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Simone Biles of the United States shows her five gold medals she won at the Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)


Published 11/22/2019 | Reading Time 1 min 48 sec

LOS ANGELES, Calif. â€” Simone Biles of Spring, Texas, World Champions Centre, was named the Female Olympic Athlete of the Year for the 2019 Team USA Awards, presented by Dow, Best of the Year, recognizing the outstanding achievements of Team USA athletes, teams and coaches in eight categories.

Biles won five gold medals at the 2019 World Gymnastics Championships – more than any gymnast at a single Worlds since 1958 – improving her career total to 25 World medals (19 gold, three silver, three bronze), two more than any gymnast in history. She also has the mark for the most World gold medals at 19. During the 2019 Worlds in Stuttgart, Germany, Biles brought home the World title for the team, all-around, vault, balance beam and floor exercise. She also became the first woman to win each of the following at the World Championships – five World all-around titles (2013-15, 18-19), three World balance beam titles (2014-15, 19) and five World floor exercise titles (2013-15, 2018-19). Biles also completed two skills never performed by a female gymnast in competition, both of which are named in her honor: a double-double dismount on beam and a triple-double on floor.

Biles also became the first woman since 1952 to win a sixth U.S. all-around title while also winning national titles on vault, balance beam and floor exercise. In addition to the six all-around crowns, her current U.S. titles are: five-time U.S. vault champion (2014-16, 2018-19), and four-time U.S. balance beam champion (2015-16, 2018-19) and U.S. floor exercise champion (2014, 2016, 2018-19). With a total of 30 Olympic and World medals, Biles is also the most decorated U.S. gymnast of all-time, male or female.

For more information on the ceremony and the award winners, click here.

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