With her eighth Olympic medal, Biles surpassed Shannon Miller to take the title, though the current superstar says she doesn’t “keep count” and doesn’t “keep stats”
Julie Mazziotta is the Sports Editor at PEOPLE, covering everything from the NFL to tennis to Simone Biles and Tom Brady. She was previously an Associate Editor for the Health vertical for six years, and prior to joining PEOPLE worked at Health Magazine. When not covering professional athletes, Julie spends her time as a (very) amateur athlete, training for marathons, long bike trips and hikes.
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Simone Biles is officially the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history — but she’s not thinking about that right now.
Biles, 27, won her eighth Olympic medal on Tuesday night after she and her teammates — Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — dominated for gold in the team final at the 2024 Paris Games. The win meant that she surpassed former American gymnast Shannon Miller, who earned seven medals over the 1992 Barcelona and the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Additionally, Biles’ new hardware was her 38th between the Olympics and World Championships — already an all-time record among both male and female gymnasts.
“Honestly, I would have had to Google that,” she told reporters, including PEOPLE. “I don’t keep count, I don’t keep stats. I just go out here and do what I’m supposed to and I’m doing what I love and enjoying it, so that’s really all that matters to me.”
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“Yes, it’s amazing, now that I hear it, but I don’t think I’ll truly understand the depth of it until I walk away from the sport,” Biles added.
This gold was Biles’ fifth in Olympic competition. She also has one silver and two bronze medals to her name.
It was also a major comeback for the gymnast, who had to withdraw from the same event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to the “twisties,” which affected her ability to safely land her highly technical flips.
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U.S. gymnastics technical coach Chellsie Memmel praised Biles to reporters after the competition for her ability to find success again after Tokyo.
“I think it speaks volumes of her strength,” Memmel said. “What she was able to come back from with the whole world watching, with the whole world watching with a magnifying glass again, just waiting to see what she was going to do.”
“We all knew she could do it, like that wasn’t ever a question in my mind that she could do it, and it continues to just solidify her place as the greatest gymnast of all time.”
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympics newsletter, to get the biggest stories from the Games delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock.
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