After a two-year hiatus, Simone Biles returned to gymnastics like she never left, continuing to break records in 2023. And the Associated Press just awarded her the title of 2023 Female Athlete of the Year for her astonishing return to the mat (and the vault, and the balance beam).
Beyond winning titles this year, Biles, 26, continued to refine her mastery of the sport.
A fifth skill was named in her honor, as she performed a “Yurchenko Double Pike,” which is a “roundoff back handspring with two saltos in the piked position.” It’s dizzying just thinking about it!
But Biles masters gymnastics skills like it’s nothing; and the panel of sports media professionals who voted for her seem to agree. Biles won 19 votes among voters, leading a pack of popular women athletes who made waves this year, including A’ja Wilson, Coco Gauff, and Angel Reese.
Over the summer, Biles also became the first gymnast in history– man or woman- to win eight U.S. all-around titles.
“It feels really special,” Biles told NBC News after her historic win. “I’ve been doing it for so long, I feel like I don’t think about numbers; I think about my performance. And I think, overall, I hit eight for eight. I guess it’s a lucky number this year.”
Biles previously won the AP honor in 2016 and 2019, and even had time to get married in two ceremonies earlier this year to NFL player Jonathan Owens.
