Go girl! Simone Biles will be carrying the American flag at the Olympics’ closing ceremony
As you may have heard, gymnastics superstar Simone Biles will be carrying the American flag at the Rio Olympics’ closing ceremony tonight, which is a ~huge~ deal. But, tbh, are any of us surprised?
I mean, what can’t Biles do?! Not only did she win five Olympic medals in Rio, which was her first Olympics ever, btw, but four of those were gold. The gold medals were for team and individual routines in the women’s all-around, vault, and floor exercise, and the bronze medal was for the beam.
Lookin’ good, Biles, lookin’ good.
At the Rio Games, she also became the first American gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Games.
Plus, none of us can forget the other significance that the Rio Games had for Biles: She got to meet her crush, Zac Efron. (Swoon.)
As far as carrying the flag, Biles was selected by a vote of fellow Team USA members. In a statement, she said:
“It’s an incredible honor to be selected as the flag bearer by my Team USA teammates. This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me and my team and I consider it a privilege to represent my country, the United States Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics by carrying our flag. I also wish to thank the city of Rio de Janeiro, and the entire country of Brazil, for hosting an incredible Games.”
Awww, #weloveyousimone. We have such a girl crush on her, it’s not even funny.
Fun and ~amazing~ fact: Biles is only the second gymnast to be a U.S. Olympic flag-bearer in either the Opening or Closing Ceremony. The first was Alfred Jochim in 1936 (!), who carried the flag during the Opening Ceremony.
Go, Simone! We know you’ll rock it tonight just like you rocked the whole Rio Games.
