It’s not bragging if it’s true, right?
On Thursday, not long after she won her SIXTH overall Gold Medal and her second all-around title at the Summer Olympics, Simone Biles spoke to the BBC.
When the subject turned to a certain piece of jewelry around her neck, the 27-year old sensation simply told it like it is.
Critics be damned.
“It’s a little ode, I mean a lot of people love it, they always call me the G.O.A.T so I thought it would be really special if I got one made,” she said of the necklace you can see above.
It is in the shape of a goat.
In sports terminology, this animal/term is often used to describe someone who is the Greatest of All Time at what he or she does.
“And the haters hate it so I love that even more and it’s just a special part of me that I have here, as well as in the village I have like a stuffed goat, just to get a reminder: ‘You can go out there, you can do it, you’ve done it before, so let’s go,’” Biles added in this interview.
Three years ago, during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Biles had to step away mid-competition due to a case of the “twisties,” a condition gymnasts suffer when they aren’t sure where their body is amid flips and twists in the air.
This can be awfully dangerous, of course, because it means they also aren’t sure when or how to land.
A number of ignorant morons around the globe trashed Biles at the time, referring to her as a bad teammate and as mentally weak.
Biles made it clear this week that she heard those critics.
And look at her now, folks. She’s deservedly on top of the athletic world.
“My goat necklace, is just kind of an ode, because the people love it and then some people hate it, so it’s like the best of both worlds,” the superstar told reporters in a press conference after the all-around final.
“And I was like, okay, if it goes well, I’ll wear the goat necklace, I know people will go crazy over it.
“But at the end of the day, it is crazy that I’m in the conversation of greatest of all time athletes, because I still think I’m Simone Biles from Spring, Texas that loves to flip.”
That may be true, but so is this:
Biles is now the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history.
Biles and her America teammates — Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — won gold in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday, July 30.
Biles’ subsequent gold medal victory on Thursday, August 1 brought her total tally to nine Olympic medals.
The icon had previously won gold in the all-around competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
She’s the GOAT. Period.
