Olympian Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, is largely considered as the best in her discipline, landing moves no other gymnast has attempted in competition and winning gold after gold.
On Friday, June 4, the Olympian opened the 2021 US Gymnastics Championships with a floor routine in a white and lilac leotard from her GK Elite replica collection, which features crystal embellishment down the center and sheer long sleeves with a rhinestone goat silhouette prominently placed on her shoulder.
She wore a black GK Elite leotard from her own line on Sunday, June 6, with a rhinestone goat decoration on her hip in reference to the athlete being dubbed by many as “the G.O.A.T.,” aka “the greatest of all time.” Biles created the collection of leotards herself, according to a press release from the gymnastics clothing business, to encourage gymnasts all around the world to become the Greatest Of All Time.
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This isn’t the first time she’s featured the animal in one of her competition outfits. Biles initially debuted the design on a training leotard ahead of the 2019 US Gymnastics Championships, and it reappeared at the GK US Classic a few weeks ago, bejeweled over the mid-back of her competition leotard.
And Biles lived up to her G.O.A.T title, winning her eighth all-around victory at the US Gymnastics Championships. She would become the most decorated gymnast in US Championships history with one more first-place finish at Nationals, on top of being the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history.
“The plan was to retaliate against the haters,” she explained. “I didn’t think it was fair that they could say whatever they wanted, but it wasn’t fair that I couldn’t say anything. [The haters] were joking like, ‘I swear, if she put a goat on her leo, blah, blah, blah.’ That would make them so angry.” “And then I was like, ‘Oh, that’s actually a good idea. Let’s make the haters hate it, and the fans love it.’ And so that’s exactly what we did and why we did it,” Biles said.
Biles expressed her hope that the way she celebrates her own skill will inspire others to do the same. The four-time Olympic gold winner is set to lead the USA Women’s Gymnastics team to the Tokyo Olympics this summer. Though the 24-year-old could win competitions without creating new skills, she often pushes herself farther by performing mind-boggling stunts that the rest of the world has never seen before.
