With their stellar Olympic run and astounding medal haul, both women have cemented their status as the GOAT in their respective events.
The Olympic Games have always been a stage on which athletic excellence is showcased and celebrated. Whether an athlete finishes with a medal or not, qualifying in the world’s biggest sporting event is already a huge achievement.
But athletes who get to finish on a podium know the sweetness of Olympic glory, especially those who break records and ascend to the pantheon of the world’s best athletes, a feat that only a select few are able to achieve.
And the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics served as the playground for two phenomenal female athletes, both of whom smashed records and proved once and for all that they are the GOAT—the greatest of all time—in their respective events
Simone Biles: The Queen of Gymnastics
Last August 4, the 27-year-old gymnastics superstar ended her 2024 Paris Olympics run. It wasn’t the coronation that most people expected but it was still legendary, especially coming from a heartbreaking Tokyo Olympics in 2021. During the games three years ago, she battled with the “twisties,” a disorienting mental block that results in gymnasts losing control of their bodies as they spin through the air.
Fast forward to Paris, Biles can rest assured she has had a triumphant comeback. Sure, she missed out on a beam medal and had an imperfect performance on floor exercise, but at this point, nobody really cares anymore: She is the GOAT, the standard against which all others are held. Finishing the games with three gold medals and one silver are but a sweet bonus.
With her final podium finish—a silver for floor exercise—Biles has amassed a total of 11 Olympic medals, including seven golds, and 30 more (23 gold) from world championships. She is the most decorated gymnast in history, and she has more Olympic medals than any American gymnast.
Her flawed yet powerful floor exercise routine could be her swan song, as per The Washington Post. Biles has not closed the door on the Los Angeles Games in 2028, but she said, “I am getting really old.” Some say she’s still young at 27, but for an elite athlete such as her, that age isn’t exactly young anymore. But she is the Simone Biles, so we’ll see!
Whether or not she gets to represent her home country in her own backyard doesn’t really matter. Biles is the greatest in her sport and in her era, and quite possibly of all time. Her achievements will never be forgotten and Biles herself has put it impeccably for us: “I have accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics but in the sport.”
Katie Ledecky: The Queen of Aquatics
Another female American athlete who has literally made waves at every Olympic Games she’s in is Katie Ledecky. Last Sunday, August 3, Ledecky equalled the record for the most gold medals by a female Olympian as she won the 800m freestyle title at the Paris Games. Such is her dominance in the 800m freestyle that she has lost just once in that event in 13 years —against rising Canadian star Summer McIntosh at a regional meet earlier in 2024.
The 27-year-old swimming superstar clocked eight minutes 11.04 seconds to become the only woman —and only swimmer other than the other GOAT Michael Phelps—with four Olympic golds in the same event.
With her ninth Olympic gold, she moves up to share the same record with former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, and takes her overall tally to 14 medals. She has won four medals in Paris alone —two golds, a silver and a bronze, and breaks her own record as the United States’ most decorated female Olympian.
In her memoir Just Add Water, as per a report on The Guardian, Ledecky remembers seeing a wire article from the 2016 Olympics with the headline “Michael Phelps ties for silver in 100 fly.” Just underneath, in tiny print, it added: “Ledecky sets world record in women’s 800 freestyle.” That is Katie Ledecky’s legacy beyond the medals and the records broken: that great female swimmers can make the headlines, too.
Unlike Biles, Ledecky is almost sure to be back for the next Olympics in home waters. Like Biles, she will be 31 by then, with younger foes out to challenge her. For now, however, and just like Biles, Ledecky is the queen of them all.
