Simone Biles is headed to Paris poised to cement her legacy as gymnastics’ Greatest of All Time, an Olympic icon who transcends her sport in both triumph and defeat.

The diminutive dynamo dazzled at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, winning gold in all-around, vault, floor exercise and team events.

She arrived at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics with superstar billing and history in her sights, but withdrew from most of her events as she struggled with the disorienting and “petrifying” mental block that gymnasts call the “twisties”.

Hailed by many as a mental health trailblazer but criticised by a few as a quitter, Biles has returned from a two-year hiatus, at the age of 27, as good as or even better than ever. In 2023 she took her tally of world and Olympic medals to 37 – a cache she started with her first all-around world title in 2013, when she was just 16.

Now the owner of a record six world all-around crowns, Biles remains a must-see sensation, even among such superstars as NBA legend LeBron James and pop diva Taylor Swift. -Nampa /AFP