Simone Biles Bends Excellence to Her Will in WSJ Magazine by Rahim Fortune
/ Anne Enke
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Simone Biles Bends Excellence to Her Will in WSJ Magazine by Rahim Fortune AOC Fashion
At 4’8” tall, Simone Arianne Biles is called “the most powerful gymnast in history”, by WSJ Magazine. Biles is headed to the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo — the goddesses willing — where she will continue her head-spinning ascent in a sport where she already holds a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals.
Globally, Biles is widely considered to be among the greatest and most dominant female gymnasts of all time.
As WSJ Magazine’s August 2021 cover star, Biles is styled by Jessica Willis in luxury ready-to-wear looks from Chanel (cover), Del Core, Fendi, Jil Sander, Kwaidan Editions, Y/Project and more. Austin, Texas born, New York-based photographer Rahim Fortune captures Biles in Houston. / Hair by Tylaria Thomas; makeup by Cinthia Moore
Louise Radnofsky interviews the superstar gymnast and activist about defying all expectations as she becomes even stronger after “surviving abuse, enduring a family ordeal and overcoming her own doubts.”
AOC shares the interview highlights.
Related:
Bazaar Spain Honors Gymnast Simone Biles
December is the month for Harper’s Bazaar country-specific WOTY [Women of the Year] 2025 awards for women who inspire. AOC opens with Harper’s Bazaar Spain’s [IG] selection of Simone Biles for the Sport Icon Award.
Claudia Laukamp styles Biles in images by JUANKR [IG].
In the case of Simone Biles, she is a model of women who have embraced their vulnerability and “turned their wounds into feats of courage”.
From dealing with two — not one — cases of “the twisties” as we learned just recently; to the absolutely savage way Biles was treated by men when she withdrew from Tokyo Olympics for fear of breaking her neck; to Simone Biles testifying before Congress on September 15, 2021, in the Larry Nasser case of her own sexual abuse by the doctor of women gymnasts — Simone Biles is the inspiring type of woman Harper’s Bazaar Spain is honoring this December.
Simone Biles holds a combined total of 32 Olympic and World Championship medals, tied with Shannon Miller as the most decorated gymnast of all time. Biles and Miller are also tied for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast.
These feats don’t happen by accident. “As a child, my mother would take us to her office to write down our short-term and long-term goals on a piece of paper. It is a practice that I maintain, because that list reminds me why I do things.”
There are certain pleasures that come with writing/editing AOC. Checking Net-a-Porter today, an airborne Simone Biles greeted me in ‘A New High’ for the new Porter Edit February 7, 2022 cover story. AOC LOVES Simone Biles in every aspect of her wonderful self. Blessed with unusually strong intuition, I then said to myself “photographed by Kennedi Carter.” Correct, Anne.
Last summer Kennedi Carter photographed Amanda Gorman for Porter Edit, leading me to Google if Simone Biles and Amanda Gorman know each other, as it seems they would get on fabulously together. They do.
