Fierce Female of the Week

Simone Biles

FILE - In this Aug. 16, 2016 file photo, United States gymnast Simone Biles displays her gold medal for floor during the artistic gymnastics women's apparatus final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Biles was named one of Glamour's Women of the Year, Tuesday, Nov. 1, and will be honored at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Nov. 14. Photo: Associated Press/Rebecca Blackwell

Simone Biles

Simone Biles is the most dominant American female gymnast of the last 25 years.  Simone’s birth mother was unable to care for her and her siblings due to a drug problem, and her father abandoned the family, so the now champion gymnast was adopted by her grandparents and moved to Texas to live with them at the age of six. Simone began training with Aimee Boorman at age eight who coached her all the way through her Olympic victories.

In her first year competing in the senior gymnastics division in 2013, Simone did poorly, falling multiple times at the 2013 U.S. Classic. After further training and help from a sports psychologist, Simone locked in her routines and qualified for the all-around and all four event finals at the World Championship in Antwerp. She was the first American to do so since Shannon Miller in 1991. Simone won the gold in the all-around and floor exercise. Her dominance increased as she took Gold in multiple events at World Championships in 2014 in Nanning and 2015 in Glasgow.

At the Rio Olympics in 2016, Simone took home four Gold medals and a Bronze, tying the historic records of Mary Lou Retton and Shannon Miller for number of medals won at a single Olympics. Simone took Gold in the all-around, vault, floor exercise, and team competitions. After the Olymipcs, she announced she was taking the 2017 year off. She won the ESPY award for Best Female Athlete in 2017.  Simone has also confirmed that she was assaulted by USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, in which she and other athletes assaulted by Nassar were awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award in May 2018. Simone is back in the news again and coming off her hiatus by training hard and posting videos online of her amazing moves.

Recent Headlines

5 hours ago in Sports

LeBron James will sit for Lakers vs Spurs, taking him out of consideration for 22nd All-NBA honors

LeBron James will sit out of the Los Angeles Lakers' game against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night due to left foot arthritis, a decision that will prevent him from qualifying for consideration for his 22nd straight appearance on an All-NBA team.

5 hours ago in Sports

US skating star Ilia Malinin leads after near-perfect short program at the Milan Cortina Olympics

US skating star Ilia Malinin leads after near-perfect short program at the Milan Cortina Olympics

23 hours ago in Sports

Justin Verlander returns to the Detroit Tigers on a $13 million, one-year contract

For his 21st season in the majors, Justin Verlander is going back to the very beginning of his career. All the way back to Motown.

23 hours ago in Olympics, Sports, Trending

Winter Olympics recap: Shiffrin out of the medals again, Klaebo wins another gold

Make that seven straight races without a medal for Mikaela Shiffrin at the Winter Olympics. The American skiing standout was given the ideal platform to win the new team combined event after partner Breezy Johnson led the opening downhill leg on Tuesday.

1 day ago in Sports

Injured Warriors star Stephen Curry to sit out All-Star Game with lingering right knee injury

Stephen Curry will sit out the All-Star Game in Los Angeles because of his troublesome right knee that sidelined the Golden State Warriors star for a fourth straight game Monday night against Memphis.