Simone Biles is a 29-year-old gymnastics GOAT with 11 Olympic medals and 30 World titles. Explore her life story, husband Jonathan Owens, net worth, and 2026 updates.
Simone Biles is, by every meaningful measure, the greatest gymnast who has ever lived. Born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in Spring, Texas, she has accumulated 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals — a total that no other gymnast in history comes close to matching. She has skills named after her in the sport’s official Code of Points, she has redefined what the human body can achieve on the gymnastics floor, and she has done it all while becoming one of the most recognisable athletes on the planet.
But what makes Biles truly remarkable is not just what she has won — it is how she has carried herself through winning, setback, and comeback alike. From a difficult childhood in foster care to the pinnacle of Olympic glory, and through a moment of courageous vulnerability at the Tokyo Games that changed the global conversation around athlete mental health, Simone Biles has become far more than a sports icon. She is a symbol of resilience.
Quick Facts About Simone Biles
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Simone Arianne Biles |
| Date of birth | March 14, 1997 |
| Age (2026) | 29 years old |
| Birthplace | Columbus, Ohio, USA |
| Raised in | Spring, Texas, USA |
| Profession | Artistic gymnast, author, entrepreneur |
| Olympic medals | 11 (7 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze) |
| World Championship medals | 30 |
| Net worth (2026) | Approximately $25 million |
| Husband | Jonathan Owens (married April 2023) |
| Height | 4 ft 8 in (1.42 m) |
| Famous for | Most decorated gymnast in history |
Early Life: From Foster Care to Spring, Texas
Simone Arianne Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, the third of four children born to Shanon Biles. Her early years were marked by instability — both of her biological parents struggled with substance abuse, and Simone and her siblings were placed in foster care when she was around two years old. She has spoken candidly in interviews about memories of going hungry during that period, recalling the uncertainty that defined her earliest years.
The turning point came when she was six years old. Her maternal grandparents, Ron and Nellie Biles, stepped in and officially adopted Simone and her younger sister Adria. The family relocated to Spring, Texas, a suburban community north of Houston, where Ron and Nellie raised them as their own. Nellie Biles, originally from Belize and a nurse by profession, has remained one of the most important figures in Simone’s life and career. Through them, Simone found the stability, love, and structure that would make everything else possible.
The path to gymnastics began almost by accident. At age six, a day care field trip to Bannon’s Gymnastix in Houston changed the course of her life. A coach named Aimee Boorman noticed the young Simone instinctively mimicking the older gymnasts and immediately wrote a letter to her parents urging them to enrol her formally. They did. Within a few years, it was clear they were dealing with something extraordinary.
Education
Simone was homeschooled during much of her teenage years, a practical necessity given the demands of elite gymnastics training. She did not pursue a traditional university degree, choosing instead to dedicate her formative years entirely to her athletic development — a path common among gymnasts competing at the highest international levels. Her education, in many respects, happened on the gym floor: a masterclass in discipline, strategy, and the physics of the human body in motion.
Rise to the Top: World Championships and the Road to Rio
Biles burst onto the senior international stage in 2013, winning the World All-Around title at just 16 years old — becoming the first African American woman in history to do so. It was the beginning of an almost unbroken run of dominance. She followed with World Championship titles in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019, accumulating gold medals at a rate that left rivals and commentators scrambling for superlatives.
The 2016 Rio Olympics was her coronation on the world’s biggest stage. She won four gold medals — in the team event, individual all-around, vault, and floor exercise — and a bronze on the balance beam. It was the most decorated individual performance by a gymnast at a single Olympic Games in decades, and it made her a global household name overnight. Her power, precision, and seemingly impossible difficulty level set a standard that the rest of the gymnastics world is still chasing.
The years between Rio and Tokyo brought more records. At the 2018 World Championships in Doha, she won four golds and two silvers — remarkable on its own, but rendered almost mythical by the fact that she competed while managing a kidney stone she had not yet disclosed. In 2019 at Stuttgart, she unveiled the Biles II — a triple-twisting double backflip on floor — earning maximum difficulty scores and once again outpacing the Code of Points itself. She has five skills named after her in the official rulebook, spanning floor, beam, and vault.
Tokyo 2020: Courage of a Different Kind
The world expected Simone Biles to dominate the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. What the world got instead was a moment that, in many ways, may define her legacy more profoundly than any medal. After competing in the team final, Biles withdrew from the competition, citing a dangerous condition known as “the twisties” — a disorienting loss of spatial awareness mid-air that, in gymnastics, can result in catastrophic injury. She withdrew from five events in total.
The reaction was immediate and polarised. Some questioned the decision; many more rallied behind her. Biles held firm, prioritising her safety and wellbeing at an extraordinary cost to herself publicly. She returned to compete on the balance beam alone, winning bronze, and silver in the team final. Her composure throughout was striking. More importantly, the global conversation she sparked about mental health in elite sport — and the courage required to step back from a competition rather than risk serious harm — permanently shifted how the sports world discusses athlete wellbeing.
Paris 2024: The Triumphant Return
Biles returned to Olympic competition at the 2024 Paris Games and made it count. She won three gold medals — in the team event, individual all-around, and floor exercise — and a silver on the vault. At 27, competing against a field decades younger in gymnastic terms, she was still the best in the world. Her Paris performance cemented her as not just a great champion, but one of the most extraordinary comeback stories in sports history. With 11 Olympic medals in total, she is now the most decorated gymnast — male or female — in Olympic history.
Personal Life
Simone met NFL safety Jonathan Owens through the dating app Raya in March 2020, during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their relationship grew steadily over the following years, and Owens became a consistent presence at her competitions, including the Paris Olympics. The couple married in a courthouse ceremony in April 2023, followed by a destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in May 2023. As of 2026, the couple live in their custom-built lakefront mansion in Spring, Texas — the same community where Simone grew up — after Owens’ contract with the Chicago Bears concluded following the 2025 NFL season. They have no children as of 2026.
Outside of competition, Biles has been a vocal advocate for children in foster care, drawing directly on her own childhood experience. She works with the nonprofit Friends of Children and has used her platform consistently to bring attention to the foster care system. She also published a memoir, Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance, in 2016, which became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a Lifetime biopic.
Net Worth and Endorsements
As of 2026, Simone Biles’ net worth is estimated at approximately $25 million, making her the wealthiest gymnast in history. The bulk of her wealth comes not from competition prize money — Olympic bonuses across three Games total roughly $282,500 — but from a portfolio of major brand partnerships built over more than a decade at the top of her sport.
Her most significant endorsement deal is with Athleta, Gap Inc.’s activewear brand, which signed her away from Nike in a landmark agreement that also included a scholarship fund for young gymnasts. Other major partners include Visa, United Airlines, Uber Eats, Therabody, and MasterCard. She commands speaking fees reported at over $200,000 per appearance, and her peak annual earnings from endorsements alone have reached an estimated $10 million. In 2026, she also opened a restaurant called Taste of Gold at Houston’s airport, adding another entrepreneurial venture to her portfolio.
Awards and Legacy
The formal recognition Biles has received reflects the scale of what she has achieved. In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honour in the United States. She is a four-time U.S. Olympic team member, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, and a 23-time World Championship gold medalist. She has been named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year multiple times and has appeared on the covers of Time, Vogue, and Sports Illustrated, among many others.
Her legacy, however, extends beyond the trophies. Five skills bearing her name in the gymnastics Code of Points will outlast any individual performance. Her willingness to speak publicly about mental health at the Tokyo Games changed the conversation in elite sport in ways that will continue to ripple outward for years. And for the millions of children who grew up watching her — especially young Black girls in America — she has demonstrated what is possible when talent meets tenacity.
Final Thoughts
Simone Biles did not arrive at greatness easily. She came to it through a childhood that could have broken her, a sport that demanded everything, and a moment on the world’s biggest stage where she chose honesty over expectation. Each of those chapters required a different kind of courage — and she has brought all of them to bear throughout her career.
At 29, with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics still openly on the table, there may yet be another chapter to come. Whether she competes in LA or not, her place in sports history is immovable. She is the benchmark by which every future gymnast will be measured, and the standard she has set — in difficulty, in artistry, and in character — is one that the sport may simply never see again.
People Also Ask
How many Olympic medals does Simone Biles have?
Simone Biles has 11 Olympic medals in total — 7 gold, 1 silver, and 3 bronze — spread across three Olympic Games: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024. She is the most decorated gymnast in Olympic history.
Who is Simone Biles’ husband?
Simone Biles is married to Jonathan Owens, an NFL safety who has played for the Houston Texans and the Chicago Bears. The couple met on the dating app Raya in March 2020 and married in April 2023, with a destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico the following month.
Why did Simone Biles withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics?
Biles withdrew from five events at the Tokyo 2020 Games due to a condition called “the twisties” — a dangerous loss of spatial awareness that gymnasts can experience mid-air, posing a serious risk of injury. She cited both her physical safety and mental wellbeing as reasons for the decision, returning to win bronze on balance beam and silver in the team final.
What skills are named after Simone Biles?
Five gymnastics skills are officially named after Simone Biles in the Code of Points, including elements on the floor exercise, balance beam, and vault. The most notable is the Biles II — a triple-twisting double backflip on floor — which earned the maximum difficulty score when she performed it at the 2019 World Championships.
Is Simone Biles competing in the 2028 Olympics?
As of mid-2026, Biles has not confirmed participation in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics but has left the door open, noting that competing on home soil is a compelling prospect. No formal announcement has been made.
