Team USA gymnast Simone Biles can jump, spin, vault and swing better than anyone — and she’s doing it with a smile.
The 19-year-old tumbler, who stands at just 4-foot-9, is set to sweep her first Olympics this summer in Brazil.
But she’s also changing what it means to be a gymnast — pairing talent with a take-it-easy approach that’s rare in sports.
“If I thought of gymnastics as a job, it would put too much stress on me,” Biles tells Teen Vogue. “At the end of the day, if I can say I had fun, it was a good day.”
Her cheery demeanor is present whether she’s smirking through a routine on the floor of a competition or laughing off a 34-hour training week ahead of the Games in Rio.
And she really is “in a class all by herself,” according to Olympic gold-medalist Mary Lou Retton, who became the first American to take home top honors for all-around individual in 1984.
Biles wowed judges last weekend at the US Gymnastics Championships, where she became the first female gymnast to win all-around gold four years in a row.
She’s even got her own signature move for the floor routine — aptly named “the Biles,” which she developed to avoid pressure from a bone spur on her ankle. The stunt starts off with a double layout before she contorts into a half-twist and ends with a forward landing.
“I was built this way for a reason, so I’m going to use it,” she tells the magazine.
She was a tumbling star by the age of 6, when her Texas day-care center went on a trip to the gymnasium.
“She was so bouncy and muscular,” longtime couch Aimee Boorman told Teen Vogue.
And by 18, Biles was signing a sponsorship deal with Nike.