Let’s be honest- most people only think about gymnastics once every four years when the Olympics roll around. After the final vault has been landed and the closing games have ended, most people have given very little thought as to where Olympians go in the offseason. (Hibernation, maybe?)
However, Olympic superstar Simone Biles is very much staying not just on our radar, but at the top of her game as she celebrates being named ESPN’s Most Dominant Athlete of 2018.
After winning the gold medal in 2016, Biles, who just recently turned 21, has spent the last two years as the reigning queen of gymnastics. In addition to winning individual gold medals in the all-around competition, vault, and floor exercise categories during the World Championships in Doha, Qatar in early November, she also led the U.S. Gymnastics women’s team to a gold medal in the team competition category. All of this helped her make history by becoming the first American (male or female) to medal in every event during a competition.
While the award in itself is a prestigious honor in itself, putting Biles in the company of other great athletes such as Lebron James and Peyton Manning, the elite gymnast had somewhat of a rough year.
Biles recently opened up about being one of the victims of former team doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse and the stress and anxiety that came as a result not just of the abuse, but of the very public trial as well. Additionally, the superstar gymnast dealt landed in the hospital due to a kidney stone the night before her first event of the World Championships.
Yes, still she persisted, beating out not just her competition in Qatar, but also beating out other very accomplished athletes such as Eliud Kipchoge, Katie Ledecky, and Chloe Kim for the ESPN title.
As she wraps up another amazing year with her Most Dominant title, sports analysts are already speculating about her domination at the 2020 Olympics while the rest of us simply prepare for her inevitable domination of the whole world.
