Simone Biles 'Named Sports Illustrated's' Sportsperson of the Year

After a whirlwind year, thanks to a stellar performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simone Biles is starting 2025, adding another accomplishment to her already long list. Biles has been named Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Person of the Year. The gymnast appeared on Good Morning America to discuss the honor, how much it means to continue shedding light on her sport, and the talented athletes bestowed the honor before her. Even though she’s the most decorated gymnast in history with 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals —including three Gold in Paris— she was still surprised to win.

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“Honestly, it is such a huge honor. I know some of the greats that have won it in prior years, so to just keep gymnastics on the map is really exciting,” the 27-year-old told GMA. “I know a lot of people love the sport of gymnastics during an Olympic year and have followed my career closely, but I was still very shocked. I feel like I’m always shocked winning any sort of award or being honored.” The praise from the award and her success in Paris over the summer came as part of a major comeback after she stepped away from the 2020 Summer Olympics due to disorientation commonly known in the gymnastics world as “the twisties.” When speaking to Sports Illustrated she opened up about the scary moment of returning to the mat. “I remember feeling broken a little bit. Because it’s what I love to do, and now I’m so terrified. So it didn’t really make sense, and I was kind of stumped. Like, why am I here? Do I want to be here? Is this what I want to do?” she asked herself. “The end goal wasn’t even the Olympics. It was, like, be happy doing gymnastics again. Feel like you’re not gonna die.” The rest of SI‘s yearly awards went to Travis Hunter for Breakout Star, whose 1,152-yard season was one of the best in college football history, the late NBA Hall Of Famer Dikembe Mutombo with the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award for his humanitarian work, and NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman earned the first-ever Innovator of the Year. Along with the other honorees, Biles will attend the Wynn Las Vegas-hosted ceremony on Jan. 7. See how social media is reacting to Sports Illustrated’s annual award winners.

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