Simone Biles strutted into the Paris Olympics with the zeal to shake off the twisties debacle of Tokyo. She had to show that the incident which had left her shaken, was just a fluke. And did she deliver—hauling in four shiny new medals, three of which were gold in the team finals, all-around, and vault. Having her entire family, including husband Jonathan Owens, on the stands must have given her the boost she needed. But stole the show was the pint-sized cheerleader—her one-year-old niece, Ronni Louise Biles, or as she’s affectionately known, Baby Biles.

Ronni took her first international flight to cheer on “TT” Simone, becoming her tiniest and most adorable supporter in matching leotards like that of the 7x Olympic champion. And now, just weeks after Simone’s epic wins, Baby Biles is apparently still daydreaming about her Parisian adventures! Her mother, Sammi Biles, shared Ronni’s adorable pictures on her X, where the toddler is seen enjoying the recap of the Olympic showdowns.

In the photos, Ronni is seen glued to the TV, cheering for her aunt Simone Biles all over again. Sammi captioned it perfectly: “A Ronni series when she grabs the Apple TV remote and then puts it on @Olympics qualifications replay & sees TT  I can’t even make this up.” It’s safe to say, the Biles family’s love for gymnastics starts young! 

At just nine months old, Ronni hopped on her first flight to watch Simone dominate the 2023 US Championships, where Simone snagged her eighth all-around title. This year, wherever Simone went, Ronni was right there, from the US Nationals to the Olympic trials. After the trials, her mom, Sammi, nailed it with an Instagram post captioned, “It’s really special seeing how Ronni lights up when she sees her TT competing /in the gym + the interest she is showing in the sport too. Ronni has the best gymnastics TT role model around!” 

So, naturally, Baby Biles packed her tiny bags and headed to Paris to cheer on her legendary “TT” once again. And cuddly moments soon followed. On July 30th, Simone Biles and Team USA—featuring Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera—sealed their full-circle redemption by clinching the Paris Olympics team gold, donning the “GK Elite made Go for Glory” leotards, that sported thousands of crystals of the USA’s flag colors. And what did Ronni do?

She put a replica of the piece to enthusiastically become one of them. Ronni stood proudly on her hotel room bed as her mom hyped her up, announcing her name just like it was the real deal. As Sammi said, “And now, competing for the United States of America… RONNI BILES!”,  with a wide grin, Ronni mimicked Simone’s signature salute before tumbling back onto her pillow, giggling. Sammi Also thanked GK Elite for letting the little one “look like all the queens out on the floor.” The cuteness quotient infected the online community instantly.

Apart from many gushing over her look, Today host Hoda Kotb wrote, “This… on repeat!!” Interestingly, the design of the Leotard has a connection to the gymnastic glory of the USA. The design takes a cue from the leos worn by the USA ladies in the 1996 Olympics, when the team won their first team gold, earning them the name ‘The Magnificent Seven’. The 1996 design featured the stars and stripes of the American flag across one shoulder. GK Elite lead designer Jeanne Diaz wanted the Olympic team to “carry a piece of that legacy with them.”

Not only is this specific leo, but a lot of thought has been invested in each of the pieces, which go through a lengthy process to be crafted at GK Elites Pennsylvania-based factory.

Not only an attire, team USA leotards are mindfully crafted masterpieces

The most noticeable and talked-about feature of the leotards is probably its heavy crystal embellishments. Let us take a look at the staggering number of crystals on each of the pieces.

• The ‘Go for Glory’ Leotard: 9929
• The ‘Luminous Legacy’ Leotard: More than 10 thousand
• The ‘Sovereign Sparkle’ Leotard: 3423 (including more than 300 that are hand-placed)
• The ‘Freedom’s Grace’ Leotard: 3,494 crystals and 970 pearls
• The ‘American Anthem’ Leotard: 5297
• The ‘USA Elegance’ Leotard: More than 5000
• The ‘Patriotic Poise’ Leotard: 3600
• The ‘Star Spangled Shine’ Leotard: 6,359 crystals, including garnet, periwinkle, turquoise, and gold jewels

“I think we’ve hit the maximum crystal threshold. We’re pretty maxed out on sparkle and shine,” Kelly McKeown, who worked at GK Elite from 2006 to 2018 and was the chief design officer for a decade, said. The concepts behind the designs are also mindblowing. The minute details taken into consideration while crafting them are not something to be missed.

For instance, the “Sovereign Sparkle” leotard, donned by Team USA during the podium training, aimed to evoke Fourth of July fireworks. The firework-inspired design was to add the “Americana element” to the leotard collection, GK Elite lead designer Jeanne Diaz said. On the other hand, the red, white, and blue crystals refer to the American flag, while the gold crystals pay tribute to the team’s historic gold-medal wins in the ‘Star Spangled Shine’ Leotard, worn in the qualification round. It took into consideration the French factor as well.

The back of the leotard was designed to look like a lace-up corset, a reference to the French corset style. the criss-cross crystal pattern was inspired by the “boning-style lines” of corsetry, Diaz revealed. Some interesting technical aspects are also taken care of. As put by Diaz, she does not prefer striping from an athlete’s hip through her sleeve. That makes more vulnerable for a judge to notice a break in form.

“Olympic gymnastics leotards have definitely evolved over time. We have gone from little to no crystal coverage at all, to now tens of thousands of Swarovski crystals adorning the Paris Olympic leotards,” she added. All for the sake of feeling confident and good about oneself on that fateful night. We can not agree more, looking at Ronni’s adorable but bold moves!