Aimee Boorman has heard that line, over and over, from other coaches when they talk about the gymnast she helped lift to heights never seen within their sport.
“They say it with a sense of pride,” Boorman tells USA TODAY Sports, “and it’s like, ‘So you realize how many potential Simones you have pushed out of your gym?’ “
Biles was the kid who always loved the gymnastics part, but not the work that went into making her the best. Some days she just wanted to go home.
Those characteristics didn’t necessarily change as she grew into the decorated champion America knew. Boorman, though, was willing to manage them in a way others wouldn’t.
Biles’ coach from age 7 through her four-gold-medal performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics remembers her as one of her more challenging pupils.
“If everybody is just strict and obedient, you grow stale as a coach,” Boorman says. “So when you have somebody who’s throwing something new at you all the time, on an emotional level, on a personality level, you gotta grow. And I think some of those other coaches weren’t willing to grow.
“When people say, ‘Well, there’s only going to be one Simone,’ I’m like, ‘That’s not true.’ You have to know how to manage that athlete to get them to the point they could be a Simone.”
Boorman’s approach – nurturing, forgiving, even relenting – was novel to coaching within a sport of forced discipline and regulation. She lays out her methodology, ingrained in her by a tumultuous childhood experience, in “The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles.”
The book, which was released last week, reveals a back story of how athletes develop and mature but also how they can have giggles on their face before and after their most triumphant Olympic moments.
Boorman and co-author Steve Cooper spoke with us about facing unique challenges while coaching and parenting our athletes and how we can overcome them in unexpected ways.
“Nothing about Simone’s greatness was inevitable,” Cooper said during our Zoom interview. “It was a process. It wasn’t just luck.”
‘If it wasn’t fun, she wasn’t having any part of it’: Without love for a sport, it’s difficult to move forward
Boorman is often asked if she knew when Biles would become superstar. The answer: When she became one.
“Up until that point, anything can happen,” she says, “and any given day, if Simone didn’t have that passion and that love for gymnastics inside of her, she could be like, ‘I’m done. I’m gonna go run track.’ “
Boorman recalls the joy she felt as a young girl in the early 1980s, when she first flung herself from the bars of Lakeshore Academy in Chicago, but also how quickly a reckless coach drained it from her.
No matter how long she stood on the balance beam, her arms raised until they were numb trying to get Coach Jeremy’s attention, he wasn’t satisfied. His name is a pseudonym, but also an extreme archetype for an era of the sport: No positive reinforcement, no acknowledgement of effort and sometimes little hope.
“That constant negative input made me have total lack of belief in myself,” she says.
And yet, like most kids, Aimee yearned to please him. She arrived early one day, straining to grab his undivided attention by working out on her own. She broke her leg. Then he ignored her for months until she finally quit.
All of the biggest celebrities arrived at Lincoln Center for the annual Time100 Gala, celebrating the year’s list. One of the night’s attendees, Olympic gymnast and Time100 honoree Simone Biles, was a standout on the red carpet, wearing a stunning structured minidress.
The gold medalist sported a head-turning Oscar de la Renta number that featured metallic geometric shapes across the entire piece.
She attended the gala with her husband Jonathan Owens, who she married back in 2023. The couple shared a sweet story about the snafu that they hit on their wedding day. “For the wedding day, he actually didn’t show me his tux or his groomsmen,” Biles told E! News on the red carpet. “I wasn’t allowed to see until I walked down the aisle, same as him.” This caused a problem down the line, she said.
“They weren’t wearing the correct colors I told him to,” the gymnast said. “But it worked out. It looked beautiful.”
At the gala last night, Biles also received this year’s Time Impact Award. While accepting the award, she spoke about taking care of and being kind to herself. “I was expected to be robotic and compartmentalize my feelings in order to achieve what might otherwise be an overwhelming goal,” Biles said on stage. “But that just wasn’t me. I needed to smile, to laugh, to occasionally play practical jokes. I found ways to keep competition and training environments polite and fun, and it allowed me to succeed.”
Thankful to Simone Biles’ Parents, Gymnast’s Ex-Coach Reveals How She Saved Her From Extensive Training Methods
Imagine being under someone’s mentorship since you were 7. And that goes on for over a decade. Well, that’s Simone Biles and Aimee Boorman for you. Biles was just a promising elementary school athlete when Boorman first saw her walk into a Houston gym. And today, she’s an 11-time Olympic medalist who goes by the moniker of the G.O.A.T. But had it not been for Boorman’s strong-headed approach regarding Biles’ training methods, we kid you not, today the story could have been entirely different…
Aimee Boorman has seen a lot of Simone Biles’ success up close. After all, she shaped her from a toddler into a gymnast who topped podiums like it was a cakewalk for her. 14 medals at the three world championships between 2013 and 2015. And let’s not forget Biles’ Rio Olympic triumph in 2016. All of this came under Boorman’s training. But had it not been for her stern decisions regarding how to train Biles, this would have looked difficult. Boorman’s biggest decision, perhaps?
Doing away with the potentially damaging methods implied by one of Simone’s other coaches. Yes, Aimee Boorman was very cautious and sensitive about how she trained Simone Biles. In the wake of her recently published memoir, “The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles,” she appeared on the GymCastic podcast aired on YouTube on April 24. And that’s when she voiced a startling confession: “I didn’t realize how often I stood up to her (that coach) until I read the book, because it was just a part of my life. It was a part of my everyday of what I was going to accept from her and what I was not going to accept, and what I would, um, communicate to Simone and what I would not communicate.”
Yes, Boorman had her own way of filtering what advice and tips reached Simone Biles and what needed to be cut out. That’s because “there were things that she (that coach) would say to me that I would not communicate to Simone. Where other coaches might have gone in and said, “Well, she (that coach) thinks that you’ve put on weight, so you’re going to have to go on a diet.” You know, like, I would never say that to Simone because I would just tell her (that coach) that was okay. I would just nod and say, “Okay.”” Well, that’s Boorman for you. She would not stand up and confront that coach directly, but she did have her own way of segregating the talk and ensuring only the best bits reached Simone Biles.
Because things that weren’t going to help Simone in her gymnastics, why bother her mind space with them? Even Simone Biles had previously said that at the monthly camps under the other coach, no one would even talk or laugh, which was not how Simone wanted to do gymnastics. “They used to try to put us in a box, and they were like, ‘If you weren’t like this, you’re not going to be successful,’” Biles said.
And not many know, but here’s an interesting fact: Boorman’s style has always been different than that of other coaches. She wanted Simone Biles and all her gymnasts to be happy above everything else. A huge reason behind this was that, back in her childhood, Boorman had a coach who ignored her and made her feel awful, which diminished her love of gymnastics for a while. So when she started coaching, she pledged never to make anyone feel the same. Boorman’s ideology comes across best through this line she once said: “If I’m proud of myself for anything, it’s staying true to that ideal of making sure that sports are healthy and athletes are happy before anything.”
No wonder Simone Biles’ parents trusted Boorman to be her mentor for such a long time. They were together longer than most coach-athlete duos survive. Knowing this also makes Boorman grateful for that opportunity and for those memories!
In that very podcast, Boorman also said something incredibly sweet to Simone Biles’ parents, Ron and Nellie Biles. She said, “Yeah, first off, I mean I will forever be grateful to Ron and Nelly Biles for trusting me.” She had been clear with them since day 1, saying, “Let me see how far I can take her, and I will let you know if I cannot take her any further.” And they did trust her!
Another factor why Simone Biles’ parents really counted on Aimee Boorman was because, whenever the two had to part, Boorman would help them find the right coach for Biles because she knew her too well. She even knew what made her stay and show her skills in the gym. “And it was also very clear that I would help them find the right coach… I knew what made her tick in the gym. And so would it have been hard for me to send her off…of course, I’d put a lot of time and effort into coaching her. But the fact of the matter is, it’s what would’ve been best for her if I couldn’t keep up with her.”
The two did split up when Boorman accepted a job at Evo Athletics in Florida, and Biles wasn’t really sure of her gymnastics future because back then, the prevailing culture was that athletes retired after the Olympics. But the record books are testament to the fact that this duo was a hit on the mats. What do you think of Boorman’s coaching?
Excited Simone Biles Gushes Over Met Gala Glam As Jonathan Owens Set to Pause Football Practice To Celebrate Their Big Relationship Moment
“Glad I got to see you for a short bit before jetting off to the airport,” Simone Biles last caught a glimpse of Jonathan Owens before she hopped into her flight to Madrid. And while she was there being crowned the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year, Jonathan Owens was busy with his football vows. But hey, distance doesn’t look good on these lovebirds. And while fans have been missing those SB-JO moments that they can swoon over, it’s finally time to brace yourselves! Because Simone just dropped a little hint: an eventful outing is on the cards sooner than you think!
Remember Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens’ honeymoon in South Africa? A new destination every day, new memories, and new pictures of the sports town’s favorite couple for the fans to adore. But it’s been a long gap since then, and it’s about time for another one of their couple appearances, right? Well, it looks like they heard you, because it’s all going to turn true at the upcoming MET gala!
April 25, speaking to ExtraTV, Simone Biles made a massive revelation. She will be present at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 5 for the MET Gala 2025. And her excitement? It’s blowing through the roof! “Oh my gosh, I am really excited, obviously no training goes into the Met, so I’m happy about that. It’s really just getting in fitting, seeing what you’re going to wear, and then going from there.”
Apart from alerting the fashion lovers about her new look that will be dropping at the MET, “It will be tailored, it will be a custom dress, I’m going back and forth between two right now, um both custom looks for me, so I’m excited,” Simone Biles also voiced a good news for the Simone-Jonathan fans. “It is date night it’ll be the day before our wedding, second wedding anniversary as well, so it’ll be really exciting to celebrate at the Met with him,” she said. Well, yes, Simone Biles and JO are showing up in NYC together for the event, so paps and fans, keep your cameras ready. And as she mentioned, the MET will also be date night as it is timed just before the couple celebrate a major milestone in their relationship, aka their 2nd wedding anniversary. Can you believe it’s about to be 2 years to their intimate and traditional wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico? We can’t either.
But, Jonathan Owens is likely to be swamped in his NFL practice then. So he might have to pause it for a bit to step out to NYC with his wife. But hey, that isn’t really an impossible mission for him. We have seen him pull off a similar move while Simone Biles was competing in Paris, when he requested special off time to fly to Paris amid the Chicago Bears’ training to cheer for her. Also, it’s their anniversary a day after, so just like last year, when Biles treated fans to snapshots from their romantic date night, this time, the MET will set the stage for another memorable celebration.
But here’s the thing, if anyone knows how to balance the sport and their relationship together, it’s these too. Another example off late proved it.
Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens enjoy the best of both worlds
While Simone was in Madrid, posing on the red carpets of the Laureus Sports Awards in her elegant black corset gown, made by a Saudi designer, Jonathan Owens was busy with his football duties. Yes, Simone Biles revealed to ExtraTV that, “He’s hosting one of the Chicago Bears draft party cuz it’s draft night.” So yes, while Biles was away being recognized for her achievements, Owens was catching up on what’s going on the football turf with his boys.
But like Biles just spilled the details of where his husband is and what plans they have for a date night, was she always this vocal? Well, even before her Netflix documentary was out, she revealed on April 24 that they considered aspects of JO’s privacy, “Our relationship is a really big part of my life, and everyone’s gotten to see me grow up, but they haven’t gotten to see me and my husband interact.” And that, “Obviously, we respected Jonathan’s privacy as well and had to figure out how much he wanted to be highlighted in the series. But ultimately, we decided that we do want to share this.” In all, JO and her life having changed after marriage, in terms of juggling both gymnastics and her life, is a huge detail that she cannot slide past. What do you think of this?
At the 2025 Time100 Gala, Simone Biles spoke to Access Hollywood about being named on the The 100 Most Influential People of 2025 list and how special it was to have former Olympic teammate Aly Raisman pay tribute to her in the publication. She also talked two big events she’s gearing up to attend with her husband Jonathan Owens next month: the Kentucky Derby and the Met Gala. Simone and Jonathan will also be celebrating their second wedding anniversary in May, and she shared how her highlight of marriage thus far has been getting to spend more time together. “Being together, because our first year of marriage, we were barely together,” she said of their busy lives as an Olympic gymnast and an NFL safety, respectively. “We were kind of doing long distance, so now it’s just really spending that time with one another.”
A viewership of 8.2 million! This incredible feat now rests with Simone Biles’ documentary series, Simone Biles Rising. The gymnast who had to leave the sports she loved back in 2020, in the greatest stage of all, the Olympics, returned in 2024 to the very same sport on the very same stage and reclaimed her position as the goat. The documentary explored her comeback as a gymnast and ventured into her personal life as well. One thing that got a lot of attention was the series talking about her married life. What does she have to say about this?
Netflix, in its official interview with the gymnast, asked her how sharing details about her relationship with her husband felt, especially when they have been in the public eye for so long. The Olympian responded, “Our relationship is a really big part of my life, and everyone’s gotten to see me grow up, but they haven’t gotten to see me and my husband interact.” The 28-year-old has seen fame since she won the all-around title in the 2013 world championship at just sixteen.
Biles further pointed out that she wanted the world to know that she can get married and still be the best version of herself when it came to gymnastics. She got married on 22 April 2023, and after the 2024 Paris Olympics, she returned with 3 golds and one silver. “Our relationship is a really big part of my life, and everyone’s gotten to see me grow up, but they haven’t gotten to see me and my husband interact. I thought it really important to highlight that, yes, I can be married and still be at the top of my game. Getting married and going back to the Olympics was a huge part of my life that I didn’t want to gloss over.” She said. But there was a challenge.
While sharing the details of their marriage, Biles also had to consider Owen’s privacy and how much he wanted to be a part of the docuseries. Ultimately, the couple worked out and decided that it was important for him to be a part of it. She further said in the interview, “Obviously, we respected Jonathan’s privacy as well and had to figure out how much he wanted to be highlighted in the series. But ultimately, we decided that we do want to share this. It’s a big part of our lives, and I think it’s really important for kids to see that there are things to look forward to past gymnastics and sports.”
The couple has been really supportive of each other through their almost two years of marriage. Once Simone had hit back at trolls who came after Owens for wearing her Olympic medal. Owens, on the other hand, has time to time, supported his wife as well.
When the gymnast won the 2024 SI Sportsperson of the Year Award, the NFL safety took to his social media to pen down a heartfelt note for his wife. Now, Simone’s influence has turned Owens into a fan of gymnastics, too!
Simone Biles’s husband is a gymnastics fan.
“He knows so much about gymnastics,” Biles said in an interview while pointing out that she is still learning a thing or two about football. Owens has been a regular supporter of Biles at her games. The man negotiated time away from his NFL duties for the Chicago Bears because he wanted to put the Paris Olympics as a priority. And no, he did not do this to play for the US team, but because he wanted to support his wife.
As the gymnast entered the finals of the grandest stage of all, Owens flew to Paris to see her. “Coming for you baby,” Owens posted on his Instagram story with a photo of him onboard an airplane. Biles reposted it, adding four emojis: “🤞🏾🤞🏾🥹🥹”. Other than Owens, Biles’ parents, Ron and Nellie, were also in attendance. Moreover, he has also been seen doing something during Biles’ games that has drawn a lot of attention.
When the NFL safety arrived to watch his wife in the finals of the gymnastics finals of the Olympics, the man donned a Simone Biles T-shirt, as well as a pen and notepad. Yes, a pen and notepad!!! This left a lot of fans wondering what the man was writing down.
Maybe the moments he loved in the match? Maybe a loving note for his wife? What do you think?
Sport’s most prestigious Awards brings the biggest stars in the world together in Madrid, seen by global audience of millions
MADRID became the capital city of sport this week as the Laureus World Sports Awards celebrated its 25th anniversary by gathering the greatest athletes not only of the past 12 months, but of the 21st Century.
Simone Biles and Rebecca Andrade – friends, rivals and Olympic champions from the world of gymnastics – were both winners here; both sides of Spanish football’s great duopoly were represented on the winners’ podium, as Real Madrid and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal were honoured; and Olympic and Paralympic heroes including Mondo Duplantis, Tom Pidcock and Jijang Yuan added a Laureus to their laurels. Standing alongside the world’s greatest athletes were leaders from the inspirational Lesotho-based football programme Kick4Life, recipients of the 2025 Laureus Sport for Good Award.
Nobody does it better than Simone Biles
25 years after the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards were held in Monaco in 2000, this special anniversary edition of the greatest show in sports was also a celebration of the growth of Laureus as a unique sporting movement – encompassing the world-famous Awards and the year-round work of Laureus Sport for Good in over 40 countries.
The Awards evening launched a multi-media wave of posts, coverage and broadcast around the world, as athletes, media and bloggers reacted to this year’s winners – each presented with ‘The Laureus’ – the coveted statuette awarded to the winner in each category and the prize the greatest athletes in the world value above all other Awards – voted on by the 69 sporting legends of the Laureus World Sports Academy.
And this year that body awarded two additional statuettes, honouring 22-time Grand Slam tennis champion Rafael Nadal and Kelly Slater, an 11-time world champion in surfing.
The Olympic and Paralympic Games were at the heart of the sporting year in 2024 – and this year’s list of Laureus winners includes several athletes who added a Laureus to their collection of gold.
It was fourth time lucky for the greatest pole-vaulter of all-time, Mondo Duplantis. He was awarded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award after being nominated in each of the last three years and is the second track-and-field athlete to win this Award, after four-time winner Usain Bolt.
Still just 25 years old, the Swede shows no signs of loosening his grip over the competition following another historic year. After winning his second World Indoor Championship gold medal in March, Duplantis broke his own world record for a remarkable ninth time in 2024 on the way to gold in Paris, before shattering it again at the Silesia Diamond League meeting the following month. Duplantis received his Award from last year’s winner, Novak Djokovic.
Simone Biles’ breathtaking displays in the French capital saw her named Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year for the fourth time, equalling the record held by tennis great and compatriot Serena Williams – they both also have one Comeback of the Year Award.
Biles called the Paris Games her ‘redemption tour’ after taking a break from the sport, and the most decorated gymnast in history produced a stunning performance, picking up three golds and a silver. One year after winning that Comeback of the Year Award, her redemption is complete.
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year,Simone said: “I’m so happy to be here in Madrid and to receive my fourth Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award.
“I won this Award for the first time in 2017 and Laureus has been a part of my story since then, and I share their belief that sport has the power to change the world. That might be a little girl watching someone like me on television and deciding she can do it, too. Or it could be the incredible work Laureus Sport for Good has undertaken for the past 25 years, all over the world.
“I’d like to thank the legendary members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, who vote for the winners. It must be an almost impossible job, but their unique personal experiences of sport at the highest level gives them an understanding of what it takes to be the very best. Their generation has inspired us athletes standing here before you. That is why the Laureus Awards truly are the ‘Athletes Awards’ and I am proud to have added to my ‘Laureus’ collection.”
Brazilian gymnastRebeca Andrade completed her inspirational return from career-threatening injuries at the Paris Games, and she is this year’s recipient of the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
Andrade considered quitting the sport in the wake of a series of soul-crushing injuries – including three anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries – and agonising rehabilitations. Her long road back to the top was complete when she won gold in the floor competition – a moment memorialised forever by the image of her long-time rival Biles bowing to her as she stood at the top of the podium.
Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award winner,Rebeca, said: “This beautiful Laureus Statuette represents a huge amount of hard work, of struggle and pain, and also great happiness and one of my most cherished memories – standing on top of the Olympic podium again.
“In the 25-year history of these Awards that have become the ultimate prize for athletes, these stories of resilience have inspired generations of young people. Previous winners of the Comeback of the Year have included some of the greatest athletes of all time, from my fellow Brazilian, Ronaldo, to Simone last year.
“And just as our stories reach every corner of the world, we stand here alongside Laureus Sport for Good as they bring together projects from across the globe which use sport to improve the lives of children and young people.
“Individual sports can be isolating, but Paris showed that camaraderie can exist between competitors, and I was so proud to compete alongside last year’s winner of this Award, Simone Biles. Simone and I are the only two gymnasts to win a Laureus Award and I hope our stories can inspire anyone who has experienced injuries and setbacks to keep fighting through the many obstacles placed in front of them on the long road to recovery.”
Teen sensation Lamine Yamalwas the recipient of the Laureus World Breakthrough of the YearAward after emerging as one of football’s global superstars.
As part of the Spain team which won Euro 2024, he became the youngest player to score in the European Championships as well as the youngest to feature in the final and was named Best Young Player of the tournament. He is only the second footballer to win this Award, after Jude Bellingham, the Real Madrid midfielder who won it last year.
Bellingham did not go unrecognised tonight, either. Real Madrid are quite simply a winning machine and were honoured with the Laureus World Team of the Year Award after a season in which they won La Liga for a record 36th time, delivered a 15th UEFA Champions League/European Cup title, and defeated rivals Barcelona 4-1 in the Supercopa de España. The club continued to sweep aside all before them at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, winning both the UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup, an achievement which saw Carlo Ancelotti become Madrid’s most decorated manager.
For 25 years, the Laureus World Sports Awards have seen the greatest athletes in the world share the stage with Laureus Sport for Good programmes that fulfil the mission defined by the founding patron of Laureus at the first Awards: to use the power of sport to change the world.
Kick4Life is one of over 300 Laureus Sport for Good projects all over the world making a difference in their communities, and they were presented with this year’s Laureus Sport for Good Award in Madrid. Kick4Life uses football to reach at-risk children in Lesotho, promoting health education, life-skills development, gender rights and employability. The inspirational organisation, which was also nominated for this Award in 2022, has reached more than 250,000 young people since it was founded in 2005.
Nominees for the Laureus World Sports Awards are decided by the world’s media, and the winners are voted on by the 69 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy – the ultimate sporting jury. This year the Academy also included two discretionary Awards.
Simone Biles is off to a dominant start to 2025 – continuing her impressive run frmo 2024 when she added three more gold medals at the Paris Olympics, brining her total to seven.
While she won’t win an Olympic gold medal this year, she’s off to a pretty good start to 2025. Earlier this year she traveled with husband Jonathan Owens to South Africa for their honeymoon where they spent nearly two weeks on safari. Just a few weeks later, Biles joined Tom Brady’s Religion of Sports, a production company, as one of the board of directors.
A month later, she landed a coveted spot in Time magazine’s “The Most Influential People of 2025” list. Her longtime teammate and three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman wrote her profile.
Here’s what Raisman wrote about the seven-time gold medalist:
Simone Biles is a gem—one of a kind, forged by relentless hard work and polished by her own determination. She shines with a brilliance that sets her apart.
Simone dominates gymnastics, performing skills that push beyond what was once thought possible. Her routines are so difficult, my teammates and I used to joke that we were all competing for second place. Even as the GOAT, she continues to push herself—defying the very notion of limits. With five signature skills, she has etched her name into the sport.
Simone has faced—and withstood—mounting expectations, pressures, and adversity, which seem to intensify each year. Through it all, she has embraced her vulnerability, while refusing to let it define or limit her. She is both deeply human and undeniably superhuman—a combination that makes her impact profound. She inspires us to believe that we, too, can persevere. That we, too, can shatter limits.
Simone has changed lives by bringing mental health and athlete safety to the forefront. She has transformed gymnastics—and even sport itself. But her greatest legacy may be ensuring a better future for those who follow.
Time‘s list was broken down into six categories: artists, icons, leaders, titans, pioneers and innovators.
The Houston-area athletes earn spots on TIME’s 2025 list of influential figures.
HOUSTON — Houston-connected athletes Simone Biles and Jalen Hurts have earned spots on TIME magazine’s prestigious 2025 TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people. The annual list, released this week, recognizes individuals who are transforming the world across various sectors, including sports, politics, business and entertainment.
Biles, the decorated gymnast who lives and trains in Spring, Texas, continues to cement her legacy as arguably the greatest gymnast of all time. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Hurts, a Houston native, earned recognition following his Super Bowl victory earlier this year.
The 2025 TIME100 list features influencers from 32 countries, including a record 16 corporate CEOs and six members of the Trump Administration. TIME Editor-in-Chief notes that this year’s selections reflect “where global disruption originates today” and the “emergence of a class of business leaders who are filling a leadership void.”
In her profile of Biles, fellow Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman described her as “a gem—one of a kind, forged by relentless hard work and polished by her own determination.” Raisman praised Biles not only for her athletic dominance but also for her advocacy in mental health and athlete safety, writing that “her greatest legacy may be ensuring a better future for those who follow.”
Hurts, who led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in February, was profiled by baseball legend Derek Jeter.
“What Jalen Hurts went through in being benched during the 2018 National Championship game would break a lot of people down. But not Jalen; he focused on what he could control and found a new path to success,” Jeter wrote, emphasizing Hurts’ remarkable resilience.
According to TIME, the annual TIME100 has expanded this year to include a daylong summit featuring interviews with world leaders and the traditional gala. The publication is also launching two new TIME100 franchises focused on philanthropy and digital creators.
This year’s list spans diverse professions and backgrounds, with the youngest honoree being 22-year-old French Olympic swimmer Léon Marchand and the oldest being 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who currently leads Bangladesh’s interim government.
Other notable figures on this year’s covers include entertainment icon Snoop Dogg, AI pioneer Demis Hassabis, tennis legend Serena Williams, musician Ed Sheeran, and actress Demi Moore.
