For the last two decades, the United States has been at or near the mountain top of women’s gymnastics at the Summer Olympics, as displayed by the team’s gold medal finish in the team all-around event in two of the last three Olympics.
It’s one of the several events at the Summer Games that draws quite a considerable and consistent amount of attention, Olympics after Olympics — especially among those who don’t pay attention to the sport in non-Olympic years.
And in recent years, it has been Simone Biles who has been a leading reason for that excitement on the American side.
2024 PARIS OLYMPICS: Follow USA TODAY’s complete coverage here
The most decorated gymnast of all time, Biles is appearing in her third career Olympic Games in Paris, and is doing so while already making some history — with more potentially to come.
Here’s what you need to know about Biles, including her age, oldest American female gymnasts and more heading into the 2024 Paris Olympics:
Simone Biles age
Biles heads into the 2024 Paris Olympics at 27 years old, making her the oldest woman to compete for American gymnastics on that stage since the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. That year, the U.S. had four athletes over the age of 27, with Marie Margaret Hoesly being the oldest at 35 years old.
“I knew I wasn’t done after the performances in Tokyo so just getting back in the gym, working hard and trusting the process with (coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi), I knew I’d be back,” Biles told NBC after qualifying for Paris at the U.S. Olympic trials.
It is the third Olympic Games in which Biles will be competing, which adds her to an exclusive list of U.S. female gymnasts. As noted by NBCOlympics.com, Biles is just the fourth-ever American woman to make three Olympic gymnastics teams, joining Muriel Davis Grossfeld, Linda Metheny and Dominique Dawes.
It’s an impressive feat for Biles, as gymnastics is a sport that typically sees younger athletes dominate. For example, the last three individual all-around gold medalists — Suni Lee in 2021, Biles in 2016 and Gabby Douglas in 2012 — were 18, 19 and 16 years old, respectively.
That isn’t the only historical mark Biles can meet at the Paris Olympics. While she is the likely the favorite to win the women’s individual all-around event heading into Paris, if Biles is able to come out with a gold medal in the event, she will become the oldest women’s gymnast to win the event in 72 years.
With two gold medal finishes in Paris, Biles would also break Anton Heida’s record for the most Olympic gold medals won by an American gymnast, men’s or women’s. Heida has five medals, all won in the 1904 St. Louis Olympics; Biles currently holds four gold medals, all coming at the 2016 Rio Games.
Click here to see the other marks that the 27-year-old Biles can meet with wins in Paris.
Oldest U.S. Olympians in women’s gymnastics history
Biles is the oldest American gymnast to qualify for the Olympics since 1952, but is the fifth-oldest American gymnast to ever compete in the Olympics, behind Hoesly, Dorothy Dalton, Meta Elste-Neumann and Marian Barone.
Here’s the full list of the oldest women gymnasts to compete in the Olympics for Team USA:
Age at the time of Olympics
-
1. Marie Margaret Hoesly (1952 Olympics): 35 years old
-
2. Dorothy Dalton (1952 Olympics): 30 years old
-
T3. Meta Elste-Neumann (1952 Olympics): 28 years old
-
T3. Marian Barone (1952 Olympics): 28 years old
-
5. Simone Biles (2024 Olympics): 27 years old
How old was Simone Biles at her first Olympics?
Biles was 19 years old when she went to the Olympics for the first time in 2016 as part of the “Final Five” team that included Raisman, Laurie Anderson, Douglas and Madison Kocian.
The Spring, Texas native took the 2016 Rio Olympics by storm, so to speak, as she left Brazil with four gold medals. It marked the first time since Lyudmila Tourischeva at the 1974 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships that a gymnast won four gold medals in a single international competition.
Here’s a full breakout of how Biles finished in each of her events at the 2016 Rio Olympics:
REQUIRED READING: Simone Biles earned this US Olympic gymnastics team spot, and she deserves this happiness
Simone Biles, USA Gymnastics Olympic schedule
Biles and Team USA will open up Olympic competition on Sunday, July 28 with the women’s team all-around qualification. She will also be competing in the women’s individual all-around event on Thursday, Aug. 1, where she is projected to win gold.
Sunday, July 28
-
Women’s Qualification — Subdivision 1 | 3:30 a.m. | Peacock
-
Women’s Qualification — Subdivision 2 | 5:40 a.m. | Peacock
-
Women’s Qualification — Subdivision 2 | 6 a.m. | NBC (Fubo)
-
Women’s Qualification — Subdivision 3 | 8:50 a.m. | E! (Fubo) and Peacock
-
Women’s Qualification — Subdivision 4 | noon | E! (Fubo)
-
Women’s Qualification — Subdivision 5 | 3:10 p.m. | Peacock
-
Women’s Qualifying — | 5 p.m. | NBC (Fubo)
Tuesday, July 30
Thursday, Aug. 1
Saturday, Aug. 3
Sunday, Aug. 4
Monday, Aug. 5
-
Women’s Balance Beam Final | 6:36 a.m. | Peacock
-
Women’s Floor Exercise Final | 8:20 a.m. | Peacock
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Simone Biles age: Olympic legend is oldest gymnast for U.S. at Paris
