Biles won her second gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and sixth Olympic gold medal overall, on Thursday, August 1 in the all-around final.
Gabrielle Rockson is a staff writer-reporter for PEOPLE. She joined PEOPLE in 2023 and covers entertainment and human interest stories. She’s interviewed David Beckham, Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet and many others. Her previous work can be found in OK! Magazine, MyLondon, GRM Daily, and more.
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Simone Biles is opening up about how the ‘haters’ have inspired her!
In an interview that aired on the BBC on Thursday, August 1 at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Olympic gymnast, 27, said that she was motivated to get her necklace with a goat pendant due to naysayers not liking her being branded as the ‘Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T).’
“It’s a little ode, I mean a lot of people love it, they always call me the G.O.A.T so I thought it would be really special if I got one made,” she said. “And the haters hate it so I love that even more and it’s just a special part of me that I have here, as well as in the village I have like a stuffed goat, just to get a reminder: ‘You can go out there, you can do it, you’ve done it before, so let’s go.’ ’’
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On Thursday, Biles won gold at the all-around final. Marking her second gold of the 2024 Games and her sixth Olympic gold overall, the champion was handed the silver chain with a sparkly goat by her teammate Jordan Chiles after the win and put it on.
“My goat necklace, is just kind of an ode, because the people love it and then some people hate it, so it’s like the best of both worlds,” she told reporters, including PEOPLE, in a press conference after the all-around final. “And I was like, okay, if it goes well, I’ll wear the goat necklace, I know people will go crazy over it.”
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Biles continued, “But at the end of the day, it is crazy that I’m in the conversation of greatest of all time athletes, because I still think I’m Simone Biles from Spring, Tx. that loves to flip.”
Meanwhile, the star’s new triumph comes after she became the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history after winning her eighth Olympic medal earlier this week.
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Biles and her Team USA teammates — Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — won gold in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday, July 30. Biles’ gold medal win on Thursday, August 1 brings her total tally to nine Olympic medals.
She had previously won gold in the all-around competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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