Simone Biles Named SI’s 2024 Sportsperson Of The Year

Simone Biles has a new title as Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year!

The 27-year-old gymnast won several medals at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, last summer — including three gold medals and one silver medal.

Sports Illustrated credited the champion for her Olympic wins and for changing the face of the sport in the Jan. 2 announcement.

Sports Illustrated announced that the magazine named Simone Biles the 2024 Sportsperson of the Year on Jan. 2.

“Simone Biles Is SI’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year,” read the announcement. “The most decorated gymnast of all time is more than her staggering medal count. She has altered the face of gymnastics, sparked sweeping change across sports — and this year capped it all with an astonishing personal comeback.”

Biles won four medals at the Paris Olympics in gymnastics — three gold medals and one silver medal. The gymnast has 11 Olympic medals all together.

“Simone Biles is Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year because she won gold, and then another gold, and then another; because she changed the face of her sport and the conversations around athletes in general; because she continues to speak out about issues that matter to her. And perhaps most of all because after she wondered aloud to Chiles whether she was about to relive the darkest period of her career, she took a deep breath, she saluted the judges and she broke into a run.”

Biles said that being named Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year is, “a huge honor,” according to Good Morning America.

“Honestly, it is such a huge honor. I know some of the greats that have won it in prior years, so to just keep gymnastics on the map is really exciting,” she said.

The athlete added that she was “shocked” to learn she’d won the coveted SI title.

“I know a lot of people love the sport of gymnastics during an Olympic year and have followed my career closely, but I was still very shocked,” she said. “I feel like I’m always shocked winning any sort of award or being honored.”

According to ABC News, Biles pulled out of the U.S. gymnastics team final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan.

The Olympic champion was suffering from a notorious case of “the twisties,” a dangerous and disorientating condition that makes the gymnast’s brain and body feel out of sync. It results in the athlete feeling lost in the air.

During an interview with Alex Copper for her podcast, “Call Her Daddy,” Biles said the twisties are when the mind and body disconnect midair.

“I felt like I was fighting my body and my mind to do these tricks,” she recalled of the condition. “Your mind and your body are at a disconnect. Your body is going to try to do something, and your mind is going to be like, ‘No, you’re not doing this.”

Biles opted not to compete to avoid serious injury, and according to TODAY, she also wanted to prioritize her mental health.

“The pressure feels heavy,” she said. “It’s like the weight of the world on your shoulders and I’m very small, so I feel like, at times, it’s very overwhelming, but whenever you get so overwhelmed and have triggers, it’s just like — I have to focus on my mental wellbeing and that’s what I did.”

The Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year award ceremony will take place in Las Vegas on Jan. 7.

Biles is scheduled to receive the SI award at the ceremony, and the champion will have one more award to add to her 11 Olympic medals and 30 world championship medals.

Biles is married to Chicago Bears’ safety and former Green Bay Packer, Jonathan Owens.

The duo met during COVID on the dating app, Raya while Owens was playing for the Houston Texans.

Owens and the Olympic gymnast wed twice; the first time was at a courthouse in Houston, Texas back in April of 2023, and the second time was a more elaborate beach ceremony in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico one month later for family and friends, as reported by The Blast.

Biles wore a gown from designer Galia Lahav and the groom was dressed in a suit by Adam Ross Leibold.