instagram, however, a comment from Stacey Ervin Jr. grabbed eyeballs

The presence of Simone Biles was electrifying as she graced the arena in Antwerp. Thousands of fans roared in awe, welcoming their gymnastics queen back to the world stage after nearly two years. Opening the night with great poise, hoping to move past her previous challenges, the Olympian legend, scored a solid 14.400 on uneven bars. Next on the balance beam, she earned a commendable score of 14.566. On-the-floor exercise, her score of 14.633 towered over her competitors, showcasing her dominance.

Family of Simone Biles missing their star

In a recent Instagram story, Adria Biles, Simone’s sister, attempted to video call her from America. The screenshot showed a picture of Adria’s screen, affectionately calling her “Sistaboo” Simone. But the screen only revealed Adria’s bemused expression as Biles remained unavailable.