With seven Olympic and 23 world championship gold medals, Simone Biles has won it all. Yet to look at her marketability purely through the lens of sporting achievement would be a disservice to an individual who has spent her life overcoming adversity and becoming a champion of more than just gymnastics.
There is no one else who can do what Simone Biles does.
Five moves are now named after the American, who is the most decorated gymnast in history with 11 Olympic and 30 world championship medals.
There is also no one else who could have done what Simone Biles did.
The 27-year-old won three gold medals and a silver on her return to the Games at Paris 2024, all while shouldering an even greater weight of expectation than that which had proved too much to bear three years ago in Tokyo, where she made the unprecedented decision to withdraw from Olympic competition to prioritise her mental health.
Indeed, there might still be a couple of months left in 2024, but Biles has already had another record-breaking year.
She is the most decorated of all US Olympic gymnasts on the back of her performance in the French capital, which also saw her break a 120-year-old record by becoming the first American in her sport to win six gold medals at the Games, as well as the oldest female all-around champion since 1952.
And now, Biles is the first woman to be named the world’s most marketable athlete on two occasions, topping SportsPro’s annual ranking in 2024 ahead of Vinicius Junior, LeBron James, Caitlin Clark, and last year’s number one Lionel Messi.
The last time Biles led 50MM was in 2021, another Olympic year, which is historically when her sport breaks through on a truly global scale.
However, Biles is one of only eight athletes to have made the top ten of 50MM on five or more occasions, which is testament not only to her longevity in a discipline where most athletes retire in their early 20s, but also how she has matured from a teenage gymnastics prodigy into a cultural icon who is a champion of much more than just her sport.
“Simone is one of the very few athletes who can be called the greatest of all time without qualification or argument,” Janey Miller, executive vice president of Olympics at the Octagon agency, who represents Biles, tells SportsPro. “But I think what ultimately makes her so appealing to brands is her character and her relatability.
“Simone is not only singularly gifted athletically, but she is also an incredible example of hard work and dedication. People have seen her rise to the very top of her sport, and they have seen her struggle. She has been honest and open about all of it and invited people into her world to experience the good and the bad.
“They see a real person with whom we can all relate.”
“We had overnight sellouts”
For those who do only tune in once every four years, getting to grips with an all-around gymnastics competition can be its own challenge.
In one corner of the arena is an athlete sprinting at full tilt towards a vault as another backflips across the mat as part of their floor routine. Then there is the dizzying sight of a stretched-out figure swinging round and round and round the uneven bars in preparation for takeoff while their competitor tenses every leg muscle fibre imaginable to stay upright on the balance beam.
Gymnasts are constantly rotating from one apparatus to the next, which can make it difficult to know who is competing when.
But it was always easy to locate Biles at Bercy Arena in Paris thanks to the herd of photographers gathered at whichever end of the mat she was stationed. Behind them, the volume inside the venue rose every time the American was introduced to the crowd, only to somehow go up again when she successfully navigated another one of her gravity-defying routines.
In the same way that watching Usain Bolt run 100 metres was one of the wonders of the sporting world, seeing Biles in the flesh, pushing gymnastics to technical limits not previously thought possible, has become a bucket-list item.
“When she announced her return to elite gymnastics in 2023, our events were selling well, but we had overnight sellouts for those comeback events,” says Lauryn Turner, the chief operating officer of USA Gymnastics. “She has such a positive influence on little girls and young aspiring athletes, it’s one of those things where everyone is lining up and they want to see her.”
Among those watching in Paris were a host of celebrities who had jetted in to see Biles perform, including the likes of Lady Gaga, Tom Cruise, Ariana Grande and Snoop Dogg. For the film crew tasked with following Biles for her four-part Netflix documentary, it became an unofficial sport to spot which A-lister had turned up to watch the gymnast compete on any given day.
“It was just this laundry list of a who’s who with the audience, and I’ve never experienced that before in a gymnastics competition,” says Katie Walsh, the director of Simone Biles Rising, which debuted on Netflix in July.
“So it became kind of fun. It was like a little bit of a game to try to figure out who was in the stands every day. It did become apparent that they were there to see Simone, and that does show her ability to transcend her sport and all sport – and bring in so many people that were interested in her story.”
With so many accolades to her name, Biles would have every right to be supremely self-confident to the point of arrogance, but there is a certain charm about the way that even she often seems surprised by what she has just pulled off. She is also not afraid of celebrating the success of others, which was on display on several occasions in Paris, including when she and her teammate Jordan Chiles bowed down on the podium to gold medallist Rebeca Andrade, who Biles later praised as a “queen”.
It’s a similar story on social media, where Biles addresses her 20 million followers across TikTok and Instagram as if she is sending a voice note to her closest friends on WhatsApp.
One common sentiment expressed in conversations with those who have spent time in the company of Biles is that she is nothing if not consistent.
“What you see on the documentaries, what you see on her social, in her interviews, that’s Simone,” says Turner. “It is her true, authentic self, and I think that’s something that people realise when you are around her. That’s who she is. There’s no facade going on. It is 100 per cent who she is as a person.”
“She doesn’t sugarcoat situations”
From the moment Biles won her first elite competition as a teenager, she was the favourite for every event she entered. In many ways, she had set the bar so high that it created an illusion that she was invincible to the everyday challenges that affect ‘normal’ human beings.
That is what made her actions in Tokyo so powerful. Biles dropped out of the women’s team final and four individual finals because of the ‘twisties’, a previously little-known term referring to a mental block where gymnasts lose touch with where their body is while in midair. For Biles, a process that for so long came naturally had betrayed her.
Despite opening herself up to criticism and being branded “a quitter” by some members of the media who argued that her duty was to her country rather than herself, Biles used the biggest stage of all to show elite athletes and others around the world that there is no shame in giving yourself a break.
At a time when an increasing number of people were fighting their own battles because of the personal challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, it was a message that resonated far and wide.
“The more you get to know her, the more of a human she becomes,” says Walsh. “You watch her superhuman skills on the mat, but she’s very normal, she does many normal things, and she’s real about it.
“She’s not only showing the perfect side of her life or the perfect moments, she’s open to the honest truth about the highs and the lows and her struggles and how she’s feeling. And she doesn’t sugarcoat situations. She’s just true to who she is.”
That Biles eventually found the courage to return to the mat and win gold at Paris 2024 should have come as no surprise. Overcoming adversity has been a feature of her life, starting from when she and her siblings were briefly placed in foster care before being adopted by her grandfather, Ron, and his wife Nellie.
Biles is also the only survivor of former US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse who is still competing, and it has never been lost on her that she is a Black woman succeeding in what has historically been a predominantly white sport.
As she has grown more comfortable with her stardom and the influence it brings, Biles has taken it upon herself to address potentially divisive topics and call on those in positions of power to do better. And she has always done it with grace. In 2022, she became the youngest-ever athlete to receive the presidential medal of freedom for her mental health advocacy and support of sexual assault victims.
Her activism has also been recognised in this year’s list of the world’s most marketable athletes. Within the three pillars used by NorthStar Solutions Group to determine the ranking, Biles has the highest score for brand strength, which incorporates factors such as authenticity, brand risk and reputation, and purpose, mission and values. She also ranks seventh among all athletes for social return on investment, emphasising her commitment to causes she believes are worth standing up for.
Knowing what Biles has been through therefore makes it difficult not to root for her. When Biles is happy, it is impossible not to feel happy for her. And that sentiment is one that is alluring for any brand.
“She speaks about things in a very authentic [way], whether that is mental health, whether that is social issues,” says Turner. “I think that’s another thing that has aligned not just the general public around her, but brands around her.
“When she speaks about racial or gender equity or as an ambassador for a brand that she aligns with, those are topics that are resonating with younger demographics in the United States and globally. And I think that’s part of what is driving crowds to see her, but also that socially conscious consumer, which is why brands are wanting to align with her.”
“We had no idea if she was coming back”
In 2023, Forbes estimated that Biles made US$7 million from endorsement deals with the likes of Visa and General Mills. Those partners were “very understanding” and “eager to stand by her side” when the gymnast took a break from the sport, according to Miller, who adds that they were “willing to pivot” and help share her message of prioritising mental health.
One brand that worked with Biles to do that is Powerade. The Coca-Cola-owned sports drink put the Texas native front and centre of its ‘Pause is Power’ campaign, which was launched in 2022 to challenge the win-at-all-costs mentality and emphasise the importance of athletes’ mental health and wellbeing.
Ahead of Paris, Biles was the star of a hero film called ‘The Vault’, which shows the gymnast preparing to practice against a cacophony of media commentary about pressure going through her head. With a deep breath, she blocks out the noise and begins her routine, during which Biles’ own voice can be heard reflecting on her decision to take a pause and reminding her why she started competing in the first place.
Biles herself has admitted that she was unsure if she would return to action after Tokyo, which was around about the time when she started working with Powerade. Even so, Matrona Filippou, Coca-Cola’s global president of the company’s hydration, sports, tea and coffee category, felt Biles’ sheer involvement in the campaign would be enough for it to resonate whether she had come back or not.
“We loved the fact that she was someone who was completely transparent and very powerful in terms of taking a step back and looking after her total wellbeing, both physical and mental, and really thinking about putting herself first,” says Filippou, who notes that the campaign involved “a lot of co-creation” with Biles.
“At the time, we had no idea that she would be coming back,” she continues. “But we felt that she had a strong enough story, that it was so tied to the brand and our consumers and our fans, that it was, for us, a great partnership.”
Biles’ work with Powerade is a continuation of a theme throughout her career, where she appears to have made values-based decisions when choosing her sponsors and thought carefully about who she trusts to amplify her story. After all, there are no shortage of reasons why a brand would want Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time who is recognised the world over, to endorse its products.
But she will feel she has earned the right to ask them: why should I represent you?
“Simone is involved with every aspect of her business, particularly when it comes to sponsorship opportunities,” Miller notes. “She’s looking to align with brands that are authentic and compelling to her, and she prioritises developing a true partnership with them. She understands that they have business objectives, but she too wants them to recognise that she has interests and initiatives for which she’s looking for them to support as well.”
That approach can be traced all the way back to one of Biles’ earliest deals in 2016, when she teamed up with Mattress Firm to support the company’s efforts to donate essential items – such as pyjamas and school supplies – to foster children.
Another good example came in 2021, when Biles left sportswear giant Nike, a company which had been criticised for failing to support pregnant athletes and this summer released an Olympic ad honouring unapologetic winners, to join Athleta.
Explaining her decision in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Biles said the Gap-owned, female-focused business “stand for everything that I stand for” and was “going to help me use my voice and also be a voice for females and kids”. There was also something entrepreneurial about leaving behind the world’s biggest sportswear company for an up-and-coming brand that she could help grow.
In truth, though, Biles is a valuable asset for a company of any size, in any sector.
“When you see the brands that are aligning with Simone, it’s everything from financial to pharma,” Turner notes. “So beyond the sports realm, you’re seeing brands of a pretty broad scope find significant value in in her reach and her as a person, and her personal brand, which she’s done an amazing job of building.”
“The greatest we will ever see”
The handbook of gymnastics would suggest that Biles should have retired several years ago. Right now, though, she is nearing the end of the second edition of the 30-stop Gold Over America Tour – or, perhaps not coincidentally, GOAT for short.
Tens of thousands of fans have been packing into venues such as the Crypto.com Arena and Barclays Center to watch Biles and her teammates perform without the fear of failure, liberated from the pressures of a sport that has historically demanded that its competitors stretch themselves as far as possible to achieve perfection.
Presented by her sponsor Athleta, the show is an opportunity for fans in cities across America to see Team USA’s medal-winning gymnasts, but at the same time an expression of how Biles has changed the landscape of competitive sport and gymnastics simply by highlighting the importance of balance.
“I do believe that Simone is not just a generational athlete, I think she is the greatest athlete we will ever see in our sport,” says Turner. “The resilience that she has shown, I think, will continue to inspire not just gymnasts, but athletes across all sports and just humans. I don’t think we’re ever going to see anything like Simone ever again.”
Biles may yet be tempted by the prospect of being the face of a home Olympics in 2028, when the Games will return to Los Angeles for the first time since 1984. She could also decide that she would be better served watching it at home with her husband and National Football League (NFL) star Jonathan Owens and their dogs Lilo and Rambo.
Whatever her next move is, though, Biles will be making it on her own terms.
