Simone Biles Mates Historic Olympic Gold Medal with Diamond Goat Necklace
There is no doubt that Simone Biles is one of the greatest athletes of all time. But in case there are any holdouts in the crowd, the 27-year-old gymnast has a diamond necklace that only the GOAT can stack with her gold medal.
Simone Biles won the women's all-around gymnastics final for the second time on August 1, 2024, in front of a packed house that included teammates Suni Lee and Jordan Childs and celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Devin Booker. (Biles' first win came at Rio 2016.) After winning four routines on uneven bars, bars, floor, and vault, the 30-time world champion wore a diamond pendant from Jamie Heller Fine Jewelry. Its charm 'a small, sparkly goat.
The goat charm, coated with 546 diamonds, not only complimented her Swarovski crystal-studded Team USA leotard. It is a cheeky nod to her record-breaking career. Even before competing in Paris, Simone Biles had one of the most illustrious records in gymnastics. As of the women's all-around final, she was also the American gymnast with the most medals in history.
In a press conference after this win, Biles elaborated on the significance of the necklace. According to a Cosmopolitan report, "My GOAT necklace is kind of the best of both worlds, because people love it, and some people hate it. 'If it works out, I'll wear the GOAT necklace. I know people will go crazy over it. But at the end of the day, I still think I'm Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, who loves to flip, so it's crazy that I'm in the conversation of being the greatest athlete of all athletes."
[8Indeed, people went wild. One fan called it "Peak 2024" at X, another said it was "the greatest thing ever."
This is not the first time Simone Biles has incorporated GOAT (and goat) imagery into her competition outfits; in 2021, she began competing in a rhinestone-studded goat leotard. Biles told Marie Claire magazine that the customization was a way to fight back against her haters.
"I felt like it wasn't necessarily fair that they could keep saying whatever they wanted and it wasn't fair if I said something. [The haters] were joking about, 'Oh my God, if she puts a goat on Leo, oh my God,'" Biles said. "So they got really mad. And I said, 'Oh, that's a great idea. Let's make the haters hate us and the fans love us.' That's what we did and that's why we did it."
Biles' latest GOAT reference was a custom request from Los Angeles-based jeweler Jamie Heller. The designer shared on Instagram three days before the all-around competition that the piece "reflects her dedication, perseverance, and spirit that has inspired generations." She also noted that Biles commissioned a second necklace in the shape of the five Olympic rings.
Biles' victory was hard-earned: after withdrawing from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she has called the 2024 Olympics her "redemption tour." And while she has already made history in the first few days of competition, she could return home with even more medals. Over the next week, Biles will compete in the individual events of vault, floor, and vault. She will almost certainly wear the goat necklace again in each event.
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