Simone Biles is a well-known artistic gymnast. Biles is one of the most decorated athletes in US history. She has won seven Olympic medals and stands level pegging with Shannon Miller for the number of Olympic medals by an American gymnast. The legend is one of the most widely known gymnasts in the world and an inspiration.
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Biles is also very close to her USA Gymnastics teammates and often hangs out with them off the mat. During one such international trip in the past, Biles recalled a hilarious incident with former gymnast Kyla Ross in her book.
Simone Biles and the “hand-towel” incident
In 2016, Biles released her book named Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance. In this book, Biles shared various stories from her personal and gymnastics life. She also talked about her relationship with her teammates and some memorable stories with them.
In one such incident, Biles mentioned how a 4ft 8 inch Biles felt embarrassed in front of 5ft 7 inch Kyla Ross. The two of them were on an international trip together, and as soon as they reached their hotel room, Biles went for a bath. However, owing to her short height, Biles was unable to find the bath towels on the top shelf of the shower and ended up wrapping herself in a hand towel.
She came out of the bath to warn Ross about the small towels and said, “Wow, Kyla, this is going to be really tough for you because you’re taller than me and the towels here are really small. Look, barely covers my chest.”
After hearing this, she left Ross in splits and handed the bigger towels to her short teammate from the upper shelf. That is when Biles realized she had wrapped herself in a hand towel and embarrassed herself in front of her tall teammate.
Ross encouraged Biles during her first American Cup
Biles talked more about Ross and her friendship. She mentioned that her fellow athlete had made her realize the importance of winning the American Cup.
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She wrote in the book, “That’s a really big meet for your first assignment. Big crowds, lots of publicity, and television coverage. But don’t worry. Just go out there and have fun.”
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However, Biles later mentioned that even after Ross’ advice she was nervous about the event. However, Biles eventually learned to overcome jitters and has become a world-class gymnast.